Does The Tesla Semi Make Any Sense? Part 2!

[@EngineeringExplained]

**Important Note!** I left out a source for the 7.3 mpg figure for diesels, this comes from the Transportation Energy Data Book (Dept. of Energy) often referenced in the video, and references "all class 8 trucks on flat terrain." I figured since I'm using flat ground for my Tesla calculations, I'd apply the same benefit to diesel. The 5.3 mpg figure referenced in the first video was also from Dept. of Energy (video description links all sources). And to the truckers in the comments, hello and thank you for sharing your experiences! Y'all are the best drivers on the road, and I mean that. Respect!

[@مدمنكورة-معتزحفني]

Euproen Volvo make 10mpg and more

[@jordanslingluff287]

The problem with the Semi isn't the engineering it's the economics. As is the majority of truck drivers are independent contractors. They aren't gonna buy an electric Semi with no infrastructure in place. The only way this makes sense with large corporations with local delivery routes.

[@felixbaum48]

The fuel consumption for a loaded big rig is about 6 mpg, per the US EPA 2017

[@tangydiesel1886]

@@مدمنكورة-معتزحفني speed limit is a lot lower in Europe. About 80-90km. (50-55mph) in the US, 100-120km (60-75mph) is very common. Air resistance is the biggest subtractor to efficiency, and the faster you go, the lower the efficiency.

[@davidclark2286]

Current semi uses 2170 batteries, the S uses 18650, which are relatively heavier. The three plaid motors used are actually more powerful than the four '3' motors available at initial launch, and each is surpossed to be more powerful than a diesel motor. But the big advantage is the weight saving of the plaid motor. One can actually pick up the plaid motor, and about the size of an American football.

[@bigstick6332]

I have to say, you’re the only person to make a math video both understandable and interesting. Thanks.

[@EngineeringExplained]

Haha, appreciate it!!

[@PrzyjemnePieniadze]

@@EngineeringExplained Impressive work... especially the part about the not impressive speed of TS. I am waiting for part three where it will take into account how low temperature, precipitation, wind, pavement with reduced grip, battery degradation, will affect the range of the TS.... it would also be interesting information to try to calculate the difference in battery degradation to a passenger car. Alternatively, how fast can you do TS 1,000,000 miles compared to a diesel truck in real world scenarios.

[@RyNiuu]

Also factual, haha. You literally won't find good math of Semi anywhere on KZbin. It's either haters or fanboys. However, nobody was so wrong as 'Tesla Semi is a scam' guys were.

[@BhavinTolia]

💯 true

[@Yelonek1986]

@@EngineeringExplained Yes, standing ovation! Honest journalism and good research.

[@mrspeigle1]

Hey truck driver here, point on speed. It's extremely common for trucking companies to set the governed speed on their trucks to between 60 and 65 mph due to the beneficial impact on fuel economy. I've rarely had a truck that could manage 75 and that was always a rental. Either way the semi in its current iteration was not designed for long haul.

[@greentjmtl]

Oh yes, everybody knows after we all had the pleasure of stuck behind one truck with 60.5 limiter trying to pass another with 60 limiter on a two lane highway

[@fondfarewell2]

I'm glad i drove a truck with no limiter and 600hp. In many states I would be cruising at 80. Traveling at 60 mph is miserable, would fall asleep.

[@gonzac36]

@@greentjmtl 😂😂😂

[@T1Oracle]

@@fondfarewell2 90's? Early 2000's?

[@Blockbuster2033]

@@fondfarewell2 Lol, in Germany the government speed limit is around 50mph for trucks on the Autobahn and about 40 on country roads. Have fun falling asleep there lul.

[@jaredwilliams8621]

I love how you manage to extract useful data out of seemingly unrelated and useless videos and pictures Tesla has put out. I loved using the tire size to verify the length of the barricades.

[@matiasg19]

Loved the part where you read the tire size to calculate the size of the load.

[@f.f.s.d.o.a.7294]

That was a nice touch.

[@eric-.]

There are two types of people in the world: 1. Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data .

[@pepstein]

@@eric-. 😂

[@uweschroeder]

Funny. I did a similar calculation based on usual trailer length. You always end up at the 10 foot long barriers. Had a discussion with someone who claimed it's the 4 footers and I was like "nope, that trailer is not a short bus".

[@neilkurzman4907]

It’s amazing what you can do with a sharp eye and a little science.

[@petervanderwaart1138]

Fun fact: sugar sweetened sodas are heavier than diet sodas. When I worked on a soda delivery project, the sugared sodas weighed out but the diet sodas cubed out based on NJ and NY rules. The Pepsi trucks will be used to move soda from a bottling plant to warehouses around the service area, and the delivery distance will be anywhere from 10 or 20 miles up to a few hundred miles. There may be a few places where soda gets hauled over 500 miles, but that would be the exception, not the rule

[@DrWhom]

yes bottling happens fairly close to point of sale. teslas are still crap though

[@xiaoka]

And Frito Lay will definitely never max out their weight limit. 😂

[@Thumper68]

What weighs more 1lb of sweetened soda or 1lb of unsweetened soda?

[@darthhauler9947]

I got a run for Coke, not gonna say where, but the total run is 400 miles from origin to destination and back to origin. I do it every weekday and I'd need just a little more to do it or I'd need to recharge during the hour while waiting for load.

[@xiaoka]

@@Thumper68 drinks are in fluid ounces, a unit of volume. for coke vs diet coke, its apparently 384g vs 370g per can, about 4% lighter.

[@victorradu9645]

Living in a sea port City, I see plenty of semi driving containers over the last miles from the railyard to the port and back, in congested traffic. Those electric semi may be the best solution for this application while also removing the pollution from the urban centers. I still doubt their usefulness over long haul, at least until the charging infrastructure develops

[@مدمنكورة-معتزحفني]

Enough shitty batteries are environmentally destructive and dangerous technology when they are made in these sizes

[@dr_tails658]

Same with me, I don't understand why everyone is making such a big deal about how this can't function in long haul trucking. This is a first generation electric truck that is very much for urban environments and after a generation or 2 will get better and better range, I'm not sure if will ever fully replace diesel on long haul anytime soon but removing any is better then nothing?

