Here is why the Tesla Semi is NOT a savings

Elon musk was claiming $0.07 Kw to recharge I think. Now they have the new batteries. I don't know much about them they might last longer. Plus using Telsa big batteries packs to store the power when it's cheaper to buy the power like at night.

 

Trucking is a 24hr a day industry.... I run nights so I would be required to recharge at the highest price time

 

I think trucks charging at truck stops will to be paying commercial electricity rates, not residential rates.

 

Kind of. I mean there's no parking problem in the day time.

 

Without a doubt. And likely more than commercial rates. It'll be just like buying diesel fuel. The price is probably going to fluctuate as demand increases. But at this stage of the game, I think $12500 a year is probably not too accurate.

So by that theory, using what my average electric bill is, we would be talking about $1400-1500 for 3500-4000 miles. I assume my home uses an average amount, but haven't ever checked. That works out to be $.34 a mile for electric

Let's go with those numbers for a minute. With the Tesla, assuming it would run 150000 miles a year. At $.34/ mile that would work out to about $51500 a year for electric.
Assuming a diesel priced at $3.50 a gallon, 6.5 mpg average, that's roughly $80700 for the same miles.

So by that theory, yes the Tesla is cheaper to run.
But I realize those are very generic numbers.

For what it's worth, I'm not in favor of one or the other. I'm pretty neutral.

 

He's not that far off.

First we'll get a ballpark on horsepower. A truck getting 9 MPG running 63 mph will use 7 gal, or 49 pounds of fuel per hour. Using a BSFC number of 0.300 lbs/hp-hr, find that fuel burn is roughly 160 horsepower, or 119 kilowatts.

At 63 miles per hour, 100000 MI takes 1587 hours. Multiplying that by 119 kilowatts, gives us 188888 kilowatt hours. Multiply that by the average industrial electrical rate, which is 6.66 cents per kilowatt-hour and we end up with $12,580 annual cost.

 

That's a interesting way of looking at it, but how did you arrive at 119/188888 kilowatts?

I'm asking not because I'm doubting anything, but I just really don't know. Is that Tesla's numbers?

And again, Im pretty neutral on this whole topic, but it does interest me.

Edit: now I see where the 119 kw came from

 

Just in case anybody else has trouble seeing where it came from we just used the fuel burn of a diesel to calculate the energy requirements needed to move the truck down the road. Technically, the Tesla should use less energy than that, there being a couple percentage points less Driveline loss, depending on exactly what they end up with for a drivetrain.

 

Been a day, my reading skills aren't too sharp right now lol

 

One amount not mentioned, and I didn't know if it's a gimmick or actually useful, is how much power is returned from regenerative breaking. Obviously not that much otr, but have any of these trucks ever been pushed to the long haul market?
And that's why the 10 mpg is a fantasy.