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Tesla’s Electric Semi Truck Gets Orders from Wal-Mart and J.B. Hunt
- nodesocket 9y agoI called this last night right after the event, after another ill-informed HN user was calling for Elon to step down. (shaking my head) > I'd say Elon is doing just fine. The semi business long term could be a game changer that propels Tesla beyond a car company. Think fleets, partnerships with FedEX, UPS, DHL, long haul companies, van lines moving companies, Amazon deliveries. Lot's of very lucrative business opportunities. Also, the pickup truck market in the United States is huge, Tesla is getting into that as well.
- c0nducktr 9y agoCongratulations.
- make3 9y agoWalmart ordered 5. they have 5000 trucks. this is a non event.
- tempestn 9y agoIt's something - means they're interested in checking it out at least. Obviously they're not going to order 1000 off the bat. (Also, they ordered 15 total - 10 for Canada.)
- notatoad 9y agoat $250k per unit, 15 trucks is $3.75M. That's less than the cost of a 30 second superbowl commercial for wal mart to hop on the Tesla PR machine for a day or two. The trucks could never leave the lot and they'd have gotten their moneys worth.
- skybrian 9y agoBefore you get too excited, ordering 10 trucks as a test doesn't mean fleet orders will happen. It depends on how well they do.
- toomuchtodo 9y agoAs long as they don’t break down and the numbers Tesla advertised are real world, what would be a show stopper?
- notatoad 9y ago>As long as they don’t break down that's probably the big one. They will break down. all industrial vehicles do, it's just a factored-in cost. the question is how often will they break down, and how much of a hassle will it be to repair them when they do break down?
- toomuchtodo 9y agoI would assume their Tesla Ranger service would be deployed for break downs, replacing your traditional emergency roadside contracts your fleet might have, amortizing the Rangers across both passenger and semi vehicles. When your Diesel engine fails, you’re stuck on the road. The Tesla Semi can limp home on two out of four motors (although a battery failure is going to require a tow).
- clort 9y agowhy that last - do they have only a single battery for all four motors? I would have thought in a vehicle this size, that splitting the battery bank into controllable sections would make ultimate sense. If a part of the power pack fails, just shut that off and get the service agent to replace it at the next convenient place. which reminds me of the old trope about Rolls Royce, where dealers were supposed to have a replacement vehicle ready to go in the back of an unbranded lorry at all times so that if you broke down, they could show up and get you off the side of the road in short order, avoiding bad press and maintaining their image of never failing.
- ovao 9y agoThat an electric semi would be used in the same manner as conventional fossil fuel-powered semis is what you believe you’ve correctly predicted? Or am I missing something?
- noitsnot 9y agoPeople are upset because Elon made public statements about production numbers. 1,500+ Model 3's by September and 5,000 by year's end. They delivered 220 last quarter, are losing reservations, and are running out of time and money. My bet is the Semi doesn't see one delivery.
- eklitzke 9y agoThat's a bold bet. You don't think they can deliver one?
- loeg 9y agoBefore they are bankrupted? Possibly.
- nodesocket 9y agoI bet you one share of Tesla ($315 as of now) that they absolutely deliver one Semi. Put your money where you mouth is. My contact info in my HN profile if you wish to proceed. Bitcoin bet works best.
- noitsnot 9y agoOh, Justin. Get a grip.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- PinguTS 9y agoIsn't that normal, that if you are one of the big guy that you look into all possibilities and always re-evalute what gives you the best option for the money?
- JumpCrisscross 9y agoIt's common enough that these orders, alone, don't single-handedly vouch for the product. It's unusual enough to be worth mentioning, particularly since the trucks are heading for actual deployment. Strategically, this is Tesla pissing on their post, primarily with the aim of deterring new entrants.
- kmonsen 9y agoWe are only talking $5k deposits so far, peanuts for these companies.
- wallace_f 9y agoDuring the unveiling Musk's cost was 1.51/mile for diesel semi, 1.21/m for Tesla @2.5/diesel & $.07/kwh. But a bit of Googling says avg. US prices are $.12/kwh, so $2.07/mile--133% the cost of a diesel semi. So is Tesla able to negotiate subsidized rates? Or are buyers purchasing for some other reason? Or is somehing way off here? 0
- mjamesaustin 9y agoDuring the presentation, Musk says that Tesla will guarantee $.07/kwh for all their trucks. So his numbers are based upon that.
- qyv 9y agoI wonder how that guarantee will be realized? Subsidies? Unless I am missing something, this seems to be artificially lower operating costs of the Semi in order to make to favorable to diesel.