[@victorradu9645]

@@مدمنكورة-معتزحفني yes, there is still pollution, but they are moving the pollution away from where most of the population lives

[@spacetoast7783]

@@مدمنكورة-معتزحفني Why are you only concerned about environmental impacts when it comes to batteries? Why aren't you concerned about acidifying oceans, acid raid, temperature increases, sea level increases, or particulate pollution?

[@victorradu9645]

@@dr_tails658 the idea is that current technology is better suited for short to medium haul, but instead of Tesla making a smaller truck for this, they decided to make a semi, which is the best suited for long haul, so everybody is looking at this truck from the long haul approach

[@tonyarce5427]

As a mechanical engineer currently working on class 8 EV’s, I found this video very informative and enjoyable.

[@xiaoka]

What is your thought on the Tesla Semi?

[@taitsmith8521]

One percent of the population grows food for 100% of the population. If all of you ( uneducated pseudo engineers that think gadgets maintain your cellular structure) die, then life gets easier for everyone propping up your useless and lecherous existence. If all the people growing your food die, you die.

[@falseprogress]

The Tesla video only briefly showed the cargo, and the pallets weren't stacked anywhere near the roof. It must have been quite dense to achieve 82k GVWR. Still wondering if the video was truly honest.

[@tonyarce5427]

@@falseprogress 26 pallets per standard trailer. Easy to fit 1000lbs on a pallet. No trailers get stacked up to the roof, it’s not practical. Also not good for weight distribution

[@Simon-dm8zv]

@@tonyarce5427 What company are you at?

[@o15523]

My dad was a truck driver and he used to tell me no matter how long your route is, if you stop more that 5 times (stop signs, lights, yield signs, etc) it's basically impossible to average more than 55mph. Now I'm starting to wonder if that was true or not... Seemed true at the time!

[@grandinosour]

trucker here...I time plan a route at 50 MPH everywhere except the east coast which I use 45 MPH due to traffic.

[@NONO-hz4vo]

What years? The federal speed limit used to be 55mph. Even with a bit of speeding it would be hard to get back to 55mph on an 8hr route if you spent 10 minutes stopped and another 10 stopping and accelerating.

[@eric-.]

I _feel_ like I drive 60-80mph for most of my weekly driving. However, my car reports average speed of only 28.4mph.

[@anastacioguerrero1527]

Just divide the number of miles driven by the amount of time, to get you avg. Speed.

[@triviszla1536]

It’s definitely true. I run a backwater route that cuts through a few no name towns. Outside the towns, 65+ speed limit, within the towns, 40 and below. On a good run, wide open road, one or two red lights, run can be done in about 2h45m. If I happen to catch all the reds, the run can be over 3h.

[@TrendyStone]

Great video. I’m a mechanical engineer and your analysis is great. I think it’s obvious the Tesla semi will start as a short / medium haul truck. There are many situations where these will make sense and over time as technology, specifically battery density, improves over time longer hauls could make sense.

[@keco185]

I'd argue that we should be investing more in trains for long haul freight anyway.

[@timothykeith1367]

@@keco185 Improving the average speed of freight trains by 10 mph would produce huge benefits. High speed passenger rail gets the attention, but higher-speed freight rail has huge benefits. Much of the truck cargo has already been hauled by rail.

[@markplott4820]

the Tesla semi battery system is Modular , its EZ for them.

[@Idiomatick]

Battery densities (kg) have more than doubled in the past decade and likely will stay on that trend a while still. A 2028 TS might have a 700mile range. Or they'll offer up to 700mi and allow customers to choose what range vs weight they want.

[@jp040759]

You still need all the trucks to handle the head end and the tail end of any delivery. You can't pull up to Joes Bait shop with a locomotive.

[@mmdias87]

Thank you! Tired of people doing shady math based of half a sentence from random articles. Thanks for actually doing some research and trying to be as empirical and objective as possible. I am a big fan of Tesla engineering but I’m sick and tired of the bias (both for and against). Let’s be objective and impartial.

[@mmdias87]

@@jcd-k2s elaborate.

[@Sonny_McMacsson]

It's great. We just have to divert all our tax money to Elon.

[@richbosch9564]

Nobody is more shady than Elon. Why not just tell people how much it weighs, what's the payload, and when can the people that put deposits down 5 years ago get their trucks .... Instead we have a pile of videos that begin each sentence with "we can assume", "possibly" "maybe", and "theoretically"....

[@mmdias87]

@@richbosch9564 what company divulges information on a product that has not yet been put for sale publicly and available? No one. Go get the specs on a new generation mac book pro that hasn't come out yet... Or a ford mustang that has a new engine... It's normal. Those m1 and m2 chips are still a mystery.

[@davidclark2286]

@@mmdias87 quite right mm-87, the only people that actually need that information are the people actually getting the trucks, that have put the infrostructure in to charge the vehicles. I am sure that tesla is working with those customers to make sure the vehicles meet there needs. By the time the semi is available to all, the specs will be better than they are now. This is when this information will become available. Indeed.this seams to be the status with all semi trucks. It is difficult to get this information on any semitruck. NIKOLA bev publish the gross vehicle weight for semi and trailer not the mass of the tractor unit. Most of these organisations have covered themselves and have reservations with all potential suppliers, as units become available it will be interesting to see which they go forward with. It appears to me Tesla's semi outshines all the rest by miles. But no one else has such outstanding motors and management systems. Only other ev motor in the running could be lucid's but they have not got to semi's yet. Thankyou Lucid for pushing tesla to come up with the plaid motor and control circuitry., real competition can be good.

[@STRThermal]

As a fellow mechanical engineer for automobile company, I love your videos. Keep up the great work.

[@thepeff]

You're one of the few motorists that I'll let teach me about semi trucks

[@jimboTTT]

I can teach too

[@kevindelgado7083]

@@jimboTTT NO

[@taylorc2542]

As long as Elon is protecting free speech and disrupting the journos, I'm with Tesla.

