Posted on 12/02/2022 11:08:05 AM PST by Yo-Yo
It's official: the first electric Tesla Semi has been delivered to PepsiCo and Frito-Lay. Tesla held a delivery event Thursday in Sparks, Nevada, to commemorate the event, complete with a load of snacks carried by one of the Semis. Even though I wasn’t there in person, the show still gave me something to chew on.
During the event, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that the Semi is rated for 500 miles of range with a fully loaded trailer, which meant that the battery pack inside the truck would have to be absolutely ginormous. How big, exactly, is unknown; however, Musk took to Twitter early Friday morning to reveal roughly how efficient the truck is, which helps me make estimations about capacity and weight.
PaulK 🇮🇪 ☘️
·
Dec 2, 2022
@shortword
·
Follow
Replying to @M3Marcel @WholeMarsBlog and @elonmusk
Well, let’s do some math. Range, 500 miles. Efficiency is 2kWh/mile so let’s estimate around 1000kWh
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
·
Follow
Current efficiency is 1.7kWh/mile, but there is a clear path to 1.6, possibly 1.5
5:52 AM · Dec 2, 2022
Based on those efficiency numbers, a bit of napkin math shows just how large the battery pack might be. A rating of 1.7 kilowatt-hours per mile equates to a pack size of around 850 kWh, or around 8.5 times the size of a Tesla Model S Plaid's battery.
Multiple sources claim the 100-kWh battery pack you'll find in a Model S weighs around 1,300 pounds. While it's unclear how much the Tesla Semi weighs without a trailer, the truck's battery pack alone could weigh as much as 11,000 pounds—a figure that can quickly eat into a loaded Class 8 truck's maximum gross weight of 80,000 pounds. For comparison, the GMC Hummer EV weighs 9,000 pounds, and an unladen semi-truck can weigh as much as 25,000 pounds, according to JD Power.
Now, it's important to note that the total weight of the battery pack could vary depending on the type of cells used in production as well as the number of components in a battery pack. Still, a rough weight of 11,000 pounds for the pack alone shows just how heavy battery-powered vehicles can be.
Tesla believes it can further increase the efficiency of the Semi, according to Musk. At 1.6 kWh per mile, the Semi would be able to travel around 530 miles with a full load, and at a potential 1.5 kWh-per-mile rating, that would mean 566 miles on a full charge. It's unclear if the efficiency optimizations would be delivered via an over-the-air update or through future hardware improvements.
PepsiCo's deliveries mark the very first production Semis in the wild. The snack company pre-ordered 100 trucks five years ago when the Semi was first announced in 2017, which unofficially represents around 10 percent of the total number of reservations tracked by the public. Tesla says that it will also be using these Semis to haul freight in its own supply chain, meaning that it expects to produce a number of trucks for its own use in the coming months.
We'll probably never find out as this Tesla truck is not destined for long haul over the road use. It is mainly designed for use in short haul round trip daily use.
California has proposed that by 2035 only zero emissions trucks be allowed to enter ports and railyards, so if that holds then there will be a market for these kinds of trucks to move containers out of the ports and into nearby warehouses.
You’re right on the money.
Just like most electric cars are fine for a 50 mile daily commute. Assuming you can afford multiple vehicles for multiple jobs.
Makes sense, I was not aware of that.
Thanks!
An 11,000 pound lithium incendiary bomb. The fireball will be spectacular.
Does it have a battery fire suppression system?
No, but it can be equipped with a full galley, which I presume would include graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey bars.
You must provide your own stick...
From what I’ve read, the “fire suppression system” would need to weigh much more than the vehicle payload.
Fire departments figure 40,000 gallons of water for one electric car battery fire. So this would probably take 160,000 gallons at 8.3 lbs/gal. Well over a million pounds of water.
Any truck that cant work at least 12 hours a day is a money loser.
For an independent trucker, absolutely. For a corporation trying to comply with ridiculous CARB rules, it's the cost of doing business.
Section 422 amended 23 U.S.C. 127(s)–Vehicle weight limitations—Interstate System
Natural gas and electric battery vehicles.--A vehicle, if operated by an engine fueled primarily by natural gas or powered primarily by means of electric battery power, may exceed the weight limit on the power unit by up to 2,000 pounds (up to a maximum gross vehicle weight of 82,000 pounds) under this section.
Didn’t see anywhere in the story about how they’re going to “refill” the battery after a 500 mile pull. Assuming the estimated capacity of the battery is 850 kWh, then to provide a full charge in one hour would require a charger with an output of 850 kW. Quicker charging times, say 45 minutes for a full charge, would require a proportionately higher output charger.
850 kW is a LOT of electrical demand seeing as the average house is somewhere in the 10-15 kW range. So now imagine a typical truck stop for E-semis. You’d probably have 8-10 charging stations. So if all 10 were in use at the same time that would mean a combined electrical demand of 8.5 Megawatts. That’s equivalent to a rather large manufacturing facility. Just for ONE truck stop. Multiply that by several hundred just in the state of California. Yeah, prolly not going to work out too well.
If that Truck gets into an accident, I doubt whatever it hits will survive.
Your analysis is spot on, which is why this Tesla truck is not meant to be a long haul over-the-road truck.
It is meant to be a factory-to-warehouse short hauler, that spends every night in the same spot. The owner of the truck will install a megacharging station for the truck at their own expense on their own property for overnight charging.
It's allowed to be up to 82,000 lbs GVW on the road. Regular semis on the road today are allowed to be up to 80,000 lbs GVW.
I doubt that getting hit by an extra 2,000 lbs is going to make you any more dead.
Yeah, but it's unlikely to menace anyone driving a red Plymouth Valiant through the Mojave Desert.
I sincerely hope that the sleeping area of the EV Semi has large, loud smoke and fire detectors, and an easy/fast exit strategy. I would definitely sleep in my clothes, if I could sleep at all. Connecting the super battery to the super charger could make for a super surprise. A few months ago Finland announced they have super fast, 15 minute EV charging stations. They do not mention just how much damage super charging does to the overall condition, capacity, and lifetime of the battery.
THere’s a couple more things to be concerned about. 500 miles isn’t much of a range for an OTR truck. If one of these things decides to go up in a blaze, you’d be able to BBQ in the next state from the ensuing blaze. How long does it take to charge a battery like this? If it takes so much to acquire the raw materials for the much smaller car batteries, what will this monstrosity take? Special shops would be needed for much of the service on these things. That’s, I’m sure, only part of the concerns. Seems like a battery powered semi-truck is maybe not such a good idea. Rather like a battery powered smaller vehicle.
Real math matters no matter who you are. A big corp can get away with fuzzy math longer than an independent but in the end nobody escapes.
Good answer. Now all someone has to do is invent a light fire suppression unit for batteries to make it safe to go out on the highway.
There has been high wind warning which all the weight would help trucks stay upright.
Hopefully they would have regenerative breaking but going down a long hill could overcharge and overheat a battery causing fireworks. Also how many day would it take to recharge?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.