- mch82 9y agoSolar chargers built by Tesla’s solar business unit
- zzzzzzzza 9y agothey said their factory would be powered by solar panels (it's not) and their superchargers would be solar powered as well (they're not). Kind of one of those things like battery swapping that's not as practical as it sounds.
- withdavidli 9y agoNot an expert in this field, with costs or anything. My guess if not subsidies, it's a bet that electric energy will be cheaper, or batteries get more efficient to meet that price point in the 2-3 years it takes to ramp up production. In that time, they can get pre-orders. This reminds me of car companies advertising guaranteed gas prices for certain types of cars back when gas started hitting $3/$4 mark. I would see commercials of new cars saying $2.50/g for the next 5 years or something similar. Found one: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/chrysler-extends-gas-card-promotion-another-month-car-news https://www.caranddriver.com/news/chrysler-extends-gas-card-... Chrysler, $2.99/g for 3 years if you buy new car.
- partiallypro 9y agoThis is only 15 trucks in Wal-mart's fleet of thousands. I wonder how longer the delivery is on these limited orders, given they have failed so badly in meeting delivery for their other models? One thing I find interesting about Tesla is that it has immense cash burn, and in a way is doing a backdoor capital raise by taking preorders. I think Tesla is a great company, but their cash burn is frighteningly high. Off topic, but Tesla also started selling USB powerbanks and I really want one. I have a feeling it's no more special than other powerbanks, but...Tesla. I guess in the end, Tesla can get away with a lot because people believe in the brand. I believe in the brand, I just am skeptical about its balance sheet or its current stock valuation.
- 11thEarlOfMar 9y ago> but their cash burn is frighteningly high. In 2004, I sold a small position in AMZN because they were taking on $100 Million in debt every quarter and taking losses with no end in sight. I lost faith. That was expensive.
- Hypx 9y agoTSLA is taking on $1.5 billion in debt every quarter or so. Not sure if this is the same situation.
- aerovistae 9y agoThat's because Amazon's core business was in a domain where they could make sizable revenues from day one and scale as they went along. Building 500,000 cars is a bit different than building out a website on which to sell stuff other people already made. So yeah, I would expect Tesla to be spending more along the way and making less in the beginning.
- kmonsen 9y agoThat also makes it more risky. Not sure if Tesla can still fail and what it would look like, but they are currently bleeding money that roadsters and trucks 3+ years from now won't fix. I really hope they succeed but can't really see how it happens.
- sundvor 9y agoWas anyone actually surprised to see this? I had two thoughts: Imagine the advertising impact - and value - of one of these trucks clad in corporate livery. The initial (and I'd expect it to be fairly long lasting) wow factor is going to be huge. As a sometimes bicycle rider who struggles with diesel fumes (as would anyone), I for one would love if all trucks were electric. Meanwhile, my Respro mask helps protect my lungs.
- fleitz 9y agoThese remind me of the first streamlined Kenworths, they look super cool.
- IshKebab 9y agoDo these things even have wing mirrors? Looks like a death trap for cyclists.
- JungleGymSam 9y agoHave you not seen pictures of it? And don't you think they thought of that?
- AckSyn 9y agoCyclists don't frequent interstate highways, nor should a trailer have to worry about them much if the cyclist is obeying the rules of the road. Basic rule of thumb is if you're the smaller of the two objects on the road, you get out of the way. You'll be road grease if you don't.
- pasta 9y agoIt would be great to have electric semis in our cities. Less noise and less air polution. This order already show that Tesla's semis are a succes because it's the first small step to a better world.
- dmoy 9y ago> This order already show that Tesla's semis are a succes because it's the first small step to a better world. I'm all for electric trucks (buses, garbage trucks, etc). But how can we call this a success before they ship their first unit? For all we know it might end up failing so bad that everyone gets spooked off of the idea and delays actually getting sizeable traction on electric trucks. Or maybe they will be successful. But not yet...
- bch 9y agoWalmart Canada apparently ordered 15 and Loblaw (Canadian grocery retailer) ordered 25, on a claimed move to a completely low-emissions fleet. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tesla-electric-truck-walmart-test-1.4407198 http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tesla-electric-truck-walmart...
- Overtonwindow 9y agoIf a semi truck is all electric, does that mean it could be allowed in the HOV lanes? Especially the restricted lanes, like those around DC?
- RickJWag 9y agoWow, Wal-Mart and JB Hunt. Elon Musk had better spend some vacation time in Arkansas. That 'tiny' state is helping him at an opportune time.
- thisisit 9y agoThis is great for Tesla but have they increased production for batteries? If they can't pump out batteries just as fast this all will be for naught.