Tesla Semi event

Pretty much only Elon Musk could make me want a Semi truck, but it looks wicked cool.

He also surprised us with the announcement of the the Tesla Roadster.

I seriously lust for this beast.

I’m not sure how long the livestream will work but it is fun 1/2 hour to see Elon creating hype.

I know nothing of electric vehicles, but those numbers he was throwing around in this video seemed crazy. Especially for the semi truck. OMG. 80,000 lb. GVW with a 500 mile range and (again 80,000 lb.) zero to sixty in 20 seconds?!? Charged in 30 minutes? Better 5% uphill grade performance than a diesel truck?!? (65 mph vs. 45 mph). And in production by 2019?!?

This sounds utterly fantastic.
It also makes me wonder how they’d compare on a long 20% grade. It makes me wonder a lot of things.

Yes, the Model 3 numbers were also fantastic, and of course I’d personally lust after that far more than I would a semi truck, but for me, I was far more excited to learn that they are even attempting a semi truck. I found the truck stuff far more fascinating, just on the idea of the thing.

Is this even possible?
I mean, I guess of course, anything is possible. But by 2019? That would shock the shit out of me to see these beasts rolling down the road in two years.

Some pretty impressive stuff. The two big questions are pricing including maintenance and how rugged these will be. A semi lives a very “rough life” driving hundreds of thousands of miles on the highway compared to a car driving mostly around town.

Will these even ship in any quantity? Tesla can barely build any vehicles as is.

In the video, around the 3:40 mark, he sort of addresses reliability, and guarantees that the truck will not “break down” (whatever that means) for a million miles, and around the 6 minute mark, he claims the overall cost to operate (apparently all things considered - there’s a very small list that doesn’t itemize much) would be 20% higher for the diesel. And at some point, he claims you’ll never need to replace the brake pads.

But yeah, specifics are certainly lacking.

You can generally add at least two years to any timetable that Musk sets.

Anyway, I want one of these in ATS.

Isn’t the “conventional wisdom” regarding reliability that electric vehicles will be inherently more reliable since there are so few moving parts (and fewer moving parts means less friction, things wearing out, breaking, etc). That makes me think that someone must have compared Tesla’s existing cars to comparable gas-powered cars in that regard. I oughta look that up.

As much as I love Elon, his timetables have no credibility. I suspect they’ll be struggling to meet existing Model 3 demand in 2019.
So really it is doubtful they’ll be able to ramp up a truck manufacturer assembly line by then.

The roadster in 2020 is possible but pretty unlikely.

As far as reliability goes I’ve had my Tesla S almost 3.5 years, the reliability has been roughly as good as my previous car an Accura RSX was in it is first 3 or 4 years. Consumer Reports rates Tesla as good but not great. That said the service experience with Tesla is awesome.

Still, in some reliability aspect, like brakes, I’m sure Elon is right. I live on a very steep street, and I think the physical brake pads of the car have been engaged three times when I slammed on the brakes. All the other braking has been regenerative which involves no moving parts just an electromagnetic rotor

Skip to 57:00 or so if your link doesn’t take you there.

Sub 2 second 0-60 launch is crazy shit to think about for a street legal vehicle. I realize this isn’t the truck, but holy crap it’s insane where Tesla is taking things.

Well again my point on that is can these trucks stand up to the more harsh world on long haul trucking. That requires more than they would need for design when it comes to a regular Tesla. I’m sure they can do it but its going to take real world performance to make potential companies believe.

Going to also require an extensive nationwide charging system to make broad use viable for trucking companies. That’s allot of money.

And there’s a lot more to reliability than the drive train, as Tesla’s experience with the Model X shows.

Yes. On the one hand, electric drive trains should be more reliable, but on the other hand, Tesla doesn’t have the accumulated experience of the more established manufacturers.

Correct - a typical all-electric vehicle has about 25 moving parts in its “power plant” as opposed to 300 - 500 for a gas engine (some articles include the individual links in some chains to drive the number up to about 2000). Many of those moving parts in the electric motor are magnetic bearings with no metal-to-metal contact at all, so there’s no oil changes, lubricant, etc.

Of course, once you get out of the actual power plant and into the suspension, wheels and whatnot, the two types of cars are not too dissimilar – there are still springs, sway-bars, shocks, steering, etc.

Brakes are weird on electrics and some hybrids; I think they take less maintenance.

Man, I fuckin’ love roadsters. They are totally impractical and I cannot afford much less justify buying one, but I WANT.

While the truck looks awesome I feel delivery type vehicles more suited to around-town driving are a better fit for electric in the short to medium term compared to long-haul. Local fleets, yards for charging, and stop and go traffic.

Personally I think Tesla stock is going to crash (my conviction is not strong enough to be money on it). I love the cars and the energy the company has.

It was up 2.55 to close at $315 which is a fairly modest move for TSLA considering all the news Elon generated.yesterday.

That roadster is going to be around $200k, I’ve heard. Even if it wasn’t, it doesn’t do much for me really. The interior, while high-tech, is too much like a living iPhone for my taste–which is pretty much how I see all Teslas. I actually like the more mechanical, plebian switch-and-dial feel of ICE car cabins, which in the best of them give you a feeling of actually piloting some sort of powerful machine. Teslas seem to bend over backwards to avoid any taint of the nasty, smelly, ICE and mechanical world of the plebes, instead giving you an environment as deliberately far from a traditional car’s as possible.

I am convinced Musk actually hates cars; he views the automobile as a cell phone, and wants the future to be one where everyone does. Regardless of whatever technical wizardry his company produces (and the performance numbers are mind blowing some times), I have zero interest in anything he sells. Not that I’d be averse to an electric car, but I’d want it to look and feel like an ICE car in most ways.

I know, dinosaur and all that, but whatever.

Cripes, I’m 57, and can’t believe I had to just now look up was an ICE car is. First I’ve ever seen referred to in that way.

But anyway, I basically agree with you, having nothing but fond memories of them, whether it be working on them, or the thrill and sound (and awesome torque) of driving a late 60’s/ early '70s muscle car, all the way up to the late 70’s Firebirds and Camaros. By that point, they didn’t offer much in terms of horsepower, but they were still aesthetically pleasing and a ton of fun to drive.

I’ve never experienced an electric vehicle though, so at this point I can’t neg them too much, but for me, what I’d miss most is the sound of a big V8 through headers and Thrush™ mufflers. :)

Same here and then I thought, “Oh, duh”

Generational thing, perhaps. I’m all on board with what Musk is selling, personally.

Got no love for gas, or the trappings thereof. In fact I’m all for a hypothetical future of fully autonomous cars. Though the transition is gonna be a bear.