"Tesla semi truck set for September " Musk

@double yellow poasted the other day there are 3.5 million trucks. Now with all the new electric cars and now trucks what will happen to the cost of electricity?

 

Can't see it in 50 years we have too much oil and fuel on reserve right now big brother government doesn't want battery powered cars just yet a semi truck would be the end of tesla swift fast and a hurry I believe

 

If you don't need range or speed --- i.e. team trucks aren't going to be electric -- would you rather maintain and fuel a diesel drive train or an electric drive train? Not even sure if there IS such a thing as a check engine light on an electric motor.... No oil changes, no DPF's to bake, no exhaust leaks, turbo failures, radiator leaks or Air to Air cracks.....

At least we won't have to argue about automated transmissions anymore!

 

The problem with the 'autopilot' is, the dang thing is blind. Last year one of his "autopilot" cars didn't see a truck with 53' box trailer and drove under it killing the driver (who was watching a Harry Potter movie if I recall). They said that the sun caused the malfunction...now they want to put systems like that on a truck? We're better off with the mega cdl training companies...and Fudex.

 

These would be great for local and short haul operations like containers or LTL city work where the work can be performed on a single charge and then the truck returns to its charging station for the night and plugged in for the next day. Not as easy to go out on the road with an electric truck where it wont be returning to it's charging station that night. Same trouble with the cars. If you don't have a garage to park them in with it's charging station handy and all you have is street parking it becomes a lot less practical.

 

They should save the oil for when it is really needed and is truly the most practical solution. Electricity on the other hand is renewable and from our perspective is basically infinite. The sun pelts us with more wasted electricity every day than we could ever conceivably use.

 

Cover the entire 53' trailer with solar panels... They should give plenty of power.
I also think it should be diesel electric hybrid as a more realistic truck.

Keep the drivetrain electric with regenerative braking but use trailer solar and a diesel genset operating very efficiency only when needed to supplement charging.

 

These trucks would be perfect for US Cold in Dallas. It takes them 8 hours to unload four pallets anyway.

 

Musk has to find more revenue to fund space exploration, transport, mining and so forth, Obviously it's expensive. One goal SpaceX has around the corner is Mars. .

 

"I don't foresee the public in the next 30 years allowing a truck to go fully unmanned."

"The public" couldn't wipe it's ### with four arms and a mirror. Unless it interrupts their TV shows they couldn't care less.