Elon Musk and his various enterprises are pretty good at disrupting established industries – just ask the auto industry what they think. We’ll he’s at it again. This time no doubt getting the pulse rate up on more than a few of the world’s truck manufacturers.
A few days ago, Tesla announced their latest venture – the Tesla SEMI. This giant electric 18 wheel truck offers amazing performance and a 20% operating cost saving. If this operates as well as Elon suggests, (and historically Tesla normally exceed their claims) then this is a significant advance in an industry that has seen very little change other than gradual iterative improvements.
With 0-100kmp in just 20 secs (with a 32t load) and able to sustain 100kph up a 5% incline when the best diesel trucks can only achieve 72kmh. Couple this with a 800km claimed range and it’s an amazing machine.
Now they just have to get them into production – but it’s clear that by 2025 modern vehicles are going to look a lot different to that of today. I wonder just how many of today’s manufacturers will still be around.
Watch the official announcement here: