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Tesla Semi

tesla.com

211–220 of 575 posts

Re: Tesla Semi

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron I LOLed at this one. Supercars want lots of downforce so they don't constantly go off the road and you die. They're not built for low Cd. A Toyota Prius has 35% lower drag coefficient than a Bugatti Veyron. It's like when the "superfruit" people go "look at this amazing berry, it has 20% more vitamin C than a lemon!" Well yeah, an orange has 70% more vitamin than a lemon…

> It also means that on the distribution grid, a charging station for 8 semis will need a dedicated 20 MVA 33/11 kV distribution transformer, plus 4 11kV/480V transformers. Or a pile of batteries.

Sure, and how you're supposed to charge them fast enough to charge incoming trucks

> a charging station for 8 semis will need a dedicated 20 MVA

20MVA is approx. 20MW, Solar Power is 100W/m2 hence that gives 0.2km2 (or 200,000m2 of needed area for 20MW)

Solar won't help you in this case

Re: Tesla Semi

#212
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The semi is quite interesting. The presentation was a bit underwhelming, Elon was very nervous and the stuttering wasn't something I expected. To me this shows how great Steve Jobs was salesman, when he did his presentations.

Elon Musk decided that spending days or a week preparing for a presentation is not the best use of his time. At least that much time is generally what it takes to pull off a really smooth presentation. I heard that he does not script them and just does them off the top of his head. Tim Urban has a great essay about different levels of prep people do for talks [1] which he wrote when preparing to give a Ted talk. Musk…

Considering Tesla is depending on it's image to get more money to fill the gap of it's ever deepening losses, spending days preparing a presentation is the best use of his time.

Tesla has a price-to-sale ration of nearly 6, while Nissan and GM are <0.5. So Tesla is mostly image and vision, not reality. Therefore it depends on Musks presentations with visions of a glorious future.

Re: Tesla Semi

#213
post #104

Details for those that couldn't watch the live stream: -500 mile range on a full charge. On empty 30 min of charging will get you 400 miles. -Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron -They're claiming cost per mile is less than rail for shipping goods. -2019 availability -Lane centering + other features (jack knife prevention) -1,000,000 mile guarantee ---------------- Also they surprised announced a new roadster…

> Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron I LOLed at this one. Supercars want lots of downforce so they don't constantly go off the road and you die. They're not built for low Cd. A Toyota Prius has 35% lower drag coefficient than a Bugatti Veyron. It's like when the "superfruit" people go "look at this amazing berry, it has 20% more vitamin C than a lemon!" Well yeah, an orange has 70% more vitamin than a lemon…

> Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron

Also, the coefficient is then multiplied by the frontal area of the vehicle. A semi has a helluva frontal area.

Re: Tesla Semi

#214

Ok as a mechanic a few million questions: * What happens when a wheel seal goes? Do I have to remove all that ridiculous plastic on #2,3 axels?? * What happens when a tire blows? Is it going to destroy all that plastic and take out a few more tires in the process? * Why all the glass? I've spend entire days replacing windshields for a 12 or so truck shop which generally come in two (drivers and passengers), the Tesla…

"Well, it's a fraction of the cost to operate, but if a tire blows, the mechanic will have to detach a piece of plastic. So I think we'll pass."

Re: Tesla Semi

#215
post #104

Details for those that couldn't watch the live stream: -500 mile range on a full charge. On empty 30 min of charging will get you 400 miles. -Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron -They're claiming cost per mile is less than rail for shipping goods. -2019 availability -Lane centering + other features (jack knife prevention) -1,000,000 mile guarantee ---------------- Also they surprised announced a new roadster…

FYI the 500 mile range figure is fully loaded (cargo is at maximum load for U.S. roads). They claim "80% of routes are less than 250 miles", so they say that the truck can take most routes back and forth without needing to charge. The million miles is on the drive train. I don't remember if they mentioned the battery warranty? IIRC the cost per mile in a convoy that they quoted was $0.83/mile. Same enhanced auto driv…

> "80% of routes are less than 250 miles"

But over 80% of total miles are put on in the other 20% of routes

Re: Tesla Semi

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then it's dead out of the gate, almost every trucking company in existence does in house repairs due to cost.

The majority of trucking companies aren't big enough to be able to have in house shops.

Define big enough, even owner/operators generally do their own servicing and repairs.

Re: Tesla Semi

#217
post #115
post #104

Details for those that couldn't watch the live stream: -500 mile range on a full charge. On empty 30 min of charging will get you 400 miles. -Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron -They're claiming cost per mile is less than rail for shipping goods. -2019 availability -Lane centering + other features (jack knife prevention) -1,000,000 mile guarantee ---------------- Also they surprised announced a new roadster…

> They're claiming cost per mile is less than rail for shipping goods. Note: This only applies to "Convoy mode" where 3 or more vehicles draft off each other.

As long as the taxpayers keep subsidizing trucks destroying the roads proportionally to fourth power of mass per axle..

Re: Tesla Semi

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk decided that spending days or a week preparing for a presentation is not the best use of his time. At least that much time is generally what it takes to pull off a really smooth presentation. I heard that he does not script them and just does them off the top of his head. Tim Urban has a great essay about different levels of prep people do for talks [1] which he wrote when preparing to give a Ted talk. Musk…

Considering Tesla is depending on it's image to get more money to fill the gap of it's ever deepening losses, spending days preparing a presentation is the best use of his time. Tesla has a price-to-sale ration of nearly 6, while Nissan and GM are <0.5. So Tesla is mostly image and vision, not reality. Therefore it depends on Musks presentations with visions of a glorious future.

Have you forgotten Job's reality disortion field?

Sometimes you gotta get people to believe in a better reality :P

Re: Tesla Semi

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Security screws on purchasable goods really need to be banned for anything that doesn't pose an immediate and extreme health and safety hazard.

And I don't think anything sold in the US today, not to the Department of Defense, has anything that poses "an immediate and extreme health and safety hazard".

I’d say cars to belong to that category. Oh, and guns sold to private citizens maybe?

Re: Tesla Semi

#220

Ok as a mechanic a few million questions: * What happens when a wheel seal goes? Do I have to remove all that ridiculous plastic on #2,3 axels?? * What happens when a tire blows? Is it going to destroy all that plastic and take out a few more tires in the process? * Why all the glass? I've spend entire days replacing windshields for a 12 or so truck shop which generally come in two (drivers and passengers), the Tesla…

He states that they have spent a lot of time talking to truckers and truck companies. I would guess they believe that with an electric drive train repairs and maintenance will be an order of magnitude lower (not sure how that works for tires and wheels). Body damage should also be much lower with automatic breaking and other features of enhanced autopilot. As Musk said, broken glass is a big cost for trucking as you…

I wonder about accidents. Will the driver be trapped, because the glass cannot be broken?
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