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> If they mess up the launch of the semi in terms of early adopter customer satisfaction Only Tesla thinks of this as a regular consumer product with a "launch

> If they mess up the launch of the semi in terms of early adopter customer satisfaction Only Tesla thinks of this as a regular consumer product with a "launch". In reality, the competition is already offering electric trucks of various sizes, today, not in beta, not pre-production, but actual products you can buy. And since their competition understands the trucking business, they already know exactly how to slot EV trucks into existing fleets, complete with logistics systems and maintenance contracts and a billion other things that Tesla has zero clue about. They're doing the usual Silicon Valley "winging it", thinking it'll work in this market as well. Pepsi accepted the pilot program because of 1) Free publicity, although with Elon's recent public political statements, the value of that is quickly turning negative, and 2) Free trucks they're not paying for, California taxpayers are. And yet a lot of people still believe Tesla is the market leader and that everyone is just waiting for Tesla to come and disrupt the trucking business. https://www.freightliner.com/trucks/ecascadia/ https://www.freightliner.com/trucks/ecascadia/ https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/en_GB/emobility/world/our-offer/eactros-and-services.html https://www.mercedes-benz-trucks.com/en_GB/emobility/world/o... https://www.volvotrucks.us/trucks/vnr-electric/ https://www.volvotrucks.us/trucks/vnr-electric/

jacquesm 3y ago
> And yet a lot of people still believe Tesla is the market leader and that everyone is just waiting for Tesla to come and disrupt the trucking business. Ironically those are not the people in the trucking business. Another thing that Tesla likely hasn't gained a lot of experience with is the longevity requirements on truck chassis. Those things undergo a ton of harsh treatment with a smile and 750K miles+ between rebuilds isn't all that rare, with 500K or so probably around average depending on whether you look at short-haul or long-haul or a mix. In the diesel world the chassis get two or more engine rebuilds. Total lifetime is crazy, check these out: https://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/Peterbilt/trucks-for-sale?make=PETERBILT%7C2313546&mileage=1000000%3A%2A&sort=year%3Aasc https://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/Peterbilt/trucks-for-s... That's 1 million miles and up.

jacquesm 3y ago

> And yet a lot of people still believe Tesla is the market leader and that everyone is just waiting for Tesla to come and disrupt the trucking business. Ironically those are not the people in the trucking business. Another thing that Tesla likely hasn't gained a lot of experience with is the longevity requirements on truck chassis. Those things undergo a ton of harsh treatment with a smile and 750K miles+ between rebuilds isn't all that rare, with 500K or so probably around average depending on whether you look at short-haul or long-haul or a mix. In the diesel world the chassis get two or more engine rebuilds. Total lifetime is crazy, check these out: https://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/Peterbilt/trucks-for-sale?make=PETERBILT%7C2313546&mileage=1000000%3A%2A&sort=year%3Aasc https://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/Peterbilt/trucks-for-s... That's 1 million miles and up.