Tesla will finally unveil its prototype for an electric semi-trailer prime mover and founder and CEO Elon Musk is not letting the company’s recent stumbles dampen his enthusiasm for hype.
The mercurial magnate made a bold tweet on Sunday saying that the new electric truck will be unveiled this Thursday at 8pm.
“This will blow your mind clear out of your skull and into an alternate dimension. Just need to find my portal gun …” Musk tweeted.
The stakes are high for Tesla — and the future of diesel and transportation.
For Tesla, the unveiling arrives during a rough patch for the company, which is in the midst of producing its mass-market Model 3 sedans far more slowly than Musk initially pledged and two weeks ago reported its biggest quarterly loss so far.
More broadly, significant electrification of the heavy-duty trucking sector in the coming decades could play an important role in curbing global oil demand.
Long-haul trucks account for 13 per cent of U.S. petroleum oil consumption, according to the group Securing America’s Future Energy.
Trand\sport is a major source of petroleum demand worldwide. International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol has noted that trucks in Asia alone are responsible for a third of oil demand growth levels.
Questions confronting Musk’s plan to enter the heavy-duty trucking market include Tesla’s timeline for commercial production and projected vehicle costs, what range the vehicle will have, and the extent to which it will have autonomous features and other advanced technologies that enable “platooning” of multiple vehicles and other attributes.
Reuters reported back in late August that range would be around 320-480 kilometres which is of course a lot less than current diesel powered prime movers which can carry hundreds of litres of fuel and travel anywhere up to 2000 km without the need to refuel
