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Tesla Semi

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Re: Tesla Semi

#391

Post by JabavuAdams »

Voyage_wanderer wrote: post #299
micheljansen wrote: post #279

"The quickest acceleration—from zero to 60 mph in 20 seconds, fully loaded." sound of cargo falling over :P But serious question: how important is acceleration for trucks?

Merging into freeways is always a problem and a hazard to everyone involved. Quick acceleration makes highway safer. More pulling power also means less slow trucks on grades and less jams around them. It is of course irrelevant for the bright future where are no human drivers.

For quantifying discrete objects, you should use "fewer", not "less". "Less" is used for aggregates, continuous media, and numeric values. So, "fewer people", but "less water".

Re: Tesla Semi

#392

Post by JabavuAdams »

_Codemonkeyism wrote: post #212
njarboe wrote: post #196

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.

Could it be that the stuttering is part of Musk's brand? Why try to be someone else? The Apple inspired pauses for applause at many tech reveals are cringe-worthy, e.g.

Re: Tesla Semi

#393

Post by pwinnski »

dchuk wrote: post #153

I'm a product manager at a telematics company. I've talked to a lot of folks in the long haul trucking space, from drivers to back office folks to service managers. I'll be surprised if this truck catches on. The trucking industry has a huge urge to do everything themselves, all the big guys have full service garages in their many yards across the country. This truck seems essentially unserviceable by anyone other th…

I am generally not a Tesla fan, but I'm impressed by this truck. I think you're focusing on the wrong end of things here. In fact, your later objection answers your first!

The drivers and service managers can be as skeptical as they want to be. The company owners can replace those drivers or service managers.

The big dogs care about the bottom line, and their employees have felt the pinch all along. This will be no different.

Re: Tesla Semi

#394

Post by grecy »

dchuk wrote: post #153

I'm a product manager at a telematics company. I've talked to a lot of folks in the long haul trucking space, from drivers to back office folks to service managers. I'll be surprised if this truck catches on. The trucking industry has a huge urge to do everything themselves, all the big guys have full service garages in their many yards across the country. This truck seems essentially unserviceable by anyone other th…

And how much servicing do you think it needs?

New tires and rarely new brakes and you're good to go.

I'm sure any "servicing yard" will be able to handle that.

Re: Tesla Semi

#395

Post by bognition »

SigmundA wrote: post #373

Anyone else find it odd they don't talk about the battery? 500 miles of range at 2kwh a mile is a 1000kwh battery which is 10 model S batteries. Model S battery weighs 1,200 lbs lets assume they somehow improved on that by 20-30% so this is a 10,000 lb battery. Not sure how much the motors weigh, the Tesla motor and inverter are about 350lbs so lets say another 1000lbs. A Diesel engine, transmission and fuel for 500…

I think your price estimate for the battery isn't too far off. If you scoll down on the page they estimate annual fuel savings to be $200,000. They then mention a two year payback period. This seems to imply a sticker price of around $400K.

Re: Tesla Semi

#396

Post by jameshart »

lloeki wrote: post #363
nwmcsween wrote: post #132

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…

Trucks already exist[0][1] that would seem to go contra your last two points (full-width windshield, no bumper/frame, flush lights). [0]: http://www.renault-trucks.co.uk/media/image/nouvelles-gammes... [1]: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/wp-content/uploads/2011/0...

Right - I was going to ask if I took an American truck mechanic to Europe and stood him by a highway, he’d look at all the trucks and say ‘those will never work, the windshields are too big and the engine’s inaccessible and all those fairing panels look fragile.’

Re: Tesla Semi

#397

Post by victor106 »

SigmundA wrote: post #373

Anyone else find it odd they don't talk about the battery? 500 miles of range at 2kwh a mile is a 1000kwh battery which is 10 model S batteries. Model S battery weighs 1,200 lbs lets assume they somehow improved on that by 20-30% so this is a 10,000 lb battery. Not sure how much the motors weigh, the Tesla motor and inverter are about 350lbs so lets say another 1000lbs. A Diesel engine, transmission and fuel for 500…

Not sure how realistic the whole Tesla releases are. They are definitely inspirational. One thing we know for sure is they have a great prototyping/photoshop/After effects team

Re: Tesla Semi

#398

Post by Yizahi »

gsnedders wrote: post #148
jjcm wrote: 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 This isn't anywhere near as impressive as one might think: a Veyron has a pretty bad drag coefficient because of the amount of cooling intakes it has (turns out cooling an engine producing over 1000PS takes a lot of air).

I'm pretty sure that Musk and most of the potential buyers are aware about this. But consider this - if Roadster has exact same road performance as Veyron (accel, max speed, cornering speed etc.) while being more streamlined that makes technically superior to Veyron. Imagine a concrete brick on wheels that has the same road performance as Veyron - its engine and aux controls should be insane and deserve an award on its own, but as a complete car it would less impressive as a Veyron despite being the same on the road.

Re: Tesla Semi

#400

Post by SigmundA »

bognition wrote: post #395
SigmundA wrote: post #373

Anyone else find it odd they don't talk about the battery? 500 miles of range at 2kwh a mile is a 1000kwh battery which is 10 model S batteries. Model S battery weighs 1,200 lbs lets assume they somehow improved on that by 20-30% so this is a 10,000 lb battery. Not sure how much the motors weigh, the Tesla motor and inverter are about 350lbs so lets say another 1000lbs. A Diesel engine, transmission and fuel for 500…

I think your price estimate for the battery isn't too far off. If you scoll down on the page they estimate annual fuel savings to be $200,000. They then mention a two year payback period. This seems to imply a sticker price of around $400K.

I am trying to figure out how they get 2 year payback.

"On a 100-mile route, the Tesla Semi will average $1.26 per mile when operating costs are factored in to $1.51 for diesel trucks."

That 25 cents a mile savings, average trucker does 45,000 miles a year, 100,000 on the top end for long haul. Even at 100k a year that's an 8 year payback right?

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