Article by | Zhang Ruichen

Edited by | Wu Xianzhi

On December 2nd, Beijing time, Tesla held a delivery ceremony for the Semi Truck at its Nevada Gigafactory. The company officially opened the delivery of its electric semi-trailer truck, and the first batch of new vehicles will be delivered to Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, which is also the first company to receive the electric Semi Truck.

Originally scheduled to begin production in 2019, the Semi Truck was only officially delivered due to battery limitations and other factors. Tesla CEO Elon Musk joked that it had been 5 years since the Semi Truck was announced and delivered.

Tesla will begin to fully deploy the Semi Truck in 2023 and will cooperate with multiple companies. Musk also stated that although the number of trucks is not high, their emissions are massive. Currently, level 8 trucks only have 1% market share in the United States, but their exhaust emissions are as high as 20%, and particulate emissions amount to 36%. Therefore, the electrification of semi-trailer trucks will promote environmental change and contribute to the development of sustainable energy.

Tesla demonstrated the actual range of the Semi Truck at the launch event by showing a video, dispelling doubts about the long-range capability of a large electric vehicle.

According to the video, the Semi Truck reached San Diego from Fremont, a distance of 500 miles, carrying a full load of 82,000 pounds, with 4% battery left when it arrived at its destination. In familiar units, a load of 82,000 pounds is equivalent to 37.2 tons, and 500 miles is approximately 805 kilometers.“`

Tesla has completed durability tests on its Semi Truck under extreme weather conditions to cope with complex driving environments, if it performs similarly to the video, it will surely become the new favorite of the semi-trailer truck industry.

In terms of appearance, the production version is not much different from the promotional image, continuing Tesla’s family design language, with a simple design for the front face and reverse opening for the doors.

Following his usual style of car making, Musk creates no slow cars. The drag coefficient of Tesla Semi Truck is 0.36, while the drag coefficient of most diesel trucks ranges from 0.65 to 0.7, and the drag coefficient of general cars ranges from 0.28 to 0.4. Interestingly, Musk compared it with the Bugatti Chiron, which has had traditionally heavy power and lost on the drag coefficient. Due to the 0.36 drag coefficient, the Semi Truck not only achieves power-saving goals but also overtakes most ordinary cars.

The interior adopts a mid-mounted seat design, and each side of the steering wheel is equipped with a 15-inch screen. It also has humanized configurations such as a wireless charging panel for mobile phones. Like other Tesla models, it comes with Autopilot assisted driving functions that automatically cruise and has other advanced driving assistance functions. It can automatically brake when an emergency occurs on the road, even dialing emergency calls for the driver.
“`The Semi Truck places the battery pack directly under the tractor and is the first electric truck equipped with a 1000V power system. The Semi Truck is equipped with a 6×4 drive system, which is powered by three independent electric motors distributed on two rear axles. This powertrain is basically the same one used in the Tesla Plaid, with a power output that can reach three times that of an eight-level diesel truck.

According to the data provided by Tesla, the Semi Truck can complete an 80% charge in 20 minutes through the new V4 Supercharger, which supports the policy of allowing truck drivers to take a 20-minute break every few hours. According to Musk, the cost of driving one mile with the Semi Truck is $1.26, which is a 25% reduction compared to traditional long-haul trucks.

In terms of charging facilities, Tesla has deployed the first Megacharger dedicated charging station at its Nevada Super Factory, which is a high-power DC fast charging device with a power output of 1MW+. This charging system will also be used for the upcoming Cybertruck pickup truck.

At the Semi Truck delivery event, Musk also unveiled a RoboTaxi that will not have a steering wheel or pedals. However, no further details were disclosed regarding its appearance and configuration. Tesla’s move this time is not as quick as Baidu Apollo.

Conclusion

The introduction of the Semi Truck will alleviate the harm caused by carbon emissions to a certain extent, while also improving the efficiency of logistics companies and saving significant expenses. Due to delivery delays, Tesla is expected to deliver 100 Semi Trucks this year, with thousands of orders from Walmart, DHL, and other companies still pending. In addition, the Semi Truck will be fully utilized in Tesla’s business to save fuel costs.

With the rapid development of new energy in China, well-established manufacturers such as BYD and GAC should also work on electrifying semi-trailer trucks.

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.