[@kevindelgado7083]

@@taylorc2542 come back to this comment after 1 year xD you should do some research dude

[@lthendu2193]

@@kevindelgado7083 tell us what you know man…

[@Broadpaw_Fox]

Neat fact - at 10:45 when talking about load weights, that 54k lbs is very high for a normal road truck. With the 80k lbs cap, most road trucks max out the load at 45k lbs - doesn't matter if dry van, flatbed or reefer. 45k lb load is normal and considered to be the cap, and depending on the configuration at the time might even be too high to juggle the axles to be legal. So that was a good stat. 😀

[@TheJacyn313]

You risk running afoul of axel weight limits the more you go over 40k which isn't a problem everywhere but it is on the west coast where the bridge laws are 40ft or less and you can't slide tandems

[@Broadpaw_Fox]

@@TheJacyn313 - oh I know. I'm currently sitting in the basin in SoCal waiting for my next load. California's 40ft rule and the standard 34k lb tandem limits are why we have to juggle - but I've been consistently hauling loads at 42k to 44k without issue as long as the loaders know what they're doing to balance it in the trailer. 😀

[@sjsomething4936]

@@Broadpaw_Fox thanks for these posts, they are informative to someone like me who’s not in the trucking industry. I’m sure I could ferret it out of some dry regulations manual somewhere but “ain’t nobody got time for that!l 😉

[@Themrine2013]

Max weight a truck can haul is 105500

[@joshsnyder4868]

When I delivered Pepsi on route (48ft), we were loose on axle weights, no scales. But always became skeptical we were legal when loading past 45k, and threw a flag at anything past 46k. It was certainly a neat combination of maxed weight and maxed cube.

[@jasonligo895]

Jason, It is great that you show the math behind all of the engineering concepts you discuss. Performing math and logic was always a bit of a struggle for me. However, when I see you use it, it seems a lot less intimidating and it makes me want to use it more.

[@StreetPreacherr]

Crazy that the government subsidy is higher than the initially announced price of the trucks. So if these things had come in on budget then Pepsi would be MAKING $16K profit for every semi they purchased? I'll happily drive a Tesla car if the government pays for it AND gives me an extra couple grand cash kick-back for my 'trouble'!

[@jasonligo895]

@@StreetPreacherr Unfortunately, it seems we've become a nation that was built on freedom and hard work to one of entitlement. I hope I am wrong.

[@EngineeringExplained]

Very happy to hear this - cars alone are quite intimidating! A big goal of the channel is minimizing that intimidation (for not only viewers, but also myself!).

[@toddmarshall7573]

@@StreetPreacherr If government is involved in any way that's a show stopper. It's not likely Pepsi gave government any consideration at all when they made this decision. Government is too fickle and corrupt to have as a partner...period.

[@toddmarshall7573]

@@jasonligo895 We are a nation like all others...instituted by money-changers for money-changers who are protected by the governments they institute.

[@braeutigamp]

So much better than the thunderf00t video.

[@eh42]

My assumption has always been that vans & reefers are cube constrained, not weight. Dump trailers and flat decks do often appear weight constrained (gravel, steel, etc). And there is a massive LTL and short/mid haul industry - even up here in the frozen land of Hoth. Many farms hauling grain / livestock are just going from farm to terminal/feedlot/processing plant. Massive cross docking warehouses shuffling loads that may have come in via long haul, but then head out on short haul runs where the driver makes 2-3 trips / day and goes home for supper. An electric semi w/ 500mile range is a totally useful, necessary product. Now can be financially viable. That's the question.

[@DonTruman]

Re: refers, depends on the load. E.g., a load of soup cans, beer, or beef maxes out weight.

[@Bud9989]

As a dispatcer for reefer trucks, I would be happy for Tesla Straight truck, but semi... not sure.

[@jsleeio]

where I live (Sydney, Australia) you can differentiate the two kinds of trucking just from driver behaviour. The long-haul drivers are generally polite, aware and careful, and the local drivers are dangerous lunatics. Presumably different incentives at play

[@tango_uniform]

The subsidy needs to go away so real math can measure cost/benefit. No mention in most videos of federal and state taxes on liquid fuels vs mileage taxes on EVs.

[@legostud]

Fun story. Friend of mine use to work for a lightbulb distributor and they were definitely cube constrained. That was until those compact fluorescents lights came out. He packed the trailer full as usual and when the trailer drove off it blew all eight tires.

[@danoberste8146]

As always, you answered almost all of the questions I had. One statistic I looked for, but couldn't find, was regarding the weight of loads, is how far do heavy loads typically travel? I have hauled thousands of miles towing a trailer, but the trips I've driven when nearly fully loaded have ALWAYS been just barely, if at all, in the double digits of miles. If I have heavy loads to haul I find the nearest source to reduce my fuel costs. I'll haul firewood from home to the cabin, but if I need stone? I'm looking to get that from the nearest supply source. I wonder if that thinking holds true for truck shipping too.

[@michalandrejmolnar3715]

Yes and that's also consistent with the efficiency of electric power trains.

[@flacjacket]

Anecdotally I can tell you that my company frequently ships out overweight loads which regularly travel 1-2,000 miles to their destination.

[@EngineeringExplained]

I did try to include average distances traveled for loads within this. There are more detailed numbers referenced in the sources listed (if you want to see a more detailed breakdown), but ultimately if something needs to go from one side of the country to the other, it's going to be broken down into specific length trips to make it happen.

[@DonTruman]

No such limit in the trucking business. The heavier load reduces MPG, but apparently the customer is willing to pay for it. Probably not significant in the larger scheme of things.

[@ronblack7870]

@@flacjacket that must be single piece machinery since it is illegal to combine lighter loads to make them overweight.

[@tclmac1]

I must say, of all the doubters, your opinions are the ONLY one making sense and are legit. I have seen too many newspaper, bloggers, "independent" analyst making false reporting, but yours, just right. Job well done.

[@KerbalLauncher]

Another thing to consider is that the amount of battery that goes into a single tesla semi can make over 50 plug-in hybrid cars. A lot of criticism is not necessarily about the feasibility, but rather the allocation of scarce resources.

[@RezaQin]

Almost like we should stay with gas and diesel.

