I will always attempt to support with future purchases the automobiles that I grew up tinkering with and driving. I'll leave it to others to adopt the EV's, they just are not my cup of tea.
I truly weep for the generations to come that will have no idea what driving an automobile with a real, gasoline engine feels like... and somehow this is progress
Uh, this IS progress, on multiple levels, regardless of your twisted view of gas cars somehow being more advanced. Its like weeping for the generations that have no idea of what ejecting a VHS tape feels like, or an optical drive, or using a flip phone, etc.
@zero to 60 miles per hour in five seconds when empty, and in 20 seconds when loaded with 80,000 pounds of goods.
Now that's impressive in anyone's book. There's a semi that can stay in the left lane and not have cars flashing lights and darting around on the right side.
If you look at cars today, and think, what would Apple do if they wanted to move it forward, the way they did for the smartphones back in 2007, I can't think they could do anything better than what Tesla does. It pushes autonomy as far as is practical, their aesthetic design is top notch, and they take a step forward while also trying to stay practical. And for some industries, you cannot do this at profit, at least at first. At least they are trying, and building things, even if profits are to follow. It's something we can see, and soon, be able to afford also, with Tesla 3. So yes, I think that is why we see this on an Apple forum, and also because Apple tried to enter this field. So if Apple would buy Tesla, I can see Musk as the CEO visionary, and Cook as the COO he's always been.
I don’t need to go 250 mph, but the 650 mile range is a dealmaker. I often drive 550 miles one-way to visit relatives, and my vehicle must be able to do that without substantial recharge delays. Either great range or turbo-recharging or both is essential for me. Surely Im not alone. Good work Tesla!
Interesting tech though I’m more excited about his roofing tiles.
T. Boone Pickens had targeted semi’s for natural gas as part of his emission reduction plans when he was leaning big into wind farms but electric coupled to renewable generation for semi’s would be even better.
If EV semis get common enough and solar panels get cheap enough, we could see solar panels on the top of trailers. I think that's more than most homes have. I doubt that by today's standards that would result in a net gain whilst driving at 55mph*, but it would surely allow you to drive longer and even charge whilst parked if you end up sleeping during the day.
* Trucking companies typically make the max by adding governors, which could be easily replicated with SW if that's the ideal speed, which it might not be since the remarkably low drag coefficient could allow that to be raised a bit.
Companies are now selling large sheet solar panels designed to replace roofs on industrail buildings entirely. Same could be used to replace flat sheet metal roof of a trailer to generate extra free distance. Although That means you'd need a battery pack in the trailer to store power when not connected to the prime.
Not necessarily. Right now, all semi-tractors require three cables to be connected every time to attach a trailer. These are the primary and backup compressed air brake hose assembly and a power cable for the trailer's lights. It wouldn't be difficult to add a 4th cable that can feed power back into the Tesla's power banks.
That said, I wouldn't discount the idea altogether since trailers sitting in the open could power up. Of course, the battery packs couldn't possible sit as low to the ground as with the tractor, but neither is the cargo they hold. This probably would require so sort of ladder on the front of the trailer so that it can swept of dirt because they do get dirty, but then you have another problem of whether a driver will want sweep the top of every trailer and if it's safe to do 13 feet up with no side rails, which may mean a company doesn't want a driver to risk it.
PS: I don't think it was mentioned, but I assume that Tesla Semi has an onboard air compressor for the trailer's air brakes. The only other option is to only use Tesla trailers, which I'm not even sure would be legal.
The truck idea is long overdue, but is clearly only one part of a bigger idea. I can see a case for these being assembled into fleets with their own specially designed stations along interstates, and then...wait for it...are made driverless and completely autonomous. I can also see them being made with containerized cargo systems, so it gets to the station, and the "pods" are moved to convention smaller road delivery vehicles for local traffic.
The savings in personnel/driver costs are huge. The AFL-CIO and Teamsters are gonna have a fit.
The roadster is a consumer product; the truck is an industrial product with way more potential.
The future profit is in eliminating the need to travel or transport. Testorone-driven marketing of this kind looks very last century in retrospect.
Let us know what you can produce a teleporter that will be in every location so that nothing ever needs to be transported. Until then, we're still going to have about 80% of all cargo moved by trucks,
While we’ll always need to move things like food to distant markets, the future is density instead of sprawl in our cities.
So, per capita, we’ll need to move stuff around less, as people are much closer together. With self-driving cars, there’s no need for performance, as you don’t want your car slinging you around the cabin while you’re doing work or socializing. And cities are pushing for fewer (or no) cars in their densest centers; instead, walking, biking, & transit are the future there.
So we’re in a transition period, where people still buy & own cars individually, so you need performance to market them. But that will change.
You just described why you need semi tractors and other larger cargo vehicles moving forward, not just an individual farmer with his 1920's Ford truck.
I don’t need to go 250 mph, but the 650 mile range is a dealmaker. I often drive 550 miles one-way to visit relatives, and my vehicle must be able to do that without substantial recharge delays. Either great range or turbo-recharging or both is essential for me. Surely Im not alone. Good work Tesla!
A 200 KWhr battery is an easy, and brute force, solution to the problem of range with a $200K car, but it's not a path to an EV future for a car for the masses. It's just a distraction from the currently stalled Model 3 production, as is the truck. It's certainly not an environmentally friendly solution to have a 200 KWhr battery in a passenger car.
Given that their original Roadster was based on a Lotus platform, and that their new Roadster bears more than a passing resemblance to the current Lotus Evora, is this another case of Tesla farming out the largest parts of manufacturing to Lotus?
I don’t need to go 250 mph, but the 650 mile range is a dealmaker. I often drive 550 miles one-way to visit relatives, and my vehicle must be able to do that without substantial recharge delays. Either great range or turbo-recharging or both is essential for me. Surely Im not alone. Good work Tesla!
Maybe one day when all vehicles are controlled by some AI once they enter a highway then maybe that sort of speed would be fine. Mind you, you'd have to be careful not to let the dog stick its head out of the window!
Comments
Nah ... Tim will be CEO and Elon head of R&D in the vehicle and space divisions
Ew. Don't even joke about something like that.
That said, I wouldn't discount the idea altogether since trailers sitting in the open could power up. Of course, the battery packs couldn't possible sit as low to the ground as with the tractor, but neither is the cargo they hold. This probably would require so sort of ladder on the front of the trailer so that it can swept of dirt because they do get dirty, but then you have another problem of whether a driver will want sweep the top of every trailer and if it's safe to do 13 feet up with no side rails, which may mean a company doesn't want a driver to risk it.
PS: I don't think it was mentioned, but I assume that Tesla Semi has an onboard air compressor for the trailer's air brakes. The only other option is to only use Tesla trailers, which I'm not even sure would be legal.
Why do so many people feel they can only cheer for only one company?
The simplicity of thinking strongly reminds me of everyone who hated on Tim Cook (and said Apple was doomed) after Steve passed away.
The savings in personnel/driver costs are huge. The AFL-CIO and Teamsters are gonna have a fit.
The roadster is a consumer product; the truck is an industrial product with way more potential.
You just described why you need semi tractors and other larger cargo vehicles moving forward, not just an individual farmer with his 1920's Ford truck.