They lose range, of course (not as much as most people expect** when you use a well thermally-managed powertrain like Tesla does, but still some), but you never have any issues with "difficulty starting" or the like. No more awkward hacked-on solutions to avoid idling the climate control is electric to begin with, and the cab has all the power you could dream of.Īlso, contrary to most peoples' expectations, modern EVs tend to deal with cold extremely well. I think it'll be really neat once they make a sleeper cab. In the EU they make you take 45 minutes of breaks every 4 1/2 hours driving. And since 500 miles range is like 7 hours driving, you're going to want a break either way. Tesla is however planning to expand their current supercharger network to include these new "megachargers", starting on the busiest trucking routes.
And you can install those chargers (quite compact, and don't need underground tanks) at depots they trickle charge to fill a battery buffer, when then surge charges a vehicle when it connects, so it doesn't even mean stops "on the road". I didn't have room in the summary to cover charging (tried to fit in as many specs as I could!), but I probably should have made room: 30 minutes to 80% when empty.
Truck drivers constantly race against their 14 hour drive window. By the time the tanks are filled, mirrors and windshields cleaned, and other miscellaneous activities, an appreciable amount of time gets burned. You might be able to run the entire truck off of the solar panel and just use the batteries for the night time.Īs it is right now, re-fueling takes about 15-30 minutes of time off of a driver's clock. Hell, you could put a solar panel somewhere and make some serious mileage in the desert southwest. Air brake systems these days are very reliable with the automatic slack adjusters and redundant air supplies.
The only thing that the driver would still need to be concerned with would be the air brake system. This thing would be a driver's dream because you don't have to worry so much about emission system failures and other breakdowns well-known to diesel. Furthermore, I'll bet the ride is much smoother due to the lower center of gravity when compared to conventional tractors.
I'll bet the visibility is phenomenal when you're sitting centered in the cab. I have my Class A CDL and would love to get a chance to drive one of those.
Top speed is not disclosed, but said to be "at least 250mph." The vehicle's release date, however, is not scheduled until 2020. With the base model alone boasting a 620 mile range on a 200kWh battery pack with 10kN torque, providing a 1.9 second 0-60, 4.2 second 0-100, and 8.9 second quarter mile, the 2+2-seating convertible will easily be the fastest-accelerating production car in the world. Tesla went a step further and stole the show from their own event by having the first prototype of the new Tesla Roadster drive out of the back of the truck. The total cost per mile is pegged at 83% of operating a diesel, but when convoying is utilized - where multiple trucks mirror the action of a lead truck - the costs drop to 57%, a price cheaper than rail. Tesla also boasts a million mile no-breakdown guarantee even losing two of its four motors it can out-accelerate a typical diesel truck.
The 500-mile range is for the vehicle at full load and highway speeds (80% of U.S. It can accelerate 0-60 in 5 seconds without a trailer and 20 seconds with a 40-ton gross weight while being able to pull its maximum payload up a 5-degree grade at 65mph (versus a typical maximum of 45mph). As most people familiar with Tesla products would expect, the day cab truck features staggeringly fast acceleration for a vehicle of its size.
Rei writes: During a live reveal on Thursday, Tesla unveiled its new electric Class 8 Heavy Duty vehicle.