Bill Gates didn’t believe it, Elon Musk did it, judge for yourself
Tesla just released a video featuring its new electric truck and its titanic autonomy. It does show a Semi traveling 800 kilometers on a single charge, with a full trailer.
A few days ago, Tesla held a grand key handover ceremony for its all new Semi. A first delivery intended for PepsiCo, completing several years of waiting, while the first prototype of the truck was revealed five years ago. After several years of delay, the Semi is finally rolling on the roads.
Incredible autonomy
And the least we can say is that Tesla’s electric truck has a pretty incredible spec sheet. While full details have yet to be revealed about it, it is known to be powered by three electric motors like the Tesla Model S Plaid, although the total power is unknown. However, we know that it must be very high, as Tesla unveiled a video that shows the incredible acceleration of the truck on a 6% slope.
But obviously, this is not the only crazy thing about this new vehicle, which therefore precedes the launch of the Cybertruck, which is planned for him in the course of next year. Because the company, now based in Texas, has just presented another part of its truck, again in an impressive video. It comes in the form of a timelapse and shows the new Tesla Semi driving on an American highway, with an autonomy of 800 km thanks to its battery of several tons, which represents the equivalent of 9 Tesla Model S batteries!
A 1:59 minute sequence, with one goal: to prove that the truck is capable travel great distances for free. When giving the keys to the first two copies, Elon Musk announced that his car had traveled more than 800 kilometers without a break, all with a load of 37 tons. A real performance, which then contradicts some unconvinced people, as explained by Electrek.
Starting with Bill Gates, who pinned Elon Musk in 2020, when the latter announced a very long range for his truck. The founder of Microsoft believes that the semi-trailer cannot travel very far on a single charge, explaining that installing a large battery will increase the weight, thus reducing autonomy. As we explained in a previous article, a large accumulator is not always the best solution and does not always rhyme with a large distance.
A great performance
That’s why the video proves that the Semi can travel over 800 kilometers on a single charge, from Fremont to San Diego with a 37 ton trailer. As shown in a graph published by the brand, the truck starts its journey with a 97% full battery and arrives at its destination with only 4%. Elon Musk made that clear the example used is standard and unmodified. On the other hand, nothing has been said about the average speed on the course, while the size of the batteries has not been communicated at this moment.
However, we know that two versions are available, with a range of about 500 and 800 kilometerswhile the electric truck is compatible with hyper-powerful charging developed by the manufacturer.
This one is actually working on the deployment of Megachargers (also known as Superchargers V4), which are capable of delivering an incredible power of more than 1 MW, or 1,000 kW. Thus, only 30 minutes are required to recharge the battery from 10 to 80 % at a power of 1400 kW.
This system should also be used by the Tesla Cybertruck, as announced by Elon Musk a few days ago. The latter also confirmed the reduction in electric truck consumption, of the order of 1.7 kWh per mile, which equates to approximately 105 kWh / 100 km. This remains quite reasonable when you know that this value is indicated on a loaded trailer.
Tesla plans to make 500 copies of its Semi every year in the United States to begin with. If the success of its truck is confirmed, the American brand can be launched in other markets, like Europe for example. As of now, orders are not yet open on the Old Continent. The company will have a lot to do, as other manufacturers enter the electric truck segment, such as Volvo and Renault Trucks. But the models currently offered do not target the same clientele at the moment.
To follow us, we invite you to download our Android and iOS application. You can read our articles, files, and watch our latest videos on YouTube.