[@ShimmeringSword]

Interesting point, because I think the answer might actually be to put them in the trucks. They are used more consistently so the payoff is realized more consistently.

[@derrickmiles5240]

I'll put it into perspective. Let's say semi trucks make up about 6% of the 1.4 billion cars globally. That's about 84 million trucks. Let's say the battery weight is 4500 lbs, with 7% being lithium. That's 315 lbs. We take 84 million multiplied by 315, and we get 26,460,000,000 lbs or 13,230,000 tons. There are only 14,000,000 tons of Lithium that is economically viable to extract on Earth. Meaning we would nearly exhaust the supply by replacing semi trucks alone. Applying a similar formula to cars with an average EV battery being 25 lbs, we would need an additional 16,450,000 tons to replace the current generation of cars with EVs. Keep in mind, the projected number of cars on the road is set to double by 2040. It hurts my brain when I think about all the infrastructure that will be wasted on this doomed technology.

[@lionelfully]

​@@derrickmiles5240 Interesting! I agree that we should really think about where to allocate resources (please not into SUVs, which seems to be Tesla's strategy too (facepalm)). Your global truck-count sounded impressive at first, but a bit of back of the envelope tells me they check out... However, it might that the future technologies would need to be based on lithium, or we could go with overhead electricity above big trucking routes, or even directly with trains (by far my preferred solution)... Anyway, I'm happy that more and more people are trying to help others open their eyes on Tesla. It's not a bad company, it's just not what it pretends to be. False marketing and more importantly the support of all the tech and DIY-finance world as well as greedy investors has meant they were able to make out like gangbusters every time they bled some stock... It really has to stop. I'm wondering how Renault or BYD or Hyundai would have done with the infinite money and goodwill supply... Certainly not bad... In general, small two-wheelers, public transport, small cars, electric bikes have done way more for mobility and ecology worldwide than Tesla could ever dream of (and each of these separately). On the pure numbers terms, Toyota and others very efficient vehicles should also be credited for what they achieved - efficient vehicles for the masses. Still, we now should reduce CO2 production more, and that's certainly not by buying big Tesla cars (but rather Swiss Microlinos or Taiwanese Gogoros for cities, and trains or car-sharing for long distance). If long trips are regular, a private electric sedan might make sense, particularly if car-pooled. On the trucking side, I might agree with @ShimmeringSword: it does make sense to produce electric trucks, to an extent. I really hope the Tesla brainwashing stops.

[@IdunRedstone]

Or.... cars are the waste of resources and we should focus on building out public transport infrastructure in anywhere with a mildly dense population and reduce need for cars? Trucks need to send cargo where alternatives would be hard to build more than people need cars where alternatives would be hard to build

[@laszlobauer5274]

As a European, I am again amazed by Texas. 85mph speed limit for trucks?! That's illegal in most countries of the world, even for passenger vehicles.

[@thomasdowd2183]

I love the format of your math breakdown videos. Very nice to see some straightforward calculations instead of just speculation.

[@liuwang2201]

windmills and Soler is ineffective argument closed and you are a woke sail out

[@IronChefofPoon]

I suspect the battery capacity is actually 1000kwh but only 850kwh is usable. This is due to the fact that the battery will only be super charged which is the worst thing you can do to the battery. The unused 150kwh is probably rotated among the cells to preserve battery life.

[@lowly3726]

I love how you cite all your sources, something uncommon with a lot of KZbinrs.

[@GregoryITguy]

Great catch with the speedometer, but we can also corroborate that with the observation that vehicles in the next lane are nearly always quickly passing the semi

[@boostedmaniac]

It’ll be interesting to see how this truck does in the cold while doing all this.

[@AlphanumericCharacters]

Into a headwind

[@Mikefngarage]

@@AlphanumericCharacters yea it is never windy.....ha ha. Plus they need to factor in the batter degradation from rapid charging. wait till they are 2 years old and loose 8% from all the fast charges. Also Using that data is kind of like using IRS documents to show business profits.....They aren't going to match up.

[@Dcbbanker]

The cold makes a big difference in my Model S range.

[@sebastianorye2702]

@@Mikefngarage Lets see. Remember, the trucks are using the 4680 cells, which will degrade slower. Also, whether or not its there now, energy is and will continue to be cheaper that oil. Anyway, we will see.

[@SraMYM]

@@sebastianorye2702 For now, they're using the 2170 cells from Giga Nevada, not the 4680.

[@michelreidy49]

It is refreshing to watch a video that provides a balanced and objective analysis of a Tesla product. This video has been very helpful in explaining some of the factors that need to be considered. We are on a 'journey' to alternatives to Internal Combustion Engine vehicles. At the very least, Tesla will continue to be important in providing options in the development of future transportation means.

[@ianfisch7289]

Ok but this video is assuming those barriers each way 4000. There’s no way to verify that. They could each weigh 500lbs and we’d have no way of knowing.

[@BlueScreenOfDeathPL]

At the same time US are one of the worst rich countries to develop the ev-truck. Just due to the size. In the Europe in 500miles you can cross at least one whole country (eg. From Belarus to Berlin via Poland).

[@rogerstarkey5390]

@@ianfisch7289 Try this for a start. The "width" (thickness) of a standard Jersey barrier is 24-26"? They were 3 wide across the bed? There was about a 1/2 thickness "spare" on either side? . 26 x 4 = 104"? . What's the standard width of a trailer bed? 102". Those were standard cross section Jersey Barriers. 10 foot standard barriers average at 4,000lb Even if you assumed they were *8 foot* barriers, they would weigh 3,200 each. .... Final check. Apply his assumption, *using the drawings he provided* to my calculation. 3 barriers wide plus a gap each side. 4x 500 mm (from the drawing!) that's a bed width of 78". Remember the actual bed width? (102")

[@boomperson818]

@@ianfisch7289 ????

[@rogermccaslin5963]

@Ian Fisch I think he's done enough to show that they are typical barriers and he found the weight for typical barriers. Sure, the barriers on the truck may be a different weigh, but unless there is some major subterfuge going on, I think we can safely assume that 4000lbs is a good estimate for the purpose of the video.

