Whether they make back their capex on semis or not (guidance says they won't), it first takes some capital to spend.
Tesla Semi receives another record order of 125 electric trucks from UPS
Posted this earlier but somehow it got deleted.
https://electrek.co/2017/12/19/tesla-semi-record-order-125-electric-trucks-ups/
https://electrek.co/2017/12/19/tesla-semi-record-order-125-electric-trucks-ups/
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I think someone just helped make your point. ^More likely something along the lines of "How much for this? Half million? How much press will we get? That much, eh? Put it into Promotions budget and tell Hoodwink & Lyers to hold off on the print buys for six months."
That's a substantial outlay. Without knowing the terms (refundable? deadline?) it's hard to guess at the value of it. They can pull back later and I'll guess no one will want to talk about it, so...... probably hard to go wrong here.electrek said:If UPS just now placed the order, they likely had to place a $2.5 million deposit.
I would love to see the anti-jackknifing test. Now let's look at the whole paragraph and a follow-up from Car Buzz:
And Electrek's take is interesting to say the least.CARBUZZ said:“The Tesla semi has already received important validation from some customers. We spoke with mgmt. at XPO Logistics, one of the largest logistics companies in the country, that has been talking to Tesla on their EV semi for the past 18 months, including testing live prototypes. XPO mgmt. confirmed that in their testing, the features and capabilities of the truck mostly lived up to Tesla’s claims at the launch event, including the performance vs. diesel trucks up a 5 percent grade (55 mph vs 45 mph), recharging time, safety/anti jackknifing features and payload (similar to a typical diesel truck, as confirmed by Tesla).” However, Jonas added that XPO has not confirmed that 500-mile range.
It’s important to note that all of Tesla’s other claimed specs appear to be accurate, so why be untruthful about the most important detail? Wouldn’t that hurt sales and Tesla’s reputation? Absolutely. As Electrek further points out, just because XPO is so far unable to confirm the 500-mile range, does not mean Tesla cannot achieve it. Furthermore, based on Tesla’s current battery technology, that claimed range, especially with a full payload, does seem hard to achieve. However, it’s also entirely possible Tesla is basing that figure on prototype batteries that have yet to be announced. Leave it to Tesla for technological breakthroughs, something it’s proven very capable of doing. Meeting production deadlines is a different story.
It’s interesting to have a second data point to confirm some of those specs.
But of course, the main one is a range of 500 miles on a single charge with a full load. Now the fact that XPO could not confirm range doesn’t mean that Tesla can’t achieve it. They could simply not have had the opportunity to test the full range.
Nonetheless, based on the performance numbers that Tesla released, the battery pack would have a capacity of about 1 MWh and that would be a very heavy and costly battery pack.
It doesn’t appear to be possible with the current battery cells that Tesla uses in its current vehicles in term of weight and cost. Most analysts seem to agree that at least some significant incremental improvements in Li-ion batteries would be required or even a breakthrough with a new type of batteries.
Tesla could potentially already have those batteries for its prototypes, but it could need some time to achieve the cost and volume production required to ramp up the Tesla Semi program.
“Supposedly, they’re going to build a truck plant at the Gigafactory,” Tesla’s lithium-ion battery production facility in Nevada, said Ike Brown, president of NFI Industries.
Tesla hasn't announced anything yet. Word is from Fortune that they build the 3 motors there. Perhaps gearboxes too.
Tesla hasn't announced anything yet. Word is from Fortune that they build the 3 motors there. Perhaps gearboxes too.
Jonathon Ramsey agrees with you.All other arguments aside, as someone who's driven a truck for over 2 decades now for work, there's a lot of issues with that truck, mainly with the centre seating position. It's a classic case of when an engineer who's never actually done someones job for a single day of their lives designs the equipment that someone relies on to do their job.
There's gonna be a lot of smashed up trailers from guys trying to back into tight docks with these things.
This ex-trucker has some questions about the Tesla SemiI only have space here to address a few issues, so we'll start with the central seating position. I don't see how that helps a trucker. I already get "a commanding view of the road" in a traditional truck because I sit six feet above traffic. What I need is a commanding view of my own truck, which the central seating position compromises. The worst blind spot in a tractor is next to the doors; in the Tesla Semi, I can't lean over to see if there's a Toyota Corolla camped out beside me. The central seating position hampers my commanding view when I need that view most: when I back up. For any backing maneuver, I watch both sides of the trailer in my mirrors to make sure I don't clobber anything, or I lean out of the truck to watch the trailer as I back. Being able to physically watch the trailer – not camera images on screens – can be the difference between making a clean back-up or making an insurance claim.
First, let's talk about that central seating position.
There is a perceptual problem here. A flat mirror gives a correct perception to the driver. Camera lenses all have a distortion factor that takes this away from the driver.I would assume there's a complete surround view camera system.
Cameras can be good for showing you hidden things in places you can't see, but they are lousy at helping you align things. Backing a class 8 trailer into a narrow dock is all about alignment.
Ask why it didn't start there.In the grand scheme of things, the center seating position in the prototypes seems like it would be relatively easy to move to a traditional position.
Ah, good point. We're looking at car porn.The semis that were shown are prototypes. Concepts. Lots of things in prototypes don't make it to final production. Does stimulate useful discussion though.
I hope Musk doesn't tweet "You're an idiot" at us.
Thor drives from the left.
thortrucks.com said:The ET-One was designed with the fleet-operator and truck driver in mind. Design choices were influenced by managers and drivers of fleets ranging 10 to 10,000 vehicles in size. Thor has done everything to understand the concerns of its customer and design a vehicle that integrates seamlessly with an existing fleet.
Some comments from a truckers forum.....
Wonder what they will do to their insurance rates when drivers start hitting everything in the parking lot from having to blindside on both sides....
Has anyone thought what it might be like trying to back one of these up? Sitting in the middle is a dumb idea. I don’t get this big push for middle seating.
"Back up? ..... Huh? I thought the docks came to the truck." said the concept innovator and the chief design engineer to the test driver.
Center driving position. Wonder if you would now have 2 blind sides when backing.
OMG Hell yes... two blind side backs....
If they stick 10K in camera in Ultra 4K resolution on the back of the trailer it will promptly get destroyed banging into the dock.
And finally it's a cab over design. Again. It's almost they have forgotten the problems from the last go around with them. They can ship that to Europe. I'll pass.
You sit in the center of the truck... Have they ever tried backing into a tight spot? Now both sides are blindsides, makes sense!
That truck looks like an upright vacuum.
It says that 100 trucks being charged will take enough electricity to power a town of 10,000 people.
So how much electricity will it take to charge 100,000 trucks?
I would think you would need to build at least 100,000 trucks to make a manufacturing parts run pencil out.
Sorry my calculator will not go that high. I wonder where all this extra electricity will come from?
Coal, dams, nuclear? Oh wait I know, windmills!
An average windmill produces enough electricity to power 332 homes. So it takes 30 windmills turning to charge 100 trucks. For only 100,000 trucks it would take 3 million average windmills turning at optimum speed.
Yea, That sounds realistic.
If only Tesla could design a truck powered by B.S., Musk could personally power entire fleets.
sorry, but the numbers for a semi tractor just don't seem plausible...https://youtu.be/LlvYv1SJJEY
Sorry but I had to laugh out loud when he said that. I think it was the matter-of-fact deliver that got me.It is a cash incinerating bullsh*t machine
Another center drive. Perhaps where the idea was borrowed from?Peterbilt has actually received more money from Walmart than Tesla...
https://corporate.walmart.com/_news_/news-archive/2014/03/26/walmart-debuts-futuristic-truck
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