tesla is there any company more synonymous with the future in two short decades the
automotive company has revolutionized the personal transportation landscape
when the company began in 2003 ev cars was something of a joke they were little more than
a novelty item not a functional and versatile vehicle capable of traveling across the country
since then the tesla model 3 has become the all-time best-selling plug-in electric car
worldwide selling more than 1 million units globally and earning the company
a market cap of 1 trillion dollars it's just beginning to transition to sustainable energy
tesla is developing the tesla semi an all-electric battery-powered class 8 semi-truck
it'll significantly reduce the emissions of on-road shipping in fact combination trucks
account for a mere 1.1 percent of the us vehicle fleet but churn out 17 of the fleet's emissions
electric trucks are tesla's answer but as other eevee companies rapidly catch up the
tesla semi now faces tough competition from kenworth freightliner and geely
in this video i'll explore the tesla semi finding out what makes it tick and whether it's truly the
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tesla first mentioned the semi back in the tesla 2016 master plan back then it was just
a working prototype using a handful of tesla 3 model parts but despite the project's infancy
the semi was unveiled to the world at a press conference in 2017. jerome guillen the former
program director for the model s was selected to lead the project and turn the groundbreaking
invention into reality it all seemed like an odd change of direction after all the tesla model 3
had only just been launched and the company was yet to become the powerhouse it is today
even more risky many analysts and industry insiders treated the truck with skepticism
questioning if battery tracks were impractical due to cost and weight yet it was all part of ceo
elon musk's master plan part du but that was five years ago what's happened since well the
team at tesla have been busy building tweaking and developing the prototype by 2018 tesla began
testing real cargo hauling battery packs from nevada to california things looked promising and
orders started pouring in in q1 2018 around 2000 total pre-orders were already placed for the semi
still estimates that production would begin by the end of 2020 passed by as further development
and higher production rates were needed to get the vehicle ready the question is after so much work
how will the tesla semi perform in short what's under the hood well when unveiling the tesla semi
in 2017 the automaker said the vehicle would be a class 8 truck the second largest truck class with
an 80 000 pound capacity 300 and 500 mile range options costing 150 000 and 180 000 respectively
in comparison a typical class 8 truck in the us sells for 117 430 dollars in 2018 according to
statista but while the tesla semi sounds expensive fuel savings of over two hundred thousand dollars
and a two year payback period may significantly offset the initial investment that's if tesla got
their numbers right at the time the announcement was met with skepticism bloomberg lp for instance
dismissed such grand claims as unrealistic given current battery technology capabilities
indeed an analysis by the carnegie mellon college of engineering found that the battery
weight to meet the range limits roughly 11 800 kilograms would not be allowed by law
five years on and tesla's numbers haven't changed musk's bet on battery technologies
seems to have paid off as musk noted 80 of the us trucking routes are already 250 miles or fewer
nevertheless it didn't stop musk from pushing expectations even further
for long range trucking up to we think easily 800 kilometers or 500 miles and we see a path
over time to get to about a thousand kilometers or 620 miles of range such predictions don't just
unsettle the competition they out do tesla itself the tesla model s for example has the best range
at 405 miles and that's without pulling the 40 metric ton load expected of the tesla semi little
else has been announced since 2017 at the time musk also specified that the tesla semi would
accelerate from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds without cargo and 20 seconds with a full 80 000 pound load even
more impressive the tesla sami beats the drag coefficient of the world's greatest supercars
the bugatti chiron achieves a drag efficiency of 0.38 on the other hand the tesla semi clocks
in at .36 far lower than the industry standard of 0.65 to 0.70 part of the truck's genius is the so
called megacharges megacharges must be installed as fueling spots to ensure trucks can recharge
according to tesla if it takes 15 minutes to fuel up a traditional diesel-powered semi-truck
a tesla semi achieves a 400 mile charge in 30 minutes and mega chargers run on solar power
guaranteeing an electricity rate of 0.07 per kilowatt hour to semi owners other companies
are trying to mirror tesla's success but nowhere near this level of spec freightliner for example
is developing the e-cascadia class 8 truck offering a battery range of 250 miles and 80
percent recharge time of 90 minutes other trucks are even less impressive volvo's v
r electric only lasts for 150 miles of range significantly shorter than many trucking routes
are they a threat to the tesla semi well that all depends on whether tesla delivers on its promises
if so tesla will surpass all its competition becoming the future of shipping not everyone
appears convinced however amazon notably didn't purchase a new fleet of electric trucks from tesla
instead the online giant placed a bulk order for a hundred thousand electric delivery vans
from rivien the latest contender in the world of electric vehicles deployment is targeted by 2024
and is a major boon for the new company time will tell if amazon made the right choice and if rivien
is a serious threat to tesla but what do you think do you have faith that tesla will produce
yet another miraculous electric vehicle or do you think they've promised too much this time
let us know in the comments below if you enjoyed this video make sure to watch our video on five
emerging battery technologies that will change our world thanks for watching we'll see you next time