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This doesn't sound very promising. There may be a niche of some kind here, but this is a very expensive, very short distance and very light weight alternative t
by Apes 9y ago
This doesn't sound very promising. There may be a niche of some kind here, but this is a very expensive, very short distance and very light weight alternative to diesel trucks.
* 200-300 miles is around a 5 hour day when long haul trucking typically has a 10 hour day.
* 4.7 ton payload (9,400 pounds) when the average local haul is probably closer to 10 tons.
* Overnight recharging on a platform that values short downtimes.
* Will likely cost 2x what a diesel truck costs.
What you have here is a truck that costs twice as much and goes half as far with half as much load. The price/ton to operate this electric truck is going to be 4-8x what it is to haul with a diesel truck.
If Telsa keeps pushing forward with this as is, business majors are going to be studying it in 10-15 years as an example of a terrible business decision that was pushed through despite all the red flags.
- nols 9y agoThis wouldn't be suitable for long range OTR trucking, but great for shorter regional trucking. Delivery drivers like UPS or Fedex don't hit 200 miles a day and other trucks in denser areas also travel shorter distances and diesel fumes in urban areas is a huge concern. There are plenty of use cases for an electric truck that can travel 200 miles, even if it won't immediately replace diesel or gas.
- dsfyu404ed 9y agoThey're targeting local delivery fleets that waste half their fuel idling at red lights, not Swift and Schnider.