[@jacquesalbert6748]

After watching part 1 and 2, that are well explained, I don't remember any mention of weather, specifically the cold. Simple things like heating and maintaining the large cabin and windshield as well as ensuring the batteries stay at their optimal temperature must have an impact on the range, and even when the drivers take breaks, unless the semi is plugged in, it will be using some battery power to maintain its temperature in the cold.

[@SasquatchsCousin33]

Cabin heating can eat up 15% of range in a model Y (78kWH?), but the relative size of the battery pack means its negligable. Only the impact of keeping the battery at temperature to worry about

[@anthonyschroeder521]

The volume of the cabin in a semi is not appreciably larger than a midsized sedan overall, and even if you assume double the losses in an absolute sense, having 8.5x the batteries means the impact from that cold is going to be quite a bit smaller. Likewise, the surface area required heating compared to the volume scales in a positive way such that keeping the battery warm is made easier by the large pack. Most importantly, unlike an small EV which needs only 10s of KW to keep moving at speed, a semi will be generating likely 8--20x the thermal energy from battery inefficiency during use. This is a gigantic pool of thermal energy to use for heating the cabin, which as mentioned is not all that much bigger (perhaps even smaller) in volume to a Model S/X interior. Now..... Not saying this is a non-issue altogether, but for any sort of long-haul, I would be quite surprised if the impacts are anything more than 10% by heating losses. More critically may be increase to wind resistance due to increased air density during cold/rain/snow, or rolling resistance increases when roads are wet. There is a great JCEA paper about rolling resistance of iso standard tires (SRTTD etc) which suggests that wet roads can increase rolling resistance by 40% or more. This would be the biggest likely loss for a heavy fully loaded semi, above the aero and creature comforts, while for an unloaded semi, aero dominates.

[@demkaage]

With 800kWh+ battery cabin heating is not an issue. I doubt that it will be more than 1-2kWh per hour . Moreover, electric motors are effective, but 5% of loss, will give you more than 40kWh transferred to heat. The biggest concern is that you need to warm up 10000 pounds battery pack before your trip. It will take a huge amount of energy, but can be done from the grid

[@carholic-sz3qv]

@@demkaage lol…… it’s not just the cabin but also the batteries and auxiliary systems.

[@carholic-sz3qv]

@@demkaage what if you don’t have accès to the grid!? Does every point of deliveries needs to have grid connectivity??

[@zoli11]

What about degradation of the battery? How quickly will it cut into the range/weight economics? Excellent video thanks, very instructive!

[@ruukinen]

If it's anything like with regular teslas they are supposed to have >70% of the capacity left after 8 years or 120Mm.

[@OtisFlint]

@@ruukinen Realistically they have a lot more, 70% is the replacement point. Most are still above 90% at 120k miles.

[@ruukinen]

@@OtisFlint Yes but that's what Tesla is "guaranteeing" as warranty. If someone is sceptical it helps to use the worst case scenario instead of looking at optimistic examples.

[@AnemosFPV]

@@ruukinenis that Tesla numbers or customers? As elon lie about everything

[@ruukinen]

@@AnemosFPVYou do know what a warranty is, right?

[@michaelv.1107]

I love listening to your lessons and science. Engineers with teaching skills are a rare species.

[@TheBonsaiZone]

I think the cold winter weather will be a big factor also, I believe it reduces the range by 15 to 20 percent on average?

[@dwnrange7812]

That's the one factor that needs more attention; what about heavy loads traveling through the Midwest north in those dead of winter months?

[@havtor007]

@@sonacphotos Tesla model S in norway loses 40% of battery in winter time. At least it did 2years ago when i tested it.

[@StreetPreacherr]

Likely a reason that these 'pilot' implementations seem to be confined to more southern regions. ;)

[@MrAdopado]

There is a great advantage with vehicles that are regularly used on longer trips. The battery pack retains heat and that helps maintain efficiency. Short trips in cars that are left to go really cold show more impact from winter. There will be some winter/bad weather range reduction for the truck but probably less than affects current EV cars.

[@vg3430]

Average winter loss is closer to 30%…but these things are forbidden discussions in the marketing and government funding departments!

[@J-Bombs]

the issue with the FMCSA and other agencies gathering data on truck weights are that they are taking all truck weights gathered and not looking at all truck weights collected when loaded. The data is skewed due to many of the trucks moving empty to pick up another load elsewhere meaning that the entire segment about truck capacity is primarily based on a false premise. You are better off talking to Werner Enterprises, Schinder, or Crete about their average weighted loads, having worked for them before I recall the average being much closer to 78K - 79K loaded, most tractors were just a few thousand off of the legal limit.

[@iggysfriend4431]

One thing worth taking into account is that no battery is ever drained fully or charged fully unless you are prepared to shorten its life. Ev manufacturers are very careful in trying to protect the batteries. So, the 850Kwh battery would probably read zero when it actually had upto 20% charge left. This means your 850Kwh battery would need to be bigger, say about 1,062Kwh. This adds to the weight and size of the battery and a corresponding drop in cargo capacity.

[@Steinegal]

No way that Tesla includes a 20% buffer, my guess would be 6-7% at max

[@iggysfriend4431]

@@Steinegal I did say upto. I know all EV manufacturers are going to have different margins of residual charge that their engineers feel comfortable with. I am by no means an expert but I have read in a number of places and seen a few videos where it's claimed that the batteries are not fully charged or fully discharged and this will be controlled by software. So 6% to 7% couold well be true, unfortunately Tesla is notorious on being tight-lipped about any technical deatails apart from the headline stuff like "we can accelerate 3 times quicker than an ICE vehicle. " When it comes to other more intersting deatils like battery weight, actual battery capacity, weight, cargo capactiy, tractor unit weight, etc. they are notably silent. It's a pity really as it is an opportunity to showcase their abilitites. Of course others will see this as them avoiding the question because it doesn't sow them in a superior light. So, 6% or 7%, it's ceartainly possible. Will we ever know, probably not.

