5 ms·

Elon and Tesla have bet the entire farm on batteries. Something tells me he is not the most unbiased source here. passenger vehicles are a TOTALLY different ba

Elon and Tesla have bet the entire farm on batteries. Something tells me he is not the most unbiased source here. passenger vehicles are a TOTALLY different ballgame than commercial long haul trucking. Even the early Tesla models could beat top of the line sports cars in some performance measures. The thing is the people who buy class 7 & 8 trucks work off an excel spreadsheet. They don't give a shit if the truck can accelerate way faster than a Cummins diesel or that the driver has a way better HUD or user experience than in a Freightliner cab. They certainly don't care very much that the truck is more environmentally friendly. Maybe they'll pay 10% more all else equal but that's not what Tesla or anyone else is able to provide. They only care about $/mile and unless there is some massive technical breakthrough, batteries ain't beating diesel any time in the near future on that measure. Notice the Tesla Semi has been delayed for three years now?

SigmundA 5y ago
So where are the hydrogen semis? $/mile hydrogen is far behind diesels and batteries at this point.
- skystarman 5y ago
  Hydrogen is more feasible than battery for long haul as the technology stands now. A lot of big names in commercial trucking have made huge investments in it. But it's still not there yet and likely requires some giant gov't subsidies or some tech breakthrough. No amount of $ makes batteries work for long haul at current tech or anything we see in the near future.
  - Robotbeat 5y ago
    This is not true. Batteries are MUCH cheaper to operate and we have capability to make 500 mile battery electric semis: https://selenianboondocks.com/2017/11/tesla-semi-part-1/ https://selenianboondocks.com/2017/11/tesla-semi-part-1/
- darksaints 5y ago
  The same place as all the battery semis: they don't exist yet. That is the whole point of this research thing that actual truck companies are doing.
jsight 5y ago
> Elon and Tesla have bet the entire farm on batteries. Something tells me he is not the most unbiased source here. I completely agree with you on this. Elon is not a credible source of arguments against Hydrogen trucks. However, I'm having a hard time finding credible arguments for them, at least given low prices for diesel fuel in the US. What is the energy usage per mile for a hydrogen truck?
nickik 5y ago
Elon and Tesla invested in batteries because of their opinions on hydrogen. Its not like they realize this now. 15 years ago Tesla could have bet on hydrogen, and they didn't. > They only care about $/mile Every analysis so far shows that hydrogen is more expensive then electricity by far. Lets go threw it: - Infrastructure for hydrogen is far more expensive - Price per energy is more expensive for hydrogen - The truck is more complex to design and build - Hydrogen power trains are harder to maintain > Notice the Tesla Semi has been delayed for three years now? Because one Semi uses the same amount of batteries as 4 cars and 4 cars make more profits. This is really not that hard to understand.

SigmundA 5y ago

So where are the hydrogen semis? $/mile hydrogen is far behind diesels and batteries at this point.

skystarman 5y ago
Hydrogen is more feasible than battery for long haul as the technology stands now. A lot of big names in commercial trucking have made huge investments in it. But it's still not there yet and likely requires some giant gov't subsidies or some tech breakthrough. No amount of $ makes batteries work for long haul at current tech or anything we see in the near future.
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  This is not true. Batteries are MUCH cheaper to operate and we have capability to make 500 mile battery electric semis: https://selenianboondocks.com/2017/11/tesla-semi-part-1/ https://selenianboondocks.com/2017/11/tesla-semi-part-1/
darksaints 5y ago
The same place as all the battery semis: they don't exist yet. That is the whole point of this research thing that actual truck companies are doing.

jsight 5y ago

> Elon and Tesla have bet the entire farm on batteries. Something tells me he is not the most unbiased source here. I completely agree with you on this. Elon is not a credible source of arguments against Hydrogen trucks. However, I'm having a hard time finding credible arguments for them, at least given low prices for diesel fuel in the US. What is the energy usage per mile for a hydrogen truck?

nickik 5y ago

Elon and Tesla invested in batteries because of their opinions on hydrogen. Its not like they realize this now. 15 years ago Tesla could have bet on hydrogen, and they didn't. > They only care about $/mile Every analysis so far shows that hydrogen is more expensive then electricity by far. Lets go threw it: - Infrastructure for hydrogen is far more expensive - Price per energy is more expensive for hydrogen - The truck is more complex to design and build - Hydrogen power trains are harder to maintain > Notice the Tesla Semi has been delayed for three years now? Because one Semi uses the same amount of batteries as 4 cars and 4 cars make more profits. This is really not that hard to understand.