Ecotec #4: The Tesla Semi

Last Thursday Tesla Unveiled its long-anticipated Big Rig Truck to much applause. Many critics seem to be thoroughly impressed but I'm not. Don't get me wrong those 0-60 in 5 seconds and 500 mile battery range are pretty impressive but there were just too many details left out. I'm a bit of a Spec Junkie and only having two numbers to go off of is not exiting me at all.

• This truck is only suited for line-haul trucking which is meant for shorter distance deliveries between a companies regional terminals. It is not an OTR or Long-Haul truck at all. Tesla said it could get 400 miles on a 30 minute charge. that means for every tank the diesel will do (~1200 miles) theres 1hr 30 min of down time with the Tesla.

• Tesla didn't disclose what the weight of the truck was and I feel like that was intentional. It is estimated that a Truck that size pulling 80,000 pounds would need a battery pack that weighs around 10,000 pounds. Thats a lot of weight that could be going to cargo for more revenue but instead is wasted on batteries.

• The Seat is in the middle of the truck. IDK where they got the idea that this would help anything. Now when drivers want to look around another truck they will have to go half way into the next lane. Also the worst blind spot in trucks is next to the doors so now the driver has to lean way over just to look down and out the window. And lastly when a trucker needs to exchange paperwork with a guard at a terminal or a cop they can't just roll down the window and hand it to them.

• It would be annoying having to look at bright led screens at night instead of having actual mirrors to look at.

• The shatter resistant glass should save a bit of money on replacing broken windows. Also it will Reduce the amount of down time a truck has since those windows have to be replaced before a truck is legally able to drive.

• Even though I'm pretty skeptical the anti-jackknifing is a cool feature.

• It's Eco friendly which is what I like the most. The Days of Big Diesels Spewing black smog from their exhaust pipes is slowly coming to an end.