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Back in November, Tesla revealed its all-electric Semi, a product framed as nothing less than the catalyst to a battery-driven revolution in the freight industry. Now, the supporting infrastructure required to make the thing actually work in the real world is starting to come to light, as it was recently revealed that some of the companies that placed pre-orders for the Tesla Semi are assisting the California-based automaker in its effort to create a new “Mega Charger” network.

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Tesla’s long-awaited Semi has been spotted running under its own electric power on public roads. The heavy-hauler is seen driving at a quick pace near a UPS hub in California. Yet despite the speed, the truck makes almost no noise. Only a quiet electric hum and tire noise can be heard. That’s far more impressive than the clattery turbodiesels found in conventional semi trucks. Imagine how quiet streets could be without the rumble of a big-rig.

What’s more, the driver can clearly be seen sitting front and center – a design Tesla says enhances the driver’s ability to pilot the truck. Naturally, the Tesla Semi will have autonomous driving capabilities that will only get more advanced with time. Features like a convoy mode will allow groups of Tesla Semis to drive end-to-end for better efficiency and improved safety. Just imagine big-rigs no longer lumbering in the fast lane!

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Walmart, DHL, Anheuser-Busch, and PepsiCo. have all signed up and ordered Tesla’s all-electric semi trucks. Now you can add DHL rival UPS to that list. The global delivery giant has pre-ordered 125 semi trucks from the electric car maker, making it the latest large-scale company to try out Tesla’s new breakthrough product.

Are Tesla’s electric semi trucks really capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in just five seconds on their own and 20 seconds with a full load behind them? Better yet, can these trucks really hit a top speed of 65 mph while going up a five-percent grade? Since we’re already asking these questions, do these trucks really have the range to travel up to 500 miles? All these numbers were presented by Tesla during the electric truck’s unveiling last month. Almost all of them are mind-blowing by industry standards so, naturally, the specs came with plenty of skepticism. Are these specs real or fabricated? Well, according to Electrek, a transporter that participated in the Tesla Semi test program confirmed that the specs are, in fact, real — or at least most of them are.

Add PepsiCo to the growing number of companies that are buying in on Tesla’s new electric truck. The food and beverage giant has reserved 100 units of the electric semis, joining the likes of Wal-Mart, Anheuser-Busch, and Sysco as the first wave of companies that are buying into what the electric car maker is selling. The electric trucks are seen as affordable alternatives to diesel trucks with the range and cargo capacity to compete with its traditional counterparts.

Tesla has been racking up pre-orders for its all-electric Semi truck since its debut in mid-November, with Anheuser-Busch being one of the latest corporations and the first brewer to join the fray. Anheuser-Busch has reportedly ordered 40 Tesla Semis, making the second-largest order in the truck’s short history. Food giant Sysco announced its pre-order of 50 Semis shortly after AB.

DHL, the worldwide shipping service, has reportedly ordered 10 Tesla Semi trucks. DHL joins big-name companies like Wal-Mart, Ryder, J.B. Hunt, and Loblaws in the early adoption of Tesla’s newest model. The down payment for reserving a Semi is $20,000 – 10-percent of the truck’s full price. And though Tesla has not released its official numbers, roughly 200 trucks have reportedly already been ordered.

DHL told the Wall Street Journal it will use the Tesla Semi for shuttle runs and same-day customer deliveries in major U.S. cities while testing the trucks on long-haul-routes to evaluate driver safety and comfort. Like its other products, the Tesla Semi will offer self-driving capabilities, which should be a big help to truck drivers. Ther’s also an energy-saving “convoy mode” that allows for an autonomously controlled line of closely spaced Semis, which reduces aerodynamic drag on the following trucks.

Tesla says its Semi will travel a minimum of 500 miles on a single charge and have access to Tesla’s planned network of charging stations called Mega Chargers. The powerful electric motors will outgun current turbodiesel trucks, too. It has a claimed 0-to-60 mph time of 5.0 seconds when empty and only 20 seconds when loaded with a full 80,000 pounds. Climbing and descending hilly terrain will also be easier and safer, as well.

Though this is Tesla’s first swing into the 18-wheeler market, the California company has been working with DHL and other potential customers over the last year to offer feedback on prototype trucks. Needless to say, a mistake in this segment would be terribly costly for all involved.

