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Tesla's Electric Semi Truck Will Reportedly Get 200-300 Miles Per Charge (reuters.com)
According to Reuters, Tesla next month plans to unveil an electric big-rig truck with a working range of 200 to 300 miles, a sign that the company is targeting regional hauling for its entry into the commercial freight market. From the report: Chief Executive Elon Musk has promised to release a prototype of its Tesla Semi truck next month in a bid to expand the company's market beyond luxury cars. The entrepreneur has tantalized the trucking industry with the prospect of a battery-powered heavy-duty vehicle that can compete with conventional diesels, which can travel up to 1,000 miles on a single tank of fuel. Tesla's electric prototype will be capable of traveling the low end of what transportation veterans consider to be "long-haul" trucking, according to Scott Perry, an executive at Miami-based fleet operator Ryder System. Perry said he met with Tesla officials earlier this year to discuss the technology at the automaker's manufacturing facility in Fremont, California.
I guess you missed the part where this is aimed at regional hauling, not long haul? For an example: Costco's Pacific Northwest distribution center is just outside of Seattle, WA. One of their busiest stores is in Portland, OR. That is under a 150mi trip. The truck would charge while being loaded/unloaded. This sort of truck would be PERFECT for these types of routes.
Some basic facts that everyone gets wrong almost every time there is a discussion of electric vehicles.
1) Maximum battery charge rate is not a constant. Empty batteries charge faster than full ones.
2) Maximum battery charge rate in miles/hour of charge is much greater in bigger batteries than it is in small ones.
3) At superchargers, the batteries are the limiting factor for charge rate, not the chargers.
That means at a super charger, it takes about an hour to go from almost any charge to 100% charge.
Truck drivers can only drive 10 out of every 14 hours and then need at least 10 hours off.
Driving 300 miles is going to take at least 4 hours.
So the driver drives for 4 hours, chargers for 1, drivers for 4 more hours, charges for 1 more hour, then drives 2 more hours before he has to stop anyway.
It would actually be more time efficient to stop more often for less time.
Drivers that want to cheat on their logs will be at a disadvantage with electric trucks.
Team drivers may not want to use them.
You're all super focused on the range. Tesla has not said anything about the range. Some guy gave his theory. Now you're all jumping on that and either crapping on them or supporting them.
They did. Tesla Model S battery can be replaced in 1 minute 35 seconds. They demonstrated it on stage back in 2013. And there was a pilot battery swap station built between LA and SF I believe. But there was no call for it. No one ever used it.
Although I'm global IT for an international aerospace firm my office is above a shipping and receiving warehouse (long story.) We ship large crates (could be used for homeless housing, god knows I've had apartments about that size) full of airliner cabin parts all over the world. The trucks that pick them up, mostly FedEx, are short cab with 30' trailers, all local. If these guys can rack up more than 200 miles a day in Seattle/Everett area traffic I would be amazed. The Tesla range is perfect for this use. There are a lot of these out there. Even the can haulers (containers) from BC going to Seattle/Tacoma are in this range one-way.
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As soon as you talk hydrogen you lose all credibility.
It's horrible for the environment, is unavailable anywhere, it's extremely dangerous to use, difficult to contain, and it's more expensive than other fuels.
Hydrogen is simply not a viable energy storage medium. It's only being pushed by oil companies who are afraid of people moving away from fossil fuels and refueling at home without them.
Natural gas is more efficient, easier to work with, better for the environment, cheaper, and more readily available than hydrogen. Being that pretty much all commercial hydrogen comes from natural gas anyway you're far better off to just use the natural gas directly.
As stated elsewhere, these are not for the long haul market but the shorter ranges. Also someone in another article, can't find the post anymore, posted something sensible. This is not a US focused truck,its one for the EU. Where drivers are legally obliged to stop and rest every 4 hours or lose their license. So in the EU this could work perfectly as a long haul truck because they have to take a break roughly the size of a charge anyway.
Also here in the Netherlands, and I believe other parts of Europe too, a lot of cities banned (old) diesel vehicles from the city centers.
For those curious what an "unload time in tens of minutes" means for supercharging: given a sufficient charge rate (aka Supercharger V3, which is battery buffered so that the grid connection doesn't limit it), 20 minutes fills the first 50% of the pack, 20 more fills up to 80% (some can hit 80% in as little as 30m total), 20 more to 90%, and 40 more to 100%. So for a 200mi semi low on battery at arrival:
20 minute unload: 100 miles
40 minute unload: 160 miles
60 minute unload: 180 miles
For a 300mi semi low on battery at arrival:
20 minute unload: 150 miles
40 minute unload: 240 miles
60 minute unload: 270 miles
That's assuming that Tesla hasn't improved their battery tech for Semi.
As for "range figures" - not only could things like solar trailers significantly improve range (as you note, that's a lot of surface area), but there's a more fundamental aspect - speed is a major impactor of range, and semis drive slower than cars. Furthermore, if they have the aforementioned platooning, then all trailing vehicles will use significantly less power than the lead vehicle. Lastly, EVs are much less affected by hilly terrain (where the start and end altitudes are the same) and traffic than diesel semis (minor congestion actually improves EV ranges - steadily flowing congestion can improve it significantly).
Ever since, I've been suspicious of Jesus and very careful around chlorine.
Hang out anywhere that people discuss Teslas. The shorthand for the vehicles is the MS, MX and the M3 (there is no shorthand for the Roadster). Given that the Tesla Model 3 is going to be produced in numbers order of magnitude than the BMW M3 ever was, I'd recommend getting used to it sooner rather than later.
Ever since, I've been suspicious of Jesus and very careful around chlorine.