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Speaking as a former shipping and receiving guy, well, yes. It suggests some 11,000 pounds less capacity on a standard semi, which are highly regulated as far a

Speaking as a former shipping and receiving guy, well, yes. It suggests some 11,000 pounds less capacity on a standard semi, which are highly regulated as far as maximum weight/mass goes.

bombcar 4y ago
You can make some of that back by the removal of the engine and fuel (though you still need something akin to a motor and perhaps a transmission). Likely parts of the truck will have to be converted to aluminum - perhaps the trailer itself. A full semi can have 300 gallons of diesel which itself is about 2000 pounds, so we're down to a 9,000 pound difference. And some percentage are short haul, which are often not even near to fully loaded. Could be as high as 40-50%.
ggm 4y ago
A semi weighs between 10,000 and 25,000 lb. A semi's ICE engine weighs around 3,000lb. I don't work in the industry. I just observe three things: 1) the weight variance of a semi encompasses the amount imputed to the battery 2) 3,000lb of weight can be saved by not having a diesel engine plus another 2,000lb not having fuel. (Both of which will be in the total gross weight of the semi) some of which will of course be replaced by electric motors. 3) it's a speculative weight. It might also not weigh that much. Might is doing a lot of heavy lifting. A fourth point: trucks routinely travel partly empty because of weight distribution issues. Not every TEU is full. Logistics is fascinating. TCO is the closest most computer scientists get to "how can owning a Mac be cheaper than owning a Windows PC" but logistics does this almost every sum. Weight and carry capacity may not be the sole deciding factor here when a semi is worth $500k and has a 2nd hand value and is a finance decision with tail costs and operation costs.
Robotbeat 4y ago
Except the vehicle has made weight reductions elsewhere, including engine, transmission, emissions control, fuel tank, etc. A typical useful payload is around 44,000pounds still keeping under the 80,000pound limit, and the Tesla Semi was able to do that (electric trucks are allowed ~2000pounds extra).
simonebrunozzi 4y ago
2,000 extra pounds for electric vehicles.

Speaking as a former shipping and receiving guy, well, yes. It suggests some 11,000 pounds less capacity on a standard semi, which are highly regulated as far as maximum weight/mass goes.

bombcar 4y ago

You can make some of that back by the removal of the engine and fuel (though you still need something akin to a motor and perhaps a transmission). Likely parts of the truck will have to be converted to aluminum - perhaps the trailer itself. A full semi can have 300 gallons of diesel which itself is about 2000 pounds, so we're down to a 9,000 pound difference. And some percentage are short haul, which are often not even near to fully loaded. Could be as high as 40-50%.

ggm 4y ago

A semi weighs between 10,000 and 25,000 lb. A semi's ICE engine weighs around 3,000lb. I don't work in the industry. I just observe three things: 1) the weight variance of a semi encompasses the amount imputed to the battery 2) 3,000lb of weight can be saved by not having a diesel engine plus another 2,000lb not having fuel. (Both of which will be in the total gross weight of the semi) some of which will of course be replaced by electric motors. 3) it's a speculative weight. It might also not weigh that much. Might is doing a lot of heavy lifting. A fourth point: trucks routinely travel partly empty because of weight distribution issues. Not every TEU is full. Logistics is fascinating. TCO is the closest most computer scientists get to "how can owning a Mac be cheaper than owning a Windows PC" but logistics does this almost every sum. Weight and carry capacity may not be the sole deciding factor here when a semi is worth $500k and has a 2nd hand value and is a finance decision with tail costs and operation costs.

Robotbeat 4y ago

Except the vehicle has made weight reductions elsewhere, including engine, transmission, emissions control, fuel tank, etc. A typical useful payload is around 44,000pounds still keeping under the 80,000pound limit, and the Tesla Semi was able to do that (electric trucks are allowed ~2000pounds extra).

simonebrunozzi 4y ago

2,000 extra pounds for electric vehicles.