[@Mikefngarage]

and and no calcs for batter degradation from all the rapid charging and full cycles. I am sure the trucking companies would be totally agreeable leaving a truck like that on a slower charger for what days? (sarcastic) at a time 850kw would take a huge amp 220 to charge it or some sort of high voltage setup. it takes a 50a 220 to charge a tesla overnight which is what 50kwh for a base. roughly 4kwh at 10hrs. so an 850-1100 OMG WOW.....not alone the energy draw during peak demand.

[@Mikefngarage]

and the high voltage setup to charge that faster I am sure would be TOTALLY SAFE.......Yea. right.

[@iggysfriend4431]

@@Mikefngarage Yes, people underestimate batteries, they equate EV batteries with the kind of thing you put in the TV remote, or the. Even a 12V car battery can be dangerous. An 850KW to 1,000KW battery at 1,000VDc will fry you and kill you stone dead in an instant if you interact with it incorrectly. Don't forget if you have a 1,000KW charger it's going to need it's own substation, so that will be small.

[@jacklav1]

I think a major challenge is the infrastructure. I think the claim was made that the truck could be 75% charged in 30 minutes. Going by your figures that requires a 1.4MW charging station. A truck stop would need several, say 10 at an absolute minimum because of the waiting time. 14MW would supply a town of 10,000 people.

[@franck1685]

Wow, brilliant, especially your cross-referencing and multiple source checking of numbers, i.e. concrete blocks to tire size to web-sites etc. Brilliant!

[@maxhenkle3085]

Jason this is possibly your best video yet. Thank you for answering so many questions like the dependence of speed on efficiency that few other folks out there seem to be addressing, and doing an excellent job of citing your (credible) sources rather than relying solely on SWAGs. Your approach struck the perfect balance. Future topic idea: that $.07/kWh claim made in 2017. Most folks don't seem to grasp that utilities tend to penalize large power consumers for not only peak time of use but also the peak power demand vs total energy consumption (i.e. KVA peak 15 mins vs total monthly kWh). In the early experiences of electric transit bus operations this peaky power consumption resulted in kWh prices higher than diesel/mile. Since Tesla is making aggressive moves in the energy utility sector this may be an ace in their sleeve but it would be worth doing the math to figure out what that would take in terms of Mega Packs, energy arbitrage, etc. It is likely an important problem to solve if we are going to get serious about electrifying the heavy duty vehicle fleet. Keep up the great work!

[@pablopicaro7649]

Also...10.8c/ mile TAX EVASION, Diesel federal road Tax is 24.3c/gal, Average State Road tax is 40.2c/gal. EV truck is EVADING 64.6c/gal. at average of 6mi/gal PUBLIC is cheated out of 10.8c/mile in Road tax for the heaviest machines that cause most damage to roads

[@EngineeringExplained]

@@pablopicaro7649 Do you know that's true? For example, I drive an EV, and my registration has me pay an annual EV fee (like gasoline tax) which ends up being more per mile, since I don't drive all that much, versus if I were driving a gas vehicle.

[@iowa_don]

@@EngineeringExplained Depends on the state. I'm in Arizona driving a Tesla and I have no annual EV fee.

[@texastriguy]

​@@pablopicaro7649 I would argue that diesel trucks are evading a yet-uncharged carbon tax. I see your point, but as a society we are letting combustion vehicles escape paying for the true social costs of their propulsion system as well.

[@firehazard51]

@@iowa_don Ohio has a $200 yearly registration cost. When more EVs become popular and State DOTs have funding issues you can bet your ass that states will start charging and states with cheap rates will increase them. I kinda think registration costs is a bad long term solution. I suspect there will be a general tax on ALL electric use. Even if you don't have an EV car you are benefiting from the transportation network. Imagine the world where there were no roads to transport goods. Since EVERYONE benefits from the transportation infrastructure it only makes sense to tax everyone, not just vehicle owners/users. Taxing electricity usage makes the most sense. Two birds with one stone kinda thing because it will also incentivizes solar panel usage on people's homes and corporate business. Further helping electrify the grid and reducing overall emissions associated with electric generation.

[@nickhexum01]

This is a great breakdown. I'm a semi truck driver and I expect electric big rigs to slowly take over local and regional routes, but long haul will likely remain diesel for quite a while. I think it will take a long time to develop a charging network that can handle the energy demand.

[@MotorcycleWrites]

I wonder whether hybrid diesel/electric is a good option. I imagine that the transmission setup would be the limiting factor there though. Maybe a diesel powerplant with an electric drivetrain?

[@BigBen621]

@@MotorcycleWrites But Tesla's whole point is to get rid of emissions from diesel, primarily diesel particulate matter; and a diesel/electric hybrid wouldn't achieve this.

[@MotorcycleWrites]

@@BigBen621 Tesla’s whole point is to make an enormous amount of money from fleet sales lol, but I get what you mean. Battery trucks won’t be a practical solution for long-haul jobs for a long time, hybrid might bridge the gap between efficiency and range.

[@BigBen621]

@@MotorcycleWrites I agree that battery trucks won't be a practical solution for long-haul for quite a while, so perhaps diesel-electric hybrids *might* help bridge the gap.

[@MotorcycleWrites]

@@BigBen621 or we could just keep using diesel trucks. Adding a hybrid system doesn’t make highway mileage that much better anyways, and that’s where the majority of fuel will be burned. There’s just not a great alternative to traditional semis for fast, long distance delivery.

[@robfisher3790]

Fantastic roundup. I love it when we can all just break down the numbers and see if something makes sense. Great investigative journalism BTW 👏

[@finish_my_projects]

He hide the real evidence until the last couple seconds of rhe video, Pepsi is getting free trucks!! Actually not free, taxpayer paid trucks, turns out you need massive subsidies to make EVs work, every time...

[@ljtp6125]

Thank you for explaining that EVs may be able to have a symbiotic existence with ICEs. It’s unrealistic to think one format is best for everyone and all situations.

[@JoeOvercoat]

I suggest a lot of automobile consumers are going to come to the conclusion that the hybrid automobile is the best option so that you have range & torque without being tied to either energy source solely.

