Tesla began shipping Semi electric trucks to customers from December 1. Thus, exactly five years have passed from the moment of the premiere of the prototype of this model to the start of serial deliveries. The solemn ceremony of handing over the keys to the first commodity Semi took place last night at the Tesla Gigafactory in Nevada (USA), it was personally led by the head of the company, Elon Musk.
The first electric tractor has been handed over to beverage manufacturer PepsiCo, and it is expected that a total of 100 production copies of the Semi will be assembled by the end of the year.
American media note that Tesla has not updated the specifications for the Semi, although electric vehicle technology has advanced significantly since 2017.
Five years ago, it was stated that the tractor in the basic configuration has a power reserve on one battery charge - 482 km, in a more expensive modification - 805 km. These figures assume a loaded machine with a gross weight of 37.2 tons. From zero to 60 miles / h (96 km / h), the truck can accelerate in an empty state in 5 seconds, in a loaded state - in 20. The tractor is equipped with three electric motors, which in total develop 1000 hp.
At the same time, it was stated that the retail price of the Tesla Semi in the standard version in the United States was $150,000, with an increased capacity battery - $180,000. The company also did not update the cost information, it should be noted here that prices for Tesla cars have increased significantly over the past year.
According to Elon Musk, by 2024 Tesla intends to reach the rate of assembly of 50,000 such tractors annually.
Initially, the Semi was supposed to go into production in 2019, but technical and financial difficulties did not allow the ambitious American company to meet this deadline.
At the presentation, the head of Tesla said that Semi batteries can be recharged from a station with a capacity of up to 1 MW - this significantly reduces the time to replenish the energy supply, which is especially important when it comes to commercial transportation (downtime is reduced and lost profits are minimized).
The launch of the Tesla Semi coincided with a new U.S. exemption that will provide a $40,000 tax deduction to buyers of clean commercial vehicles, according to Carscoops.
Tesla began to ship serial Semi electric tractors
