7 ms·

Details for those that couldn't watch the live stream: -500 mile range on a full charge. On empty 30 min of charging will get you 400 miles. -Lower drag coeff

• namuol 9y ago
  > They're claiming cost per mile is less than rail for shipping goods. Note: This only applies to "Convoy mode" where 3 or more vehicles draft off each other.
  • gpm 9y ago
    Also not clear to me if they assumed they could get away with only 1 driver in that mode...
    • greglindahl 9y ago
      That is the point of convoy mode, elsewise it would cost about the same as 3 trucks minus a little drafting.
      • taneq 9y ago
        Even if each truck is manned, the increased safety from having rear trucks tied in with the front truck might reduce insurance premiums enough to make it viable. Especially if you can give the front truck a "pilot and co-pilot" setup (or good enough AI to simulate that with human pilot and AI co-pilot).
        • greglindahl 9y ago
          I don't think insurance is nearly expensive enough for that scenario.
    • mrep 9y ago
      I'm guessing the cost savings come from fuel efficiencies by drafting.
      • greglindahl 9y ago
        Trucks already draft each other a lot.
  • 05 9y ago
    As long as the taxpayers keep subsidizing trucks destroying the roads proportionally to fourth power of mass per axle..
    • chrisbennet 9y ago
      When you think about it, tax payers subsidized the cost of fuel now. Defense spending related to the Middle East is a large petroleum fuel production externality. I wonder if we’ll reduce our defense spending once we loose our dependence on oil?
• MoBattah 9y ago
  That was incredible. Excited to see TSLA early tomorrow morning.
• azhenley 9y ago
  Also, the 500 mile range is with a full 80,000 pound load.
• fpgaminer 9y ago
  FYI the 500 mile range figure is fully loaded (cargo is at maximum load for U.S. roads). They claim "80% of routes are less than 250 miles", so they say that the truck can take most routes back and forth without needing to charge. The million miles is on the drive train. I don't remember if they mentioned the battery warranty? IIRC the cost per mile in a convoy that they quoted was $0.83/mile. Same enhanced auto driving features of current Teslas. Automatic breaking, etc. EDIT1: The dash is the wheel and two screens (left and right). Supposedly their software has all the integrations drivers need, so they don't need to slap other 3rd party devices into their vehicle (which they describe as a problem for existing trucks. I have no clue one way or the other). It has a frunk.
  • gaustin 9y ago
    Most semi-trucks are filled with proprietary technologies. Then more such is layered on by fleets, leasing companies, maintenance providers, etc. Little of it natively works together. The contractual limitations are nuts. From what I recall technology often isn't shared between automobile and truck manufacturing companies owned by the same parent because of these restrictions.
  • csours 9y ago
    > "80% of routes are less than 250 miles" But over 80% of total miles are put on in the other 20% of routes
• pitaj 9y ago
  Some other specs: Acceleration 0-60 mph with 80k lbs - 20 sec Speed up a 5% Grade - 65 mph Powertrain - 4 Independent Motors on Rear Axles Energy Consumption - Less than 2 kWh / mile
• Daneel_ 9y ago
  The roadster also has 10,000Nm of torque and a top speed over 400km/h. In the old measure that's 7,375 ft-lbs and 250mph+. Those numbers are simply insane, for anyone who doesn't know torque figures. A Dodge Challenger Hellcat makes 650 ft-lbs for comparison.
  • oppositelock 9y ago
    That's 10,000 Nm (aka 7375 ft-lbs) wheel torque. The hellcat has 650 ft-lbs engine torque. First gear in the hellcat is 4.71:1 and rear axle ratio of 2.62:1, which gives you 8021 ft-lb at the wheel at torque peak. In second gear, we have 5347. So, a small car with more wheel torque than a Hellcat in 2nd gear, nice! Edit: Used incorrect ratios, updated.
    • aunty_helen 9y ago
      Generally wheel torque would be quoted in the gear that gives you a 1:1 (or close to) ratio. Hence in a lot of cars a dyno run will be done in 4th gear as higher gears are generally overdrive gears. Also your calc is missing the final drive ratio.
  • jsmthrowaway 9y ago
    It might do better than 300mph if they can build tires capable of holding the car down in one piece. I’m not kidding, I do genuinely suspect that’s a possibility given the figures they announced. I’d wager that’s part of why they wouldn’t commit, because they aren’t sure what it can do yet and have been working with Michelin or Pirelli to find out. It’s hard to comprehend 1.9 pushing a battery pack. If that thing doesn’t break 300, it’ll flirt.
• frik 9y ago
  The semi is quite interesting. The presentation was a bit underwhelming, Elon was very nervous and the stuttering wasn't something I expected. To me this shows how great Steve Jobs was salesman, when he did his presentations.
