Tesla Semi completed its first flight

15 March 2018

A real demonstration of the achievements or just another PR move?

In November 2017 Elon Musk unveiled an electric truck Tesla Semi. Characteristics reported simply fantastic: an empty truck is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in just five seconds (and this is the level of sports cars), and power reserve at full load (which is 36 tons) will reach 800 kilometers. And although before the start of serial production is still a lot of time, Tesla is already Semi completed its first flight.

Two pre-production truck delivered components with the "Giavarini-1" in Nevada for the Tesla automotive plant in California. Most likely, we are talking about traction batteries. While Tesla did not disclose accurate information about the cargo, including its weight. But the example is indicative: now electric tow tractor capable of doing the job.

However, while in the present specimens likely using the filling is far from the final version. Distance between "Gigapascal-1" and the plant in Fremont is 400 kilometers, that is, even when fully loaded the older version of the Tesla Semi (the younger the reserve will not exceed 480 kilometers) should not just reach the destination without interim recharging, and back. In the meantime, the trucks still came by for a Supercharger station.

Serial production Tesla Semi should begin in 2019. The truck will cost $150 000 or $180 000, depending on the battery capacity. As of late January, the American media talked about a thousand confirmed orders. Largest client was the international service of Express delivery company UPS, which was prepaid for 125 trucks. Also among the major customers mentioned PepsiCo, which wanted to purchase 100 of these machines.