[@qwerty112311]

@@JoeOvercoat a lot of consumers will come to that conclusion and then be forced to go all electric anyway.

[@xiaoka]

It’s hard to call if symbiotic when one side will be growing and the other continuously shrinking. As the technology gets better and fast charging more prolific, the exceptions to EVs will become fewer and fewer. At some point buying gas and servicing an ice car will become increasingly expensive. Some people still ride horses and use horse drawn carriages in 2023. Some people still use CD roms and DVD drives. There will always be some specialty cases. Ice or hydrogen will be relegated to the periphery in maybe 10-15 years.

[@nicholase2868]

@@qwerty112311 I don't think anyone will be forced. The Prius is a fantastic car that is a hybrid. I doubt even California will ban it.

[@howtomanagetech]

New EPA regs to reduce average particulate matter (PM) density from 14 to 9 PPM (I think its PPM or mg/cu meter) described as "challenging" by most manufacturers. Problem is diesel soot very bad for people's health especially poor people living near highways. Costs billions every year is asthma, respiratory problems and heart attacks. So, is a backward step in terms of load carrying and extra "refuelling" time worth taking if it means healthier people? I imagine explaining to grandkids that we used to drive cars that emitted poisionous fumes because they made it easier to get around. They will think we were mad. Even more so if there was an alternative but it cost 10% more or took 10% longer to get somewhere, so we didn't use it.

[@dfor]

I work for FedEx Freight (LTL) and these electric semis could make sense for city operations (pickup and delivery locally) and if the charging infrastructure is put in at all of our service centers, even for our linehaul guys. The only area of the LTL business that they may not work is in linehaul on lay down runs which is where a driver drives for 550-600 miles in one go and stops for the night away from their service center. Those runs are much much less common than the usual linehaul where our drivers drive 200-300 miles to either a meet point with a driver coming the other way and swaps trailers or drives that distance to another service center, and gets other trailers heading back to their home service center. With the meets and the center drops, they can have charging infrastructure in place so that when the driver is on their lunch break at the center or meet point they can charge up a bit and have the range to make it back to the home center where it’s charged before next use. But the charging infrastructure has to be fully in place for it to be viable and that’s going to take ALOT of chargers that are very expensive to install.

[@pierredelecto7069]

The chargers are indeed expensive but they passed a law last year where if people install a charger the federal government pays for 30% of it. I could see Pilot for example installing some chargers at every stop, they will want to compete for the EV business.

[@jonbartosch1903]

So for local trucks that stay in a city... How many of those would be idle at night and needing to charge? How many chargers would be needed, and then we can take that and understand the electrical needs, because I think its massive. Not saying we can't do it, but that infrastructure will take time.

[@dfor]

@@pierredelecto7069 even with the federal government paying for 30% of them they cost over $200k each. And every parking space will need one. It adds up fast. At FedEx Freight we have 17,000 tractors.

[@boostav]

Why are trailers swapped? Are the tractors day cabs so that the driver can be home for the night?

[@pierredelecto7069]

@@dfor I don't think these chargers cost quite that much. Maybe though. I saw quotes online of 40-80k per charger. They wouldn't need them at every stall. Just a few. Then as more EV's hit the road expand to more. They'd make specific bays for EV trucks, kinda how we see for electric chargers.

[@ghostofdre]

Very thorough, I appreciate you adding references as well. It's going to be interesting to see real world data out of someone who actually uses this truck. Would be great if Pepsi posted some statistics on how the trucks are working out.

[@matthewcarroll2533]

I wouldn't trust those numbers anyway. Gotta wait for independent data analysis for anything reliable. *EDIT* Sorry, I meant Pepsi's numbers, in the scenario that they even reveal that data in the future...

[@johnandersons]

You would think that if it beat Diesel we would have heard something about it by now. How long do you think it would take Pepsi to figure out how the Tesla Semi stacked up against Diesel semi's? A week? A month? They have had one for longer than this yet no media blitz from Tesla with the success story and real life numbers? I did read an article that said Tesla did a 500 mile trip at almost maximum capacity and the Semi did it handily. What they did not disclose and so far nobody has been able to find out, is what maximum capacity is for one of these? That is the single most important statistic for any semi and I find it telling that it is not published.

[@juanosorio]

@@johnandersons maximum capacity of the truck is the maximum allowable by law. 80,000 pounds.

[@NSUScooter]

It seems like the biggest factor here is Cost. What I wanna know is the cost comparison to drive this thing 300 miles on Electricity vs 300 miles using Diesel. If it costs significantly less to charge one of these then the numbers make sense for a $200k truck.

[@MrVelociraptor75]

@@johnandersons Those numbers will realistically take a couple of years to correctly get. Just as it takes a few years to reap the benefits of owning an EV or solar etc. They're initially expensive, but take time to recoup the differences (being positive and assuming the Semi does compete economically) There's a LOT more to the Semi than just cost A to B. Maintenance and safety are two other plusses, the latter is hard to put a $ figure on and the former will take time to guarantee (there could be an unforeseen design weakness for eg, they are a completely new design) I assume you watched this video? EE shows a pretty reasonable estimate of the truck's loading capacity. If that's anywhere near accurate, I can't see the trucks NOT being financially viable. It will still be case by case, but it should cover a large range of cases.

[@koeniglicher]

4:37 - Inertia is energy that is converted into kinetic energy of the vehicle and will eventually come back as range when either decelerating via coasting or (part of it) when recuperating. It is kind of a similar field to potential energy and elevation. This conversion on both directions is not perfect (losses apply), but is not as bad as you may think.

[@cmitchell17a1]

So in the video he is assuming 100%. I believe the real world number is no where close to this.

[@beanapprentice1687]

@@cmitchell17a1 the efficiency is pretty close to 100%, as he showed in the video that the semi barely lost any energy from going up and down a large hill.

[@cmitchell17a1]

@@beanapprentice1687 Proving anything here is going to be difficult when it actually doesn't exist yet except for prototypes and proprietary internal Tesla information. Can you provide any non Tesla semi evidence of the 100% efficiency (or even close to it) of regenerative braking? That means 100% of the kinetic energy lost when a driver decides they want to slow down is 100% returned at a correct later time?

