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Can Tesla Carve a Niche for Itself in the Truck Market?

tesla carve a niche in the truck market

After a long wait, Elon Musk recently unveiled the brand new all-electric Tesla Semi – a heavy duty truck designed for cargo transportation. Musk has already talked about his master plan of covering all major forms of transportation and the newly introduced truck is part of the plan.

Who wants to use a truck for transportation though if it takes hours to charge up? Those eggs will not taste that good – that is for sure! Well, it could work on routes that stay around the nest.


Tesla Semi – The Key Features

The truck has a very clean, stylish, and futuristic look, just as you would expect from Tesla. Unlike regular trucks, it does not have exterior steps. Instead, the door opens to a set of steps which are easy to climb. The driver’s seat is at the center for increased visibility. The ceiling is surprisingly high – you can stand upright without any difficulty.

The driver’s area has a couple of touchscreen displays, blind spot monitoring system, built-in connectivity, electronic data logging, and all the other bells and whistles you expect to see in a vehicle like this one.


Performance

The Tesla Semi, without any load, can reach 60 mph in five seconds – for regular trucks it takes about 15 seconds. When attached to an 80,000-pound load, which is its maximum capacity, the truck can reach 60 mph in 20 seconds – for regular trucks it takes about a minute to do the same.

The truck has a range of 500 miles on a single charge. Statistics show that close to 80% of trucking routes in the country are less than 250 miles. So, with the Tesla Semi, a trucker can deliver the cargo at the destination and make it all the way back on a single charge if they want to cut it that close which no business would want to do. Apart from this, you can also install Megachargers, a high-speed charging solution for electric vehicles which provides you with 400 miles of range in just 30 minutes.

Well, Tesla is making some progress.


Safety Features

The Tesla Semi features an impact resistant windshield. It has onboard sensors to reduce the risk of jackknifing. The sensors are designed to detect signs of instability and respond automatically with positive or negative torque to each wheel. They also actuate the brakes automatically to prevent the vehicle from losing control unlike America’s tax code which has one rule stacked up on another – it is just ridiculous but this is another subject!

Other safety features include surround cameras to reduce blind spots, automatic alerts for obstacles, automatic lane keeping, automatic emergency braking, and many more.


Low Maintenance

The Tesla Semi requires very little maintenance. It does not have an engine, transmission, and other parts that a regular truck has, which require constant upkeep. The battery and motor can last over a million miles even under the harshest of driving conditions. So, truckers will certainly find it easier to maintain than regular trucks.


What to Expect

The Tesla Semi looks pretty impressive and boasts of a number of advantages over regular trucks. It is a testing prototype, so we can expect to see a few minor changes when the vehicle enters production in 2019.

The vehicle has already received an enthusiastic response from the market, with major logistics and transportation firms placing orders well in advance. DHL, Titanium Transportation Group, Ryder, Fortigo Freight Services, and J.B. Hunt have all ordered the Tesla Semi, which is encouraging news for the company.

Now, the only thing that Tesla needs to focus on is to make sure the vehicle enters production in 2019, as promised. Tesla has repeated failed to meet its own production targets in the past and many people are wondering if it will be able to do so this time. That said, experts in the logistics and transportation industry believe that electric trucks could be the next big thing and are worth waiting for. So, we will have to wait a couple of years to find out if Tesla’s gamble pays off or not.

No matter what Tesla will be in a better position than Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey that is for sure!

They are going to be around $150,000 to $180,000. OK! Normal semi-trucks sit around $80,000 but the best ones can cost up to $150,000.

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