Tesla's Upcoming Electric Big Rig Is Already a Hit with Truckers (gadgetreview.com) 179
"After nearly a decade of delays and industry skepticism, Tesla's electric big rig is finally rolling out of Nevada's Gigafactory for mass production starting summer 2026," writes Gadget Review. And some truckers who tested the vehicles already love them (as reported by the Wall Street Journal):
Dakota Shearer and Angel Rodriguez, among other pilot drivers, rave about the centered cab that eliminates blind spots during tight maneuvers. The automatic transmission means no more wrestling with 13-gear diesels, reducing physical stress on long hauls. Most surprisingly, the Semi maintains highway speeds on grades where diesel trucks typically crawl at 30 mph. The 500-mile range enables multiple daily round-trips — think Long Beach to Vegas or Inland Empire runs — without range anxiety...
Sure, the Semi costs under $300,000 — roughly double a diesel equivalent — but the math gets interesting quickly. Energy costs drop to $0.17 per mile compared to $0.50-0.70 for diesel fuel. Maintenance requirements shrink dramatically; one fleet reports needing just one mechanic for their electric trucks versus five for 40 diesels... Tesla offers Standard Range (325 miles) and Long Range (500 miles) versions, both handling 82,000-pound gross combined weight at 1.7 kWh per mile efficiency.
The tri-motor setup delivers 800 kW — over 1,000 horsepower equivalent — enabling loaded 0-60 mph acceleration in 20 seconds versus 45-60 for diesel. Fast charging hits 60% capacity in 30 minutes [which Tesla says is 4x faster than other battery-electric trucks] using the new MCS 3.2 standard, while 25 kW ePTO power runs refrigerated trailers without diesel auxiliaries. Charging networks remain the biggest hurdle for widespread adoption. Public charging stations lack the Semi's massive power requirements, limiting long-haul routes. Tesla plans dedicated fast-charging corridors starting this summer, but coverage remains spotty. The lack of sleeper cabs also restricts the Semi to regional freight rather than cross-country hauling.
Production scales to 5,000-15,000 units by 2026, then 50,000 annually — assuming charging infrastructure keeps pace with demand.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.
Sure, the Semi costs under $300,000 — roughly double a diesel equivalent — but the math gets interesting quickly. Energy costs drop to $0.17 per mile compared to $0.50-0.70 for diesel fuel. Maintenance requirements shrink dramatically; one fleet reports needing just one mechanic for their electric trucks versus five for 40 diesels... Tesla offers Standard Range (325 miles) and Long Range (500 miles) versions, both handling 82,000-pound gross combined weight at 1.7 kWh per mile efficiency.
The tri-motor setup delivers 800 kW — over 1,000 horsepower equivalent — enabling loaded 0-60 mph acceleration in 20 seconds versus 45-60 for diesel. Fast charging hits 60% capacity in 30 minutes [which Tesla says is 4x faster than other battery-electric trucks] using the new MCS 3.2 standard, while 25 kW ePTO power runs refrigerated trailers without diesel auxiliaries. Charging networks remain the biggest hurdle for widespread adoption. Public charging stations lack the Semi's massive power requirements, limiting long-haul routes. Tesla plans dedicated fast-charging corridors starting this summer, but coverage remains spotty. The lack of sleeper cabs also restricts the Semi to regional freight rather than cross-country hauling.
Production scales to 5,000-15,000 units by 2026, then 50,000 annually — assuming charging infrastructure keeps pace with demand.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the article.
Nice ad. (Score:2, Insightful)
I've seen too many tesla bros rave about the self driving cars that aren't self driving - for the last ten years - to take them seriously anymore. Maybe this will turn out to be a great truck, but I suspect tesla picked the pilot drivers with care to be sure they really liked it before they even drove it, which is what it most certainly did with its robotaxies. Also one mechanic for 40 brand new vehicles that are in constant use is really stretching this article's credibility, lets see what its like when th
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I once rode in a Cybertruck while on a Lyft ride. The driver told me that the cameras on the mirror inside and elsewhere keeps an eye on him to ensure that his attention is on the rode, even if it's in "self-driving" mode. Apparently, he still needed to be in control of things in case anything went wrong. Not bad, but I wouldn't qualify that as self-driving. I'd call it self-driving if the driver can fall asleep but the car still moves safely w/o his intervention
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Also.. wasn't that 0.17/mile figure that something musk made up in his original pitch and would require infrastructure that doesn't exist? So the math gets 'interesting' if you take a bit of early marketing as real?