Tesla has announced pricing for its new Semi truck and has increased the amount of the initial down payment as well. The down payment for a new truck is now $20,000, $15,000 more than Musk previously promised. And, that’s just for the base model, which has an “expected” price of $150,000 with 300 miles range per charge. Move up to the 500-mile-range model, and you’ll have to pony up an “expected” price of $180,000 with down payment of at least $20,000 if not more. Finally, the Founders Edition Semi will have an “estimated” price of $200,000 and requires a $200,000 deposit up front at the time of reservation. These prices are current as of November 22, 2017, but are for the U.S. market and will likely vary depending on the international market.

Along with the release of this information, Tesla as released some additional information about the Semi. Keep reading to find out more.

Tesla’s quest to become a player in the commercial truck segment is off to a good start. It’s barely been a week since the electric automaker’s new semi trucks were unveiled and the company already has a pre-order of 15 units from Walmart. The world’s biggest retailer is no stranger to commercial trucks with around 6,000 units at its disposal. The new Tesla trucks, though, could be a game-changer for a company as big as Walmart that relies heavily on long-haul deliveries of all of its merchandise. Of the 15 pre-ordered trucks, five will be used for the company’s business in the U.S. while the other ten will be used up in Canada.

After years of rumors and speculation that Tesla might build a pickup truck or a Semi, the electric car manufacturer finally unveiled the latter in a press conference that also revealed the second-generation Roadster. And just as it happened in the past with the Model S, Model X, and Model 3, Elon Musk made some spectacular claims about the performances of both vehicles. Actually, I’d dare say he went farther than usual by calling the next Roadster the "quickest production car ever made. Period." He also described the semi truck as a vehicle that "accelerates like nothing else." Granted, both claims can become reality, but maybe Musk is talking a bit too much a bit too soon. And it seems to me that he’s considering the semi a sports car rather than truck that’s supposed to haul stuff the efficient way.

Sure, the fact that this truck won’t use expensive diesel to move about enables Tesla to think about other factors, including performance, but I still don’t get why a truck must accelerate like "nothing else." Should it be about a truck that brakes like nothing else or an electric hauler that allows you to cover at least the same distance as a diesel truck on a tank of fuel? Musk also seems to be concerned about that fact that truckers must wait for 15 minutes while the tank gets filled at the gas station. Seriously now, have you heard of a trucker who fell asleep at the pump while his tank was gulping diesel? Trucks are high maintenance; I’m pretty sure a semi driver has plenty of chores to do at the gas stations.

More importantly, Musk ignored a few important facts about trucks in his speech.

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Elon Musk and Tesla have defied the odds by finally debuting the automaker’s first stab at the commercial trucking industry. It’s called simply the Tesla Semi and it finally broke cover at a media event on November 16, 2017, after years of teasing. Debuting alongside the hot 2020 Tesla Roadster, the Semi is designed to reinvent the way trucking is done. Tesla says its all-electric drivetrain will give more than 500 miles of range on a single charge while towing 80,000 pounds, be far less difficult to maintain, and outperform convention semi trucks in both performance and safety – all at a lower operating cost. That’s a tall order. Oh, and it’ll hit 60 mph in just 5.0 seconds when unloaded.

Along with the Semi, Tesla will be releasing a new charging system. It’s called the Megacharger and it’s a high-speed DC charging station capable of adding roughly 400 miles of range in only 30 minutes. Tesla says the Megachargers can be installed by fleet operators anywhere along their routes and will be common at truck stops in heavily trafficked areas.

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Very few details have been revealed of Tesla’s planned electric semi truck, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk sure isn’t wasting any time dropping some intriguing bits and pieces about the vehicle. Musk’s latest revelation, or at least the closest thing to one, came recently during an appearance in Vancouver where he was promoting his new "The Boring Company." While his time there was mostly spent describing his plans for building underground transportation, Musk also took some time to shed a few slivers of light about the Tesla electric semi truck, revealing, among other things, the truck’s ability to be driven like a sports car.

It does seem like the man behind the Model S and Model X has yet to lose his ability to throw out a few hyperboles. Other details about the semi truck that he revealed, including the promise of the truck “out torquing any diesel semi,” were no less significant, maybe even a little more important in shaping the performance and handling characteristics of the truck. But for the said EV semi to “drive around like a sports car?” Now that’s something that’s worth keeping an eye on considering what Musk’s comments have been worth all these years. Hopefully, more details about the EV semi truck are revealed beyond vague promises and teaser photos, but we’ll need more information before validating if it can, in fact, drive around like a sports car.

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