Author: Chang Yan

A Big Reversal.

Although there hasn’t been any heart-stirring reversal in this World Cup, surprisingly, it happened at the Semi’s launch event.

Since its official debut at the end of 2017, Semi has gone through five years from the launch to the delivery, creating the highest number of rescheduled Tesla vehicle launches ever (although it will soon be broken by Roadster 2…). During these five years, most people believed that Semi would be an economical product, and Tesla would use as many generic parts as possible on it, waiting for these generic parts to be mass-produced in Model 3/Y to reduce the cost before production.

This is also where many people’s emotions of Semi’s launch event might not have much technological breakthroughs come from.

Who would have thought that in just 40 minutes of the launch event (just a little longer than Model Y’s “tip-toe”), a brand-new powertrain system and ultra-fast charging capability of Tesla were announced.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Many friends may have only known about Semi for the first time today and need to allow it to introduce itself.

Semi is a heavy-duty truck manufactured by Tesla, opening up a new category for commercial vehicles in the Tesla product lineup.

It’s not just a simple change in the model, but more importantly, it means that Tesla once again enters a new field where commercial profits and energy conservation and environmental protection are more important and lack of competition, as a disruptor.

In short, Semi will become Tesla’s next important cash cow.

And from the picture, it can be seen that Cybertruck, as well as the more groundbreaking Robotaxi, will be Tesla’s heavyweight breakthrough.

In terms of appearance, although Semi is not as outrageous as Cybertruck, it is advanced and recognizable enough, and not to mention that this appearance was completed five years ago.

Tesla showcased a comparison of the side profile between the Semi and the diesel trucks that are similar to Optimus Prime in our impressions. Even though the Semi is already a behemoth, its side profile is one size smaller than that of a fuel truck, and its aerodynamics are more streamlined, resulting in better wind resistance performance.

The value of this design will be discussed in detail in the next section.

As for the interior, a fully centered steering wheel is adopted for the driver’s seat. I have always thought that this is Musk paying homage to his very beloved McLaren F1 back in the day.

The interior gives off two qualities. First, each area is unprecedentedly spacious, and a lot of open spaces have been designed to meet the needs of heavy truck drivers, and the volumes are also large. Second, although the final production version of the interior has made a lot of changes to the details, and no longer directly uses a large number of Model 3 common parts like the initial prototype, it still has a strong Tesla element.

Musk said that although it’s bigger, it’s just as easy to drive as a Model 3, and requires no special training; anyone can pick it up.

For Tesla owners, I believe everyone can get behind the wheel and drive off.

This is a beast

If there is one slogan for the Semi’s delivery ceremony, it would be “This is a beast.”

Musk reiterated the tough statement: Tesla doesn’t make slow cars.

Supercars don’t make slow cars, RVs don’t make slow cars, and heavy trucks don’t make slow cars. This is really extraordinary.

Musk said the car accelerates quickly and brakes quickly.

On the official Tesla website, the Semi’s 0 to 96 km/h acceleration time is 20 seconds (with a weight of 36.7 tons when fully loaded). As for its quick deceleration, it’s because it has a unique electric vehicle feature called regenerative braking, which significantly reduces the load on mechanical brakes.

Tesla has claimed that Semi has three times the power of diesel-heavy trucks, but can still achieve a range of 800km.

The key factor in achieving this result is that Tesla has introduced a brand-new 1000V high-voltage architecture.

Starting with Porsche Taycan, the 800V high-voltage architecture has been of interest to people. It is well known that compared with the traditional 400V architecture, some internal components of the vehicle can be smaller, and power release and charging power can be qualitatively improved. It has always been considered a clear development direction of the industry. This year, some automakers have further launched 900V architecture, and this time Tesla has further raised the level of the architecture.

All Semis use a 3-motor architecture. Surprisingly, Semi not only has a very high motor specification, but also has a brand-new arrangement. Tesla stated that Semi’s motor uses carbon fiber sleeves on the rotor, similar to the Plaid. This greatly improves the stability and high-speed performance of the entire motor.

The three motors also have different functions. One is for energy efficiency, which can provide low power consumption during high-speed cruising, and the other two are for high-performance output, providing high-performance response. This combination sounds very much like the combination of “big and small cores” of current chip makers.To prove that these data are not just empty talk, Tesla conducted a long-distance test.

A Semi, carrying a full load of 36.7 tons (but cleverly utilizing high-density cargo to reduce air resistance) and cruising on the highway at high speed, and even climbing nearly 1200m in altitude, completed a final range of more than 800km on a single charge.

As for the reliability of long-term use, which is certainly of great concern to commercial vehicle users, at least from the testing scenarios published by Tesla, the Semi has already gone through “inhuman abuse” and has accumulated considerable test data on extreme climate environments and challenging road conditions.

Supercharging in the Future

There is no doubt that the Semi will be Tesla’s largest product with a single battery capacity.

The data shows that even with good control, the energy consumption of the Semi will not exceed 1.25kWh per kilometer.

But with the range of 800km, you’ll find that its battery capacity easily reaches several hundred kWh.

This is equivalent to the amount of energy required for several Model 3s to charge at the same time, but a Semi may not be able to accept the cumulative charging time of several Model 3s.

When Semi was launched five years ago, the test car at the time also considered a plan for multiple roads to charge at the same time, and designed multiple charging ports for one car, making it look like an octopus when parked at a Supercharger.

However, five years later, Tesla achieved DC fast charging with more than 1MV using the ultra-high charging power of the 1000V architecture.

Due to the excessively exaggerated charging power, the charging pile paired with Semi has been changed from the previous Supercharger to MegaCharger.

From the structural diagram announced at the delivery ceremony, the new charging technology has different material usage and cable arrangement from the previous one.

Although the ultimate power required is different, Musk said that Cybertruck will also have similar fast charging capabilities because it also uses the same high-voltage architecture.

At the launch event, Tesla stated that this set of homologous charging technology will be popularized at Supercharger stations next year, and the legendary V4 Supercharger will officially debut next year.Just like the Model 3 taking over social media within a year of its release, the Semi has already started making a splash with its colorful paint jobs.

The changes in the transportation industry and the revenue structure of car companies will also continue to show in the medium to long-term, and it is estimated that the next Tesla impact report will have a significant section on the Semi.

“At the end of the delivery ceremony, Musk said: although it took 5 years, this is a revolution on the road.”

I have grown from a young chubby boy to an older one.

Don’t forget, Tesla USA, about your Roadster 2 and the legendary smaller two-door car.

Putting those two in the Semi, I would call it the ultimate electric high-speed cruising package.

Of course, it could also be this package,

-END-

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.