Re:Nice ad. (Score:4, Insightful)
Is it "Full self driving" as defined by the meaning of those 3 words put together? No? Ok then. Can you summon your car from anywhere and sleep in it while it drives across the country in difficult weather conditions, like he promised it would be 6 years ago? No? Ok then. Can you understand why people are tired of having this conversation with tesla stans? No? Ok then.
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It is fully capable of that, my experience with it convinces me the barrier is purely legislative that makes us sit in the driver seat and observe/supervise while it drives. That's what YOU guys don't get! How do I know it's fully capable of that? I know because it has been THOUSANDS of miles mileage much of it within city street traffic already park to park with NO intervention! I sit in the car, say "navigate to buttfuck-egypt" and then I press Start Self Driving. It will go to buttfuck-egypt and find a p
Re: Nice ad. (Score:2)
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See, being from a rural area I think it would do terrible. What does it do when it gets to an area of giant potholes or where the road is slipping over the hill? How does it deal with a two lane road that's not really wide enough for two lanes? What does it do when some dipshit comes around the curve 6" over the yellow line?
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After you read this comment, watch this video by Tesla's head of AI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
How does a human who wasn't born in that area deal with those rural driving scenarios you mentioned? And besides, you don't think Tesla has potholes and hilly roads in their training data for its AI to build an accurate policy model? My understanding of how they train it is they have all the video from wherever Teslas are being driven (accumulated over 7.5 billion, that's Billion with a B, miles as of somet
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You don't need to be in a rural area to find roads that are to narrow for two cars to pass by. I literally came across a street such as this a Cardiff By the Sea (In San Diego county). It was a slow day so not much traffic there but with cars parked on either side and basically a car and half of space for a lane, it was "interesting". Not my cup of tea. Very cute neighborhood that overlooks the ocean but I wouldn't want to live there.
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I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not in San Francisco proper though I go there maybe two or three times a month. I guess I mostly drive around in San Mateo county and Santa Clara county. It's not rural at all .. I am not sure what the word is .. city sounds a bit too crowded for it. Sub-urban?
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What? Tesla FSD works best in an urban and suburban environment where the roads are well mapped. It very much can pull out of your driveway, go down the street, enter a multi-lane road, handle stop lights, turning lanes, etc. It can enter a freeway on its own, and take an exit. Seriously, it is good. Not perfect obviously, and has glaring flaws. I would think FSD would perform the most poorly in rural areas where road markings are lacking and the maps are not as precise. The 8-Bit Guy posted a complete
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Is it "Full self driving" as defined by the meaning of those 3 words put together? No? Ok then. Can you summon your car from anywhere and sleep in it while it drives across the country in difficult weather conditions, like he promised it would be 6 years ago? No? Ok then. Can you understand why people are tired of having this conversation with tesla stans? No? Ok then.
Not even "bad weather conditions". Can I drive to the supermarket, tell the car to park itself, and call it to the entrance of the supermarket when I'm done shopping? Can I send it to drop my kids at school and pick them up later?
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Nah, it's just like "Defund the police". It can mean whatever the speaker wants it to mean.
Re:Nice ad. (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a Tesla Model Y, the Full Self Driving works great. The navigation is wonky, but the FSD itself works great for over a year now (since version 13).
Still stuck on version 12, and it is still dogs**t, picking the wrong lanes all the time, being unable to execute lane changes quickly enough and missing turns, lining up dutifully behind eight cars when the next lane over is almost (if not completely) empty, getting way too close to the edge of the lane for my comfort on CA-17 (driving by braille), etc.
Given how bad v12 is and how great everyone said it was, I'm not going to believe v13 is great until I see it running on my car on the streets I drive.
On the plus side, I haven't noticed it thinking the light rail traffic light is a car traffic light and trying to turn out in front of it recently, though this could be a coincidence caused by not being in the lane where that behavior occurs.
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Do you have hw3, or hw4?
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When was the last time it did something that had you not intervened would have led to an accident within seconds.
multi-day? (Score:3, Informative)
500 miles is not a "multi-day" range. That's a day (300-600 miles) for local driving, or less than a day for OTR long haul. 12+ hour days are not common, most of it spent driving. Even a local fuel delivery route is going to exceed that in most cases.
