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Tesla Semi truck unveil set for September
- chollida1 10y agoalso mentioned by Elon https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/852581046625345536 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/852581046625345536 The next gen roadster is going to be a convertible. > Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will unveil its semi-truck in September. > The company will also unveil a pick-up truck in 18 to 24 months, Musk said. I can't imagine they are creating a new frame for a semi truck or pick up truck. I've got to imagine they are going to partner with someone like they did with lotus for their first roadster.
- ryandamm 10y agoElon Musk is not worried about the limits of your imagination. Honestly, the advantages of building a frame around the electric drivetrain are so huge, I can't imagine them reusing one built for internal combustion engines at this point.
- pythonaut_16 10y agoI think I remember reading somewhere that the pick-up truck would be based on one of their existing frames. I would imagine that the new roadster will also share a frame with the Model 3 (assuming it's a different frame from the Model S)
- freehunter 10y agoI would be very surprised if this was a pick-up truck ala a Chevy Silverado and not a pick-up truck ala the Honda Ridgeline. As in, it will be a cab with a bed, but will be built with a unibody chassis instead of body-on-frame. Independent suspension all around instead of a solid rear axle. I really can't imagine Telsa trying to compete against the F-150. --edit changed "won't be a cab with a bed" to "will be a cab with a bed"
- cwyers 10y agoHe said semi-truck, not pickup truck. Very, very different.
- freehunter 10y agoYou must have missed the part where we're talking about a Tesla pickup truck. Because we're talking about a Tesla pickup truck right now.
- mtgx 10y agoDidn't Tesla hire some semi truck people from Mercedes? https://electrek.co/2016/09/22/tesla-semi-hired-engineers-daimlers-supertruck-program/ https://electrek.co/2016/09/22/tesla-semi-hired-engineers-da...
- FreedomToCreate 10y agoDoes this guy not have enough he already has his company working on. I'm really looking forward to see how they solved the weight to energy density issue for this.
- csours 10y agoA natural gas fuel cell would probably be the best solution.
- mtgx 10y agoIt seems highly unlikely Elon Musk would've gone for such a solution. I think he would've preferred not to go into semi-trucks at all if it meant he had to make a natural gas hybrid, and he would've just waited until batteries were good enough for semis. I doubt he'd even combine it with hydrogen, as Nikola says it will, considering how much Musk has been criticizing hydrogen as impractical.
- germinalphrase 10y agoCan anyone speak to the hydrogen issue? I have no background in the topic, but battery tech does seem to be a long-term limitation.
- jobu 10y agoHydrogen atoms are very small and hard to contain. The atoms tend to diffuse into the structure of whatever is containing them and can cause blistering or embrittlement - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_embrittlement
- csours 10y agohttps://qz.com/186432/why-hydrogen-powered-cars-will-drive-elon-musk-crazy/ https://qz.com/186432/why-hydrogen-powered-cars-will-drive-e...
- csours 10y ago
- 64zoolane 10y agoinvestors will probably wish Elon could just stick to one thing and finish it
- _ph_ 10y agoWhat didn't he finish, which isn't clearly work in progress? And product development goes in clear phases. There is no product development on S,X or 3, the 3 is in production preparation now. So it makes completely sense, that the product dev teams are now working on vehicles past the Model 3.
- chc 10y agoThe Model X slipped repeatedly. Autopilot on the new "full self-driving" hardware is way behind schedule. The Model 3 remains to be seen, but even it their rosiest scenario, it seems unlikely they'll be able to get through the existing backlog by the end of next year. I like Tesla and got one of the first reservations for the Model 3, but it seems pretty fair to say that they often take on a lot more than they're actually equipped to deliver.
- _ph_ 10y agoYes, the Model X slipped - but it was finished. The other items you name are clearly in progress. It is possible they might slip, but especially the Model 3 launch seems to be quite on track.