  • colordrops 9y ago
    I guess you haven't seen many of his presentations. The stuttering in this one was on the low end in comparison.
    • mrep 9y ago
      agreed. However, what elon is selling resonates with me well enough that his speech qualities don't matter to me and don't seem to matter to the crowd/most other people either.
  • bobsil1 9y ago
    That was good Elon. At the last Model 3 unveil he was much more nervous.
  • njarboe 9y ago
    Elon Musk decided that spending days or a week preparing for a presentation is not the best use of his time. At least that much time is generally what it takes to pull off a really smooth presentation. I heard that he does not script them and just does them off the top of his head. Tim Urban has a great essay about different levels of prep people do for talks [1] which he wrote when preparing to give a Ted talk. Musk's talks are on the "Wing it" side of prep while a Ted talk is suppose to be on the "Follow an exact script - Happy-Birthday-Level memorized" level. [1] https://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/doing-a-ted-talk-the-full-story.html https://waitbutwhy.com/2016/03/doing-a-ted-talk-the-full-sto...
    • _Codemonkeyism 9y ago
      Considering Tesla is depending on it's image to get more money to fill the gap of it's ever deepening losses, spending days preparing a presentation is the best use of his time. Tesla has a price-to-sale ration of nearly 6, while Nissan and GM are <0.5. So Tesla is mostly image and vision, not reality. Therefore it depends on Musks presentations with visions of a glorious future.
• gsnedders 9y ago
  > -Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron This isn't anywhere near as impressive as one might think: a Veyron has a pretty bad drag coefficient because of the amount of cooling intakes it has (turns out cooling an engine producing over 1000PS takes a lot of air).
  • jabretti 9y ago
    Yep, my car has a lower drag coefficient than a Veyron, and yours probably does too. A Chevy Tahoe has a lower drag coefficient than a Veyron. One of those super-boxy 80s Volvos has a lower drag coefficient than a Veyron. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient
  • _Codemonkeyism 9y ago
    That is the reason they chose that comparison. a.) everyone thinks a Veyron must have a good coefficient b.) they know it's not that good. Basics of modern marketing (also "low fat high sugar", "low carb high fat", "organic sugar", ...)
  • Yizahi 9y ago
    I'm pretty sure that Musk and most of the potential buyers are aware about this. But consider this - if Roadster has exact same road performance as Veyron (accel, max speed, cornering speed etc.) while being more streamlined that makes technically superior to Veyron. Imagine a concrete brick on wheels that has the same road performance as Veyron - its engine and aux controls should be insane and deserve an award on its own, but as a complete car it would less impressive as a Veyron despite being the same on the road.
• karmapolic 9y ago
  -They're claiming cost per mile is less than rail for shipping goods. NOT Entirely true. This is only in convoy mode.
• semi-extrinsic 9y ago
  > Lower drag coefficient than a bugatti veyron I LOLed at this one. Supercars want lots of downforce so they don't constantly go off the road and you die. They're not built for low Cd. A Toyota Prius has 35% lower drag coefficient than a Bugatti Veyron. It's like when the "superfruit" people go "look at this amazing berry, it has 20% more vitamin C than a lemon!" Well yeah, an orange has 70% more vitamin than a lemon. Marketing wank for the uninformed masses. > On empty 30 min of charging will get you 400 miles. I did a double take here. To do that we're talking ~ 1000 kWh drawn from the grid in 30 min; that's pulling 2 megawatts of power. None of the existing Supercharger installations come close to providing enough power for even one truck. It also means that on the distribution grid, a charging station for 8 semis will need a dedicated 20 MVA 33/11 kV distribution transformer, plus 4 11kV/480V transformers. Unless you manage to keep those charging slots filled 90% of the time, that's going to be bloody expensive electricity.
  • colordrops 9y ago
    There will likely be huge fields of solar cells scattered across the nation with countless trucks pouring through. There is no way this is not the future, even if Tesla doesn't pull it off. But who else is even trying?
  • loufe 9y ago
    Great breakdown!
  • JoshTriplett 9y ago
    > It also means that on the distribution grid, a charging station for 8 semis will need a dedicated 20 MVA 33/11 kV distribution transformer, plus 4 11kV/480V transformers. Or a pile of batteries.
    • raverbashing 9y ago
      Sure, and how you're supposed to charge them fast enough to charge incoming trucks > a charging station for 8 semis will need a dedicated 20 MVA 20MVA is approx. 20MW, Solar Power is 100W/m2 hence that gives 0.2km2 (or 200,000m2 of needed area for 20MW) Solar won't help you in this case