I'm guessing these will be for close-to-terminal local delivery only, because they're not going to have much use beyond that, particularly with lengthy charge requirements and no sleeper.
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Multiple daily round trips means if a destination is 125 miles away you can fit in 2 round trips.
Re:multi-day? (Score:4, Interesting)
or less than a day for OTR long haul. 12+ hour days are not common, most of it spent driving.
Long hauls need to stop being a thing. There are multiple issues but the biggest is that pollution compared to freight trains is much higher because the energy efficiency is much lower. If reducing the amount of deaths in the "far off" future is too abstract for you then consider the number of collisions with big rigs that kill people annually. If you're just a jerk, then consider that it will significantly reduce the number of highway repairs needed and thus save a lot of money while reducing traffic.
I'm guessing these will be for close-to-terminal local delivery only
That's how big rigs should be used. If it has to go a long distance then it should be by train. Freight trains are no utopia but perfect is the enemy of good.
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I used to agree with your thinking. Not sure I do anymore. Rail is more efficient but needs density to be effective; if you need more than ~3 fully loaded semis a day going in the same direction rail might be viable, but it needs infrastructure that doesn't currently exist. Even close to a line, adding a spur and small transfer yard is a lot of work.
Re: multi-day? (Score:2, Informative)
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Rail cargo in Europe is mostly transported during the night.
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A huge amount of cargo is transported in the night in the US as well, it's just unfortunately dominated by trucking. I wasn't able to quickly find stats on how much of the volume is transported nor how many of the trucks operate at night, but I've been on the I-10 [dot.gov] at night and it's not a small amount.
There are actually efficiencies to be had, for one thing because the night air is denser. At night they also commonly platoon.
Rail used to run along the I-10, but it was abandoned in the early nineties, and pul
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Rail is more efficient but needs density to be effective; if you need more than ~3 fully loaded semis a day going in the same direction rail might be viable, but it needs infrastructure that doesn't currently ex
I would very much appreciate it if you would go look up how many semis ride the I-10 per day. You can measure at literally any point and it will show you what I'm hoping you will see.
Re: multi-day? (Score:2)
Re: multi-day? (Score:5, Interesting)
Europe has has EV trucks for years now, and that's generally how they work. Charge while loading and unloading, or while the driver is mandatory safety breaks. There are laws limiting the amount of continual driving they can do here.
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ever heard of team drivers? they exist to avoid sitting idle for half a day due to regulations.
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I guess European hauliers are better organized.
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500 miles is not a "multi-day" range.
Tell me you can't read without telling me you can't read.
Re:multi-day? (Score:4, Interesting)
300 miles is not "local".
A bit of research suggests that long haul drivers average 400-600 miles a day, so even for them they would only need a partial charge, which frankly sounds better than pissing in a bottle.
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Did you even read the sentence? Not only did it not say multi-day, it said multiple daily trips, but it even gave you an example of such a case where multiple trips can be done in the same sentence. Please put a minimum amount of effort in if you intend to start a discussion on a topic.
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"That's a day (300-600 miles) for local driving"
there's no way local delivery in a big city or metro area is doing that much mileage daily in a 12 hour day
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It entirely depends on where you are driving and your route. My uncle use to own his own trucking business in San Diego county. He only did local routes. Otay Mesa (practically on the US/Mexican border) is only 59 miles from Oceanside, which is about the top of the county before you turn into Riverside.
Lakeside, Ca (25 miles from beach) has a lot of dirt and rock places, so trucks pickup in that area often. If you were to go from there to Ocotillo Wells, which is near the border of imperial county, you woul
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Noting that 12 hours a day for six days a week is against Federal law. However, if your drop off points have charging points, the shorter range truck is probably practical.
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On YouTube, there is a channel named "Elektrotrucker" by a German guy who for a year has driven fully electric semi trucks on lon
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12+ hours driving in a day is flat out dangerous for other road users and against federal law, which requires a mandatory 30 minute break after 8 hours of driving.
Basically, adding fast charging at your mandatory rest break and a 500-mile range is exceedingly difficult to break legally.
From a European perspective, the US working time limits for truckers are downright dangerous. Don't give me the USA is big, Europe is too. It's ~2500 miles from my house to Athens. I see HGVs on the road in Scotland that have
Re:multi-day? sure, with embedded charging (Score:3, Interesting)
As opposed to what? Wreck The Planet? It sure doesn't take much to see which side of the conspiracy you're on, does it?
