Tesla announced its new truck and it looks pretty amazing. Center driving seat with displays all around. And tons of pickup. more can be seen at the Tesla Website https://www.tesla.com/semi/
I guess there are a lot of people will have some opinions about this one. I think its great.
1) City route truck that could be charged over night and run all day. This would be great for local truck fleets. Who will be the first trucking LTL company to embrace this technology and prove out the cost of ownership.
2) Short haul hub and spoke operations – This is supposed to get 500 miles range. That is pretty good. A trucker might be able to legally drive 600 to 800 miles based on current regulations. 70 MPH x 10 hours = 700 miles. Thats is saying no stopping or rest. Can be done but pretty hard.
Tesla truck can be used for areas like Dallas to move goods from DFW to OKC and Shreveport and to Houston and to Austin. They can be charged over night and make a return trip in the morning.
3) Long haul with super chargers – If you put a power charger station strategically based over a route then these trucks can go for longer distance. They take about 30 min to charge. So a stop 500 miles in is not to terrible. For the team drivers this may not be a good fit but for running a truck lane like Dallas Ft Worth to Chicago you get a quick break half way through the night and plenty of juice to role in and make a delivery, pick up and power up for the return.
Interesting time in trucking to say the least. Here are some articles on the Tesla truck that seem pretty good.