Tesla Commercial Vehicle Cars

People have major range anxiety when it comes to passenger EVs; so you can imagine how commercial truck operators must feel about electric cargo haulers. Back in 2017, Musk had said that the upcoming commercial Semi would achieve as much as 500 miles of range on a single charge. It seemed almost impossible back then, but battery technology has taken huge strides. Three years later, Tesla is now talking about a 600+ miles range. Does it still seem unbelievable? I don’t think so.

The Cybertruck has been reimagined as a heavy-armored truck, combat truck, a vehicle fit to be driven on Mars and whatnot. But how would it serve as a pizza delivery vehicle or a taxi? It seems a little contrasting with its demeanor, but U.K.-based LeaseFetcher has imagined it in various avatars.

Remember the top cop of the Bargersville, Indiana Police Department who made a move to add Tesla Model 3s in his department’s patrol fleet? Well, it looks like the EVs are serving well.

Police office Todd Bertram was asked on Twitter how his experiment’s been going after he decided to add Tesla Model 3 in the fleet. He replied that the breakeven point will be much sooner than the department had expected. Is this a big win for Tesla or what?

As the whole automotive world is tuned in on the Los Angeles Auto Show, Elon Musk and Tesla are applying the finishing touches on a debut that has the potential to overshadow L.A. and render it forgotten in a flash. The Tesla Cybertruck is finally making its debut but until we get so see the wraps fall off, let’s have a closer look at one of the crucial aspects that could make or break the electric pickup truck: its price tag.

The price aspect is of paramount importance for the Tesla Cybertruck because it won’t be the only all-electric pickup truck on the market. Rivals like Rivian and Bollinger offer different yet still capable trucks and Ford’s all-electric pickup is on its way, so it will be interesting to see where will Tesla slot the Cybertruck when it comes to price, especially after Musk was adamant that “it’s got to start at less than $50,000, it’s got to be like $49,000 starting price max.”

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.

Elon Musk may have surprised the world by debuting the next Tesla Roadster side-by-side with the new Tesla Semi, but that’s not the biggest surprise to come out of the Tesla garage. The title of “biggest surprise” would be reserved for the fact that the company is burning through $8,000 per minute, $480,000 per hour, or $1 billion per quarter. And, at the current rate of expenditure, it is predicted that the company will run out of cash as soon as August of next year.

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.

Continue reading to find out what.

Picture this: a high-riding half-ton pickup truck with an all-electric drivetrain hung between hydro-formed, fully boxed frame rails and the center of gravity akin to a BMW 5 Series rather than a top-heavy truck. That’s a far-fetched idea, but it might be something Tesla could build. See, during the debut of Tesla’s new Semi truck and the surprise reveal of the 2020 Tesla Roadster, this little sketch was briefly mentioned by Elon Musk.

“It’s a pickup truck that can carry a pickup truck,” Musk is reported to have said. We wouldn’t know since we’re apparently not cool or hipster enough to get invited to Tesla events. Bearded and skinny jean-wearing millennials also say Muck muttered, “By the way, you will actually be able to drive that with a normal driver’s license. It’s kind of wrong, but I like it.” So apparently this outlandish pickup thing has more traction than a locked differential – well, as much traction as afforded by the wishful dreams of the real-life Tony Stark.

But for real – Tesla could actually start something here. Pickups have maintained the same basic layout since their invention in the early 1900s. The engine goes in front, followed by the cab, and bookended by the cargo bed. Why change what works? Well, if Musk has his way, this cab-over style consumer pickup could revolutionize the way pickups are picking stuff up.

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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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Tesla just unveiled the next major undertaking in its ongoing mission to bring electric motivation to every corner of the transportation universe. This time around, the California-based automaker is targeting semi trucks, revealing its brand-new vehicle at a special event in Los Angeles. Tesla’s aim is to not only make the job of truck driving easier, but also make it less expensive to move cargo while also increasing safety.

Of course, Tesla’s various models are well known for their high-performance, and the new semi is no different. It’s got a total of four independent electric motors, and can go 0-to-60 mph in 5 seconds without a trailer. With a full 80,000-pound payload, the semi can hit 60 mph in just 20 seconds, while also climbing a 5-percent grade at 65 mph. Heading downhill, the onboard regenerative braking can covert 98 percent of the kinetic energy back into juice for the battery pack, yielding “infinite” brake life. Most importantly, Tesla says it’ll go 500 miles per charge with a full payload at highway speeds, which means this thing is ready to roll.

Almost, at least. Tesla is taking reservations now at $5,000 a pop, with production scheduled to kick off in 2019. Read on for more details.

Continue reading to learn more about the Tesla semi truck.

The Internet is abuzz with Elon Musk’s latest bloggings: “Master Plan, Part Deux.” And rightfully so. Musk’s scribblings detail a 10-year to-do list for Tesla that includes solar-powered cars, increasing autonomous driving safety, and ride sharing. But that’s not all. Musk plainly admits Tesla will expand its reach into various automotive segments, including a new compact SUV, a pickup truck, and commercial vehicles like semi trucks and city buses. Yep, it seems there’s no stopping Tesla’s momentum.

While the news of semi trucks and city buses is new, this isn’t the first we’ve heard Musk talk about a pickup truck. It was back in January 2016 during an on-camera interview in which Musk was asked if a pickup was a possibility. His response? “Quite likely… It’s sort of a logical thing for us to do in the future.” And it was just last week TopSpeed published our speculative rendering of a Tesla truck.

Musk’s blog solidifies the idea of a Tesla pickup. We can now anticipate in full faith the all-electric automaker will enter the consumer pickup segment. Details on the truck are basically nonexistence, though we’re betting Tesla’s pickup will mostly closely align with the Honda Ridgeline, a mid-sized, unibody offering.

Musk says the addition of a pickup and a compact SUV allows Tesla to “address most of the consumer market.” The sales of these new products would afford the automaker the ability for further expand its reach. Thanks where the semi trucks and buses come into play.

The blog section reads:

“In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.”

We’ll have to wait for further details on Tesla’s commercial truck plans, but for now, excitement can grow knowing Tesla is indeed got an all-electric pickup on its drawing board.

Continue reading for more information.