The reality is this is what enterprise is, companies build things, markets test them, and no, it's not a free market and yes, governments will impose standards, that's what government is, or what 'our' government was supposed to be for, isn't it?
The problem isn't about save the planet, the problem is ethics, as it always is, is it ethical to act irresponsibly and cook our own planet? OIviou
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As opposed to what? Wreck The Planet? It sure doesn't take much to see which side of the conspiracy you're on, does it?
The reality is this is what enterprise is, companies build things, markets test them, and no, it's not a free market and yes, governments will impose standards, that's what government is, or what 'our' government was supposed to be for, isn't it?
The problem isn't about save the planet, the problem is ethics, as it always is, is it ethical to act irresponsibly and cook our own planet? OIviously not and it's not intelligent either, is it?
Wosers! Who the hell pissed in your wheaties this morning?
Not having an orgasm over Tesla's trucks, makes a person intent on destroying the planet - the very aspect of suicidal evil. RElax a bit homie.
Ain't that simple, homie. Some of the aspects of the Cybertruck are pretty interesting. But it does have some interesting limitations, like weight. The accelleration flex isn't much of one. Mechanical maintenance is very much in favor of Cybertruck. But adopting them as "saving the planet" is an odd pipe
Re: multi-day? sure, with embedded charging (Score:2)
Add to that comment winter and the effects of freeze and thaw. Water gets into every little crack and crevice and then expands when it freezes. Will the inductive coils be strong enough to pass through three inches of ice and durable enough to survive a grader scraping the road?
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Add to that comment winter and the effects of freeze and thaw. Water gets into every little crack and crevice and then expands when it freezes. Will the inductive coils be strong enough to pass through three inches of ice and durable enough to survive a grader scraping the road?
Excellent point. I'm trying to imagine trying to implement this in places like Middle Canada. And then there is the interesting issue of getting that truck to places without the roadway charging. Obviously can be done with charging stations, but now we're looking at two separate infrastructures.
Oh yeah, the road charging infrastructure needs. Gonna take a hella lot of copper. Imagine the copper mining and its impact on the one end, destruction of habitat and environment be damned. There is already a shor
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If they bypass using copper entirely and use carbon based conductors sourced via solar powered atmospheric carbon sequestration techniques we _could_ _possibly_ turn the roads into a literal network of electrical storage, distribution, and charging. Lots of technical hurdles and scaling issues, but I think the chemistry and physics could allow it.
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Lots of technical hurdles and scaling issues, but I think the chemistry and physics could allow it.
It's not the chemistry or physics that will determine if it gets done; it will be the economics of it. The power will have to come from somewhere, so even if a government uses taxpayer funds to pay for embedding these inductive charging circuits in the roads, it will need a secondary system to identify who's getting power from those circuits so they can be billed for it.
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Solar panels over the roads, same sort of EMF trackers for toll roads, to be honest I think working out the economics of it would be the easy part.
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nothing is as simple as just saying it, but economics will ultimately decide
the reality is if not for the entrenched classism, the corruption and the incomptence that goes with it, we'd have much better trucks, much better logistics and a much better, sustainable and non polluting economy and we'd have ethical governace and honourable enterprise
instead what we get is stupidity and irresponsibility from those in power, sure progress might happen but it can't avoid the inevitable
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nothing is as simple as just saying it, but economics will ultimately decide
I've noted the copper requirements for such a roadway implementation, and the ongoing shortage of copper - large scale on highway charging systems will use a huge amount of copper. both for inductive elements and the lines getting them there. It is possible to use Aluminum, but that comes with its own electrical and connection problems.
the reality is if not for the entrenched classism, the corruption and the incomptence that goes with it, we'd have much better trucks, much better logistics and a much better, sustainable and non polluting economy and we'd have ethical governace and honourable enterprise
instead what we get is stupidity and irresponsibility from those in power, sure progress might happen but it can't avoid the inevitable
Veering way OT here. It is unfortunate that every single aspect of life for some people is framed as the good people being stomped on but the powerful. Yours is a world whe
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it's a reality already https://www.cars.com/articles/... [cars.com]
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it's a reality already https://www.cars.com/articles/... [cars.com]
Apparently you believe I said it couldn't be done.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
However, less than half a kilometer does not translate to wiring up interstates. Then again, there is no task too difficult for people who don't have to do the job.
