Tesla introduced the Semi tractor, which Mercedes-Benz called violating the laws of physics
Completely unnoticed was the news that Tesla had finally unveiled the final version of the Semi long-range electric tractor and had already handed over the first to customers. The electric truck was announced in 2017. Since 2019, delivery dates have been postponed several times. And now, during the official presentation of the model to the first customers, Elon Musk personally drove the semi.
By the way, the day before, several customers including PepsiCo, received the keys to the trucks, which will begin delivery on the eve of the New Year.
Creating the impossible
Bill Gates, in 2020 after another postponement of the semi presentation, said that an electric truck is hardly possible simply because it needs too heavy batteries:
"The more weight you're trying to move, the more batteries you need to power the car. But the more batteries you use, the more weight you add, and the more power you need. Even with big breakthroughs in battery technology, electric vehicles will probably never be a practical solution in the fields of cargo transport, cargo ships, and passenger aircraft, Electricity works for short distances but heavy haul vehicles need a different solution."
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Daimler-benzAG's truck division head Martin Daum was even more blunt saying Tesla's promised 500-mile range violated the laws of physics:
"If Tesla does deliver on this promise, we will obviously buy two trucks, one for disassembly and one for testing, because if that happens something has passed us by. But for now, the same laws of physics apply in Germany and California."
Looks like Daimler will have to buy two trucks as a video has been released showing the semi traveling 500 miles with a full load of 37 tons on a single charge. Elon Musk claimed that the video shows a serial truck that just rolled off the assembly line without any modifications.
A little about the characteristics
The Semi is driven by a system of four independent engines. It should accelerate to 96km/h in just 5 seconds without a load and in 20 with a full load (37,200) kg.
The price for one Semi will start from 150 thousand dollars. At the same time, the company notes that each truck saves more than $200,000 on fuel over 3 years.
This electric monster has many advantages, but there is a problem that has not been completely solved at the time of its release in the series- charging!
On the one hand, Semi is equipped with a unique megawatt fast charging system, which provides 70% charge in 30 minutes and for every kilometer, the truck consumes 1.24 kWh of electricity.
The problem is that new v4 charging stations, which most support transmission power above 1MW, will not start appearing until 2023. Moreover, the charging infrastructure must be designed so as not to violate (at least not much at first) the existing routes and the principles of their formation.
Most likely, for starters the electric tractor will be used on some fixed routes say between specific warehouses. Real access to long-distance routes will become possible only if the charging network expands, which simply does not exist now.
The first cautious conclusions can be drawn at least in a year, but here the important fact is that Elon Musk has once again proved that he does not throw words into the wind.
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