Five years after first showing its fully electric Semi highway tractor, and three years after it was supposed to be on the market, Tesla opened its order books Monday for the Semi.
Reservations require an initial $5,000 credit card payment followed by a $15,000 wire transfer payment within 10 days. The $5,000 is fully refundable, according to Tesla, but the other $15,000 is not.
The Semi’s specs
Tesla says the truck has a drag co-efficient of 0.36 cd, and uses less than 2 kWh per mile. The truck is propelled by four independent motors on the rear axles. Reaching 60 mph takes 20 seconds with an 80,000-pound load, and the Semi can climb a 5% grade at 60 mph according to Tesla.
Two models of the truck will be offered: a 300-mile model with a $150,000 base price, and a 500-mile model with a $180,000 base price. Tesla says the Semi delivers more than $200,000 in fuel savings and a two-year payback period.
The cab features a centered driving position and two screens flanking the steering wheel. Tesla will equip the trucks with its Autopilot semi-autonomous driving system.
The automaker didn’t release any specifications for the Semi’s battery pack size.
You better be patient
As is typical with Tesla, the company hasn’t said when the vehicle will be delivered — which may not sit well with the business customers the company is trying to woo. One thing’s for sure, the truck won’t arrive this year. At the February grand opening of Tesla’s Austin Gigafactory — dubbed the Cyber Rodeo — Musk said that production of the Semi, as well as the Roadster and Cybertruck will be coming in 2023.
But Musk’s announcement comes a week after the world’s biggest heavy-duty truck manufacturers revealed their newest battery-electric trucks, most of which will begin production this year, not next.
Electric Freightliner pulls into town
Last week, Freightliner Trucks, America’s bestselling semi-truck brand, unveiled its new battery electric eCascadia in Long Beach, California.
The eCascadia comes with dual motors that deliver 395 horsepower and max torque of 23,000 pound-feet or a single motor that’s good for 195 hp and max torque of 11,500 lb-ft. Buyers also have a choice of thee lithium ion batteries: a 194-kWh battery that charges in 1.5-3 hours, a 291-kWh unit that replenishes in 2-4 hours, and a 438-kWh pack that takes 2-6 hours to recharge.
The truck has a range of about 230 miles, depending on configuration, and a combined gross weight of 82,000 pounds. The new truck features Active Side Guard Assist, which helps prevent the truck from making a right turn when a cyclist or pedestrian is detected on the passenger side of the vehicle at speeds up to 12 mph
The truck is expected to be in customers hands this year. Freightliner is a division of Daimler Truck North America.
Not to be outdone, Mercedes-Benz revealed its Mercedes-Benz eActros electric truck. Based on Daimler’s eArchitecture, and offered in in two- and three-axle configurations, its electric axle uses two integrated electric motors and a two-speed transmission to deliver as much as 400 kW. Available with either 315- or 420-kWh battery packs, each truck is good for an estimated 249 miles with as much as 30 tons of gross combined weight. The truck can recharge from 20% to 80% in slightly more than an hour using DC fast charging.
But it’s only offered in Europe; Daimler hasn’t announced plans to bring it to the United States.
But watch out for Volvo
Last week, Volvo began selling its new heavy-duty electric trucks, the Volvo FH, Volvo FM, and Volvo FMX, which are expected to roll out of its Gothensburg, Sweden plant in the fall. The three new models join Volvo’s three medium-duty electric trucks that are already being built. The highway tractors will come in 4×2, 6×2, and 6×4 axle configurations, with gross combination weight of up to 49 tons. All axles are air suspended.
The trucks feature two or three electric motors produce 450-666 hp depending on the battery packs, which number between two and six. They produce anywhere from 180 and 540 kWh according to Volvo, with a range of up to 199 miles. A full charge takes two and a half hours using a 25-kW DC charger.
Other versions of the truck, for use as dump trucks and box trucks, go on sale in the fourth quarter. Volvo has 1,100 medium-duty electric truck orders, and the vehicles are already in production.
Then there’s Nikola
Another player in this field, one more akin to Tesla, is electric heavy-duty truck startup Nikola Motors, which started production of its battery-electric-powered Tre highway tractor in March at its factory in Chandler, Arizona.
With an estimated range of about 350 miles, Nikola plans to build 300-500 electric trucks this year, with production increasing in 2023. A longer-range version of the Tre, powered by a hydrogen fuel cells, is expected to begin production later this year.
But Nikola has garnered more attention from shenanigans in the executive suite than for its trucks.
Nikola Corp. agreed to pay $125 million in December to settle civil charges levied against the company by the Securities and Exchange Commission claiming it defrauded investors by making false claims about its vehicles. The company will pay in five installments over two years. In addition, the company’s founder and former Chairman Trevor Milton was indicted by federal prosecutors in July for misleading small investors for personal gain.
The stock, currently priced at less than $6 a share, has declined more than 54% in value in the past 12 months.