Re: multi-day? sure, with embedded charging (Score:2)
...or pay for it.
Re: multi-day? sure, with embedded charging (Score:2)
Re: multi-day? sure, with embedded charging (Score:2)
If the market isnt working for the planet then we need a new market. You can't expect millions of people to stop consumption in a market based on consumption.
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Methane and biodiesel are sitting there waiting to fill in the gaps between what we have and the all electric dream. Farms, ranches, etc, sitting on a gold mine aka waste streams.
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That would be great. Problem is, they aren't profitable under capitalism or people would be making it already.
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You realize that this is literally the textbook definition of market fascism, right - when government and commerce collude, with the industries typically following the lead of the government's mandates for what they're supposed/allowed to build?
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"No resistance will be tolerated. "
LOL awareness is not your specialty, huh? And what "dysfunctions" are created?
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500 miles is not a "multi-day" range. That's a day (300-600 miles) for local driving, or less than a day for OTR long haul. 12+ hour days are not common, most of it spent driving.
For individuals, only if they are violating the rules/regulations for driving (11 hours of driving max in a 14 hours on-duty period (the extra three hours might include eating, fueling, waiting for loading/unloading/inspections, etc.), and the driver must take a break after no more than 8 hours of driving, and they must rest at least 10 hours between on-duty periods). While diesels might have a 1000 (to even 2000) mile range, in practice the drivers are required to stop long before that.
500 miles at 70 MPH is only about 7 hours of driving. So it's not even as long as they are allowed to go without a break (8 hours, 560 miles).
Of course, that 500-mile range is at 60 MPH, so if you're going 70, it has only a 350- to 400-mile range. You'll have to do one full charge cycle about halfway through your eight-hour drive at those speeds.
So no, these things will be considerably worse at long-haul than diesel in terms of miles per day. Where they have real potential is FSD. If and when it gets go
Tesla BS...again (Score:2)
and having been in a Tesla car, its a big no thinks from me, I will take the hyper loop.....
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At least until we sterilize the planet with atmospheric carbon.
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Re: Tesla BS...again (Score:2)
Does Trump know this?
Let's see how it pans out (Score:5, Insightful)
Reminder the Cybertruck was also raved about, a lot of very expensive pre-orders too. Ultimately it ended up being one of the biggest flops in the auto industry and Tesla ended up doing some creative accounting to cover the losses (the Cybertruck's biggest customer is now SpaceX)
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Thus the promotional lies this time around. This is definitely NOT a "big hit with truckers" already.
"Ultimately it ended up being one of the biggest flops in the auto industry..."
Did anyone here predict that?
Re:Let's see how it pans out (Score:4, Funny)
Thus the promotional lies this time around. This is definitely NOT a "big hit with truckers" already.
"Ultimately it ended up being one of the biggest flops in the auto industry..."
Did anyone here predict that?
I think everyone who looked at it predicted that.
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The problem with the cybertruck is itself. It's an ugly truck in the shape of a pentagon. If you wanted a pickup truck, there are plenty of normal looking pickup trucks out there, some of which are EVs even. Teslas were great because they looked like normal vehicles at a time when EVs had strange shapes that looked futuristic. But the Model S looked like a normal sedan going down the road.
The cybertruck was unfortunately a product of several things. First, it was something that screams "penis size compensat
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Pretty much but the reduction in mechanics is a big one.
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First thing I would note is that American trucks are decades behind European ones. That is what 40 years of protectionism will do to an industry. Check out Bruce Wilson's YouTube channel to get the idea.
The second thing is that an EV big rig does not have to be suitable for 100% of use cases to be succesful. A great example would be from distribution warehouses to stores. The range is more than adequate, especially if you use rapid charging at the store so you can charge while unloading. That is a significa
The death of diesel. (Score:2)
And since China makes electric commercial trucks. This will pair perfectly with their push with solar and battery.
Curious looking with these wide mirror stalks (Score:2)
Or is it legislation not having caught up with tech?
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State by State. some allow cameras instead of mirrors. some don't. Also this is commercial and can kill a lot of people and do a lot of damage so one would hope they don't try to just save the owners money.
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Looking at new trucks with their rear view camera's I am surprised by this truck sporting mirrors on huge stalks.
