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Where are you getting 400 mile range on a semi towing a load coming from 30 minutes of charging?

BinaryIdiot 9y ago
Tesla was mentioning 400 miles. I _could have sworn_ they specified those numbers were all with an average load but it seems official numbers are a bit annoying to source. So now I'm curious if that's accurate or not.
_ph_ 9y ago
That is the number Tesla promised for their megachargars at the presentation of the semi. So they seem to have clear plans to deploy megawatt chargers at their charging stations.
paranoidrobot 9y ago
For the range - you can order either 300 or 500 mile range options. The range options were said by Tesla to be the range of the truck plus trailer and maximum load, at highway speeds. The 400 mile mention is the 80% capacity of a 500 mile range pack you'd get by a 30 minute charge. Also information given during the announcement. [1] https://www.tesla.com/semi https://www.tesla.com/semi
- dogma1138 9y ago
  That is for their “megawatt” chargers not the current infrastructure. And that is a problem just count the average number of semis in a truck stop they’ll all have to share power. Also many of these truck stops are in the middle of nowhere and while they have electricity they aren’t connected to anything that can provide that much power. Say you get 100 500kWh semis in a stop that need to be charged 80% that’s 4mW if we’re taking Tesla’s 30min turn around that’s 8mW which is not an unnoticeable portion of what a power plant produces and hour.
  - paranoidrobot 9y ago
    > That is for their “megawatt” chargers not the current infrastructure. I never mentioned 'current' infrastructure, whatever that means. We're clearly talking about Tesla Semi here, that's pretty clearly not going to fit in your ordinary Tesla supercharger stall. As for the other 'problems' - they are all solvable. I'm sure Fleet operators and major truck stops will all be jointly cooperating to add MW charging infrastructure along the trial routes. It benefits the fleet operator, it benefits the truck stop operator. Electrical grid operators won't have an issue with it - if you look back at previous postings on HN you'll find several examples where grid operators are struggling to find demand for the grid, given the rise in household efficiency and offshoring of major production infrastructure. Yes it'll require some work to ensure there's not huge spikes in demand, but that's solvable too. Tesla (and others) are already implementing local battery storage at some of their superchargers. This lets them have a more consistent draw on the grid. The ends result of this is that you end up having a huge amount of deployed battery storage at truck stops all over, able to take advantage of spikes in energy production, respond to grid shortages, and smartly manage charging of trucks. Given it's all integrated, there's no reason a major fleet operator wouldn't sign some kind of contract allowing their fleet charging to be slowed or suspended momentarily in return for lower charging costs. I also suspect that there will be (at least) two categories of charger - the immediate "I'm on a short break" MW charger, where you're expected to move on after getting 80% or more capacity, and then an overnight charging slot where you park up for your 10+ hour break.

Tesla was mentioning 400 miles. I _could have sworn_ they specified those numbers were all with an average load but it seems official numbers are a bit annoying to source. So now I'm curious if that's accurate or not.

_ph_ 9y ago

That is the number Tesla promised for their megachargars at the presentation of the semi. So they seem to have clear plans to deploy megawatt chargers at their charging stations.

paranoidrobot 9y ago

For the range - you can order either 300 or 500 mile range options. The range options were said by Tesla to be the range of the truck plus trailer and maximum load, at highway speeds. The 400 mile mention is the 80% capacity of a 500 mile range pack you'd get by a 30 minute charge. Also information given during the announcement. [1] https://www.tesla.com/semi https://www.tesla.com/semi

dogma1138 9y ago
That is for their “megawatt” chargers not the current infrastructure. And that is a problem just count the average number of semis in a truck stop they’ll all have to share power. Also many of these truck stops are in the middle of nowhere and while they have electricity they aren’t connected to anything that can provide that much power. Say you get 100 500kWh semis in a stop that need to be charged 80% that’s 4mW if we’re taking Tesla’s 30min turn around that’s 8mW which is not an unnoticeable portion of what a power plant produces and hour.
- paranoidrobot 9y ago
  > That is for their “megawatt” chargers not the current infrastructure. I never mentioned 'current' infrastructure, whatever that means. We're clearly talking about Tesla Semi here, that's pretty clearly not going to fit in your ordinary Tesla supercharger stall. As for the other 'problems' - they are all solvable. I'm sure Fleet operators and major truck stops will all be jointly cooperating to add MW charging infrastructure along the trial routes. It benefits the fleet operator, it benefits the truck stop operator. Electrical grid operators won't have an issue with it - if you look back at previous postings on HN you'll find several examples where grid operators are struggling to find demand for the grid, given the rise in household efficiency and offshoring of major production infrastructure. Yes it'll require some work to ensure there's not huge spikes in demand, but that's solvable too. Tesla (and others) are already implementing local battery storage at some of their superchargers. This lets them have a more consistent draw on the grid. The ends result of this is that you end up having a huge amount of deployed battery storage at truck stops all over, able to take advantage of spikes in energy production, respond to grid shortages, and smartly manage charging of trucks. Given it's all integrated, there's no reason a major fleet operator wouldn't sign some kind of contract allowing their fleet charging to be slowed or suspended momentarily in return for lower charging costs. I also suspect that there will be (at least) two categories of charger - the immediate "I'm on a short break" MW charger, where you're expected to move on after getting 80% or more capacity, and then an overnight charging slot where you park up for your 10+ hour break.