- Animats 10y agoYes. Musk's announced tasks for 2017: - Get Model 3 production line working. (He said he'd live at the plant to make that happen.) - Get battery factory to full operation. - Get Falcon Heavy to first launch. (Already years late, but supposed to launch this year.) - Get Brownsville launch facility built and operating. (First launch scheduled for 2018.) - Get crewed Dragon working. The US currently has no manned space capability. (First crewed launch delayed again, to 2018.) - Get self-driving working reliably.
- 10y ago
- Animats 10y agoTesla is trying to compete with the announced Nikolai 1.[1] That's hydrogen-powered, a fuel cell/battery system. [1] https://nikolamotor.com/one https://nikolamotor.com/one
- jobu 10y agoInteresting. When Nikola announced that truck last year it was a Hybrid with a turbine generator and a battery pack. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1103987_nikola-one-2000-hp-natural-gas-electric-semi-truck-announced http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1103987_nikola-one-2000-... Anyone know when and why they changed their plans?
- Animats 10y agoProbably when they found out how much gas turbines cost. Turbine engines don't seem to get any cheaper below bizjet size, where they cost a quarter million or so. That's why light aircraft are still running on pistons. Ford built a turbine-powered semitrailer truck prototype in 1964.[1] Worked fine, but cost too much. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tODsl0-oW0Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tODsl0-oW0Q
- sbierwagen 10y agoDon't forget the famous Chrysler turbine car: unit cost across the 55 unit production run estimated to be $386,000 per, in 2016 dollars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car
- r00fus 10y agoSeems vaporous. 1M miles of free fuel cell refuels? I simply don't have faith that Fuel Cells are going anywhere.
- olivermarks 10y agohttp://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/tesla-stock-may-be-soaring-but-elon-musks-business-model-is-doomed-says-former-gm-vice-chairman-lutz.html http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/12/tesla-stock-may-be-soaring-bu... Ducks and awaits massive drop in HN karma
- bigtimeidiot 10y agoNot sure the CEO of the competition is a great source, especially on these boards. With all the smack Musk has talked about ICEs over the years, I don't expect compliments from GM.
- olivermarks 10y agoLutz is a brilliant automotive businessman IMO and fought hard to make GM innovative before he retired. He's not some empty suit beancounter
- bigtimeidiot 10y ago>He's not some empty suit beancounter I agree with you. But there's a pretty heavy burden of proof on any denigration of Tesla around here. That and I think some of the old guard of auto manufacturing would love to stick it to Musk.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 10y agoIs yet another piece of Tesla FUD in an endless stream really contributing to the discussion? If the article has merit, it can be its own submission, but this looks like the same old gnashing of teeth and beating of breasts that I've seen hundreds of times. Headline: "Tesla competitor thinks Tesla no good!" Seriously, there's nothing there that hasn't been said for years.
- polyomino 10y agoApple will never be able to sustain it's pricing pressure since PC manufacturers produce their hardware at a loss.
- bigtimeidiot 10y agoHow heavy would one of these suckers be with a battery? Can our infrastructure handle that? Transports do enough damage to the roads as is.
- olivermarks 10y ago96 Leaf modules in an 'eota' that Manzanita Power Systems are building https://www.facebook.com/106095429411883/photos/a.175985129089579.36381.106095429411883/1295550293799718/?type=3&theater https://www.facebook.com/106095429411883/photos/a.1759851290...
- shaftway 10y agoI don't understand why people keep expecting them to look like modern trucks. I think in terms of visuals, the movie Logan did a really good job of imagining what a driverless truck could/would/should look like: basically a sled with a container on top. The movie used them as part of a dystopian future, with an accident caused by one of the trucks' negligence, so let's try not to do that. And I hope we'd be better at clustering them into container "trains" for efficiency instead of seeing them all separated. But in terms of design I see no reason why you'd have a faux cab on the front. This also answers the battery issue. Why swap batteries when you could just swap sleds. Each sled could carry a container ~100 miles from one charge station to the next. When it gets to a station just park behind the next sled and slide the load from one to the other. New sled can keep going, old sled can recharge while it waits for the next load.
- Veratyr 10y agoThey're not releasing a driverless truck unless I'm missing something big? So they'll still need a cab and still look like modern trucks.