NO camera and screen system offers the visual clarity of a big fucking mirror. This is not even an argument to be had, this is a simple fact. The screens can do things the mirrors can't, but the opposite is also absolutely true. The mirrors are crucial, notably because they work even when the sun is down low and shining in cameras and/or on screens because you can move your head around to see something with the mirror. Adding in screens is great, I want more vehicles to have more cameras, but replacing all
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I must say the camera works fine, even a night, newer cameras might even be better.
The only 'problem' is my eyes need to adjust from distant to nearby but that's a minor issue, you get used to it.
Not surprising for me that US states have their own legislation but that does not make it useful, all following the same rules would be better.
A curious US regulation is that a rear view mirror is not allowed to give a wider view, in the rest of the worl
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My Nissan of nearly 4 y/o has a camera and regular mirror.
I must say the camera works fine
Now try reversing a combination over 60' into the sun.
Even just a 32' box truck with a 22' car trailer is NOT fun to reverse in those conditions.
We put big mirrors on big vehicles for real reasons. Neither your Nissan nor mine is relevant to this discussion.
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And that does not take them away from the conventional place up front.
I referred to my camera(s) because they work very well in low light.
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Are you deliberately trying to avoid understanding what he is saying?
With a mirror, if the sun is at a bad angle, you can move your head and change the apparent position of the sun. With a camera, you are fucked because the camera is in a single fixed location and can't be moved.
Sometimes "where you need them" isn't actually where you need them.
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Sure, the Semi costs under $300,000..... (Score:2)
Late to the party (Score:5, Informative)
Pretty much every manufacturer of big trucks has at least one electric offering already on the road and in service. Some of them for several years now. While Tesla has been sucking up all the oxygen in the room, manufacturers like Freightliner, Volvo, and Kenworth have been quietly putting out fleets in both Europe and North America.
I'm not going to say nobody needs a 500+ mile range, but the demand for such a vehicle is way overstated; according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics [ncdot.gov] 73.7% of the weight of goods moved less than 250 miles in 2023. The number is slightly higher in 2024 but thanks to you-know-who all the US government websites are fucking broken so citations that actually have data are hard to come by...
We have this warped and romanticized idea of the trucking industry with long-haul drivers traveling through the vast wastelands of the American midwest. Sure that happens, but the vast vast vast majority of actual truck-hauled freight is mundane and short distances. We are focusing on like 5% of all cases while the other 95% has been achievable for years.
=Smidge=
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there is this general notion that people keep sprouting, that if EVs can't do everything we shouldnt bother. That if an EV doesn't cover every possible vehicle use case then nobody can have one.
Electric trucks are a thing. They can do many jobs. Yeah you aren't pulling a road train across the nullarbor, but you can certainly handle a lot of deliveries.
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"...there is this general notion that people keep sprouting..."
A certain kind of people, but for them it's not the argument that matters, it's which side you are on.
"That if an EV doesn't cover every possible vehicle use case then nobody can have one."
A really shitty argument, but for the SuperKendalls of /. it's average.
This argument does not exist anywhere there is a good faith discussion. This is more a marketing argument from Elon Musk than anything else, thus the prominence here.
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No one has ever made that argument in the entire history of humanity.
The argument is that because EVs can't do everything, we shouldn't legislate the demise of gasoline cars and diesel trucks. That if an EV doesn't cover every possible vehicle use case, then we shouldn't take away the vehicles that do cover those use cases.
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No one has ever made that argument in the entire history of humanity.
I have personally heard that argument at least dozens of times.
The closest anyone has gotten to legislating away ICE cars is a small number of states creating deadlines, a decade or so in the future, and that can always be pushed back or reversed, after which new ICE vehicles can't be sold in those states. Actually, it's not even that. The laws technically allow for any Zero Emission Vehicle to be sold, and the definition of ZEV actually allows for plug in hybrids (with a reasonable all electric range, such
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Yes, and you know what happened next?
THEY TOOK ANOTHER LOAD instead of waiting for hours to refill their tanks.
While these trucks clearly have their limitations, and I personally think that trucking is a perfect use case for fast-battery swapping waypoints (these trucks do not have swappable batteries) that argument doesn't really hold water. The typical time to load or unload a truck like that i something like two hours. If it is charging from the megaWatt charging system at each stop, it should be entirely possible to keep it charged without any extra time spent sitting that would not be spent sitting anyway.
Now,
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> THEY TOOK ANOTHER LOAD instead of waiting for hours to refill their tanks.
Well no not exactly.
After driving 250 miles they probably sat for 2-3 hours [freightwaves.com] waiting to be, and actually being, loaded/unloaded. And then they probably sat somewhere for another 7-8 hours hours straight because it's literally against federal law to drive that much in a single day.
The point is that with ~250mi of range you're not having to delay a shipment waiting for your truck to recharge mid-trip, so it imposes little to no logi
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Except trucker forums have posts about EV big rigs not having the range for what they do. Noting that a 500 mile range is more than you can legally drive in a day.
Re:Late to the party (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, I'm aware there are forums full of people with no personal experience with X complaining to the people doing X every day that X simply can't be done. A forum full of truckers saying EV trucks can't meet their needs doesn't mean EV trucks can't meet their needs. It only means they have opinions about it strong enough they feel it necessary to post online about it.
Meanwhile, all-electric trucks doing 800km (500mi) trips across Europe has been a thing long enough that it's becoming mundane, and they only have rated ranges of ~300-400km (190-250mi) loaded. Again, I'm not going to say a 500-mile range is never needed, but I'm absolutely saying the necessity of that range is way overstated. The tech is very clearly good enough for the vast majority of real world use cases and has been for some time, evidenced by the fact that it's successfully used in real world use cases and has been for some time. Those guys can post on their forums about how it can't be done until their fingers fall off, but it won't make their opinions into truths.
=Smidge=
Real-world example: over 1,000 miles in a day (Score:2)
Back in 2023, class 8 electric trucks were tracked for a few weeks to obtain real-world information about how they were used and performed.
Pepsi had three Tesla Semis. They tended to be driven farther in a day than any of the other entries. The longest distance driven in a day appeared to be 1,076 miles.
RunOnLess log for one of Pepsi's Tesla Semis [runonless.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Dwell time stood out in that gold mine of a site. Reinforcing the BEV argument. It also means that if it can survive in the US it can survive in the world.
Tesla promises (Score:2, Troll)
Will it pass the Damme test (Score:2)
the Van Damme test (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJU3PrHvxn4)
Trucking doesn't take much intelligence. (Score:2)
Not really surprising they'd get suckered by a company known for making overpriced bullshit made of poorly glued together sheet metal.
How many would pay? (Score:2)
And will it have a mad design like the cybertruck? And will it identify you not as a maga, but as a nazi?
Longer charing time? (Score:2)
The lot lizards are going to love this.
Re: (Score:2)
No, nor can they charge from it. It doesn't have enough power output to be useful for that. They won't have to. They only need a maximum of one charging stop per day, maybe two in some hypothetical situation where you climb all day, I'm sure there's somewhere in the world where that applies.
Re: (Score:2)
somewhere in the world
Peru, Nepal, Tibet, some places in Chile and Ecuador.
Re: (Score:2)
That's a cool story, but literally no fast chargers on the market draw directly from the grid. They are intermediate storage systems with power balancing in place.
Re: (Score:2)
I can only assume you mean fast chargers for trucks since essentially all DCFC stations currently installed for passenger EVs and light trucks/vans do not include any form of intermediate storage...
=Smidge=
Re: (Score:2)
They "asked" for a pointlessly long grok diatribe to cover a few basic facts instead of you just making whatever point you thought you were making by linking that yourself? Going by that (or, you know, the information already available) a full charge for one of these trucks would require about 990 kwh from the grid. If we then take your arbitrary 1000 trucks (why not a million, or a billion and really show them how high the power draw could be?) then that's 990 megaWatt hours. That gives around 500 miles of
Re: (Score:2)
"Putting automatic gearboxes in tractor units" is very contentious, also.
It can't be contentious because it isn't true. One of the things that stood out from the summary is the bit about an automatic transmission. These trucks don't have automatic transmissions. They have single ratio, non-switching gearboxes. That's not the same thing as an "automatic transmission". There is no switching gears, either automatic or manual.
Re: (Score:2)
I am personally a fan of the idea of swappable battery packs for long haul electric trucking. There are a limited number of long haul routes that are fairly regular. With a well designed automated system, the truck could pull into a depot and swap the battery in a minute or two and be on its way. I mean, with these trucks, I suppose you could do a relay pony express style, but that would be less practical.