[@markplott4820]

one thing not reported is, Tesla semi can go Full Bore downhill because no Friction brakes or JAKE brake.

[@lucasemberstone9219]

Excellent detective work! Fact-finding was very well done, and I especially loved how you confirmed the size of the Jersey rails using tire sizes from photos.

[@AlexBenfica]

This is unbelievably well explained! Great job. Thanks

[@keilder8543]

Science and math. No BS. Rare and appreciated.

[@detallguy5396]

My only complaint is they're basing the weight of a standard semi to a sleeper cap semi which is roughly around 17,000 lb but a day cap semi usually can hit around 10,000 lb due to it not having to carry additional gear and supplies. Also a day cab is stagnantly cheaper than a sleeper cab almost half the price at times, used ones you can buy for $15,000.

[@andys31337]

if 60% of loads are maxed out on volume, what difference would that make?

[@schmalzilla1985]

​@@andys31337quite a bit in fuel efficiency at higher speeds and loads. Unless the power plant is using any combination of wind, solar, or nuclear for charging, it's not going to make any difference in greenhouse gases. EV's also have the problem of once they catch fire, firefighters have no real way of putting them out, except to let them burn out, and try to keep it from spreading. That is a major problem when looking at Wal-Mart trailer......ever consider all those cleaners and other liquids that is in one of those trailers? That's a major problem nobody is really taking seriously enough to really talk about. What do we do when one catches fire, and the trailer with God knows what is inside catches fire.

[@oyuyuy]

@@schmalzilla1985 Here's an idea: Use EVs where you have green electricity.

[@PatrickPaul1203]

Great video, love the sources for the numbers. Science done right. I read a trucker’s review of one, he didn’t have any complaints about range or capability, he had issues with simple designs, the center cabin makes it harder to do basic common things such as paying tolls, talking to the loading staff, getting in and out of the vehicle. He also has some ways he felt they weren’t as safe, things like angles of the glass being off for driving towards the sun or in snow.

[@phillyphil1513]

exactly, that's your FIRST CLUE no real truckers/drivers were consulted in the creation of the Tesla Semi. this is a truck created by nerds/geeks and one man's GINORMOUS EGO who is trying to "force" themselves onto you not unlike what a RAPIST does to his victim.

[@markplott4820]

no need to pat tolls anymore , ever hear of FASTPASS or Clipper ? we have had ETC since the 1990's .......lol. most have Corperate accounts so they dont ever need to TOP up at a 7-11.

[@phillyphil1513]

@@markplott4820 re: "no need to pat tolls anymore" great, you respond to 1 problem but they named 4 problems (and there are more).

[@richardprice5978]

but video showcases as safer driving position ect and yes i have been in many simi's manufactured from 1960's-22 and spent time OTR ( bigR and miller's RIP to both companies my family worked for ) and in my gramp's field loading ( btw he own'd 2 nightrider movie truck's the badie cab over ?? and gm-general main furniture/ramp car haller tractor seen in the opening seen and other's anyway's after he got it was just a old truck/normal working 90's-to-he-sold-it truck and not collectible, i guess people nowadays/2023 pay to see that kind of thing ) ect aka not OTR or government regulation/knowledge/care so the sun im so-so im sure technology/tesla will fix it if it's any problematic as for snow no! iv ridden in lots of winter drive's and the 70's long nose flat upright one-peace windshield was bad about icing up and or snow packing on quickly and this design looks and or hopefully fixes all of that ( and probably the cab over shortcomings as much as i like both as i like old stuff/antice's, my personal car/truck/sub-1-ton is all pre-1990 stuff and love older pre-1920/victorian house's but design wise there not perfect as a example my 1969 car is oem carb'd and point's/dizzy and after about 10k-50k miles need's parts vs some modern car's go 100K plus and no parts/labour ) and more as it looks to be modelled in a wind tunnel with proper engineering work done also the door ect looks safer as it's not iced up or converted/leftover's from a 1-ton handles placement ape hanging ect and a clean-sheet design of what a modern platform simi should/can be like besides most tolls/scale's-dot have pre-payment opportunities/internet ( and some without the tag/device wont let the truck/load in/on the road ect aka mute point mostly you're making ) and or tag's in the truck so there's no need for stopping it's not the 90's anymore ' and legally speaking it makes ELD mandates easier to comply with as there's only one seat up front and better separation between the bunk and outside and wheel, and most divers i know the 2 wide seating is used for junk/stuff ( or ?? questionable log or camera/mic 🎤 as listed bunk vs idling/paper's work or other tasks or dressing this might give more bunk space for this ect ) and team and or others isn't a thing in the cab aka one person riding/driving only

[@markplott4820]

@@phillyphil1513 - Go, watch TONY SIBA to see why you /others are DEAD wrong. Tony Siba - Rething Transport.

[@nodsib]

In fairness, if the Frito-Lay products are their bags of chips, with a full load the Tesla Semi will probably float up into the sky like a blimp and have unlimited range

[@Mikefngarage]

Here are My foreseen Issues. and they still hold up against these trucks. 1. Battery degradation from charging too rapidly. Because of the size of the battery they will need to be charged rapidly which will degrade the battery much faster than anticipated. Making the Range useless. 2. amount of power they will consume and the time it will take to charge. Down time on a truck that is that expensive will be a huge cost. There are 2 options, One you can increase the charging time which will degrade the battery, or you can have the truck charge for longer times which will make the cost of purchasing the truck more of a liability then an asset. 3. it takes a 50amp charger to charge a tesla overnight at level 2 which and that is a lets say around 50kwh battery. This is 800kwh battery. How many amps are you going to need to push into that truck to charge that battery. Based on the KW per mile they dont use that much energy, but when you factor in that there will be peak energy draws to cover all that energy drawn at the same time we need a LOT MORE electric power. Not because of the KWH per mile but because of Peak charging times. when I calculate those things in, We are a long way from these being the ONLY source like Mandated in CA......The Politicians need to go back to school and learn math.

[@skaltura]

52.5mph happens to be ABOUT exactly what trucks are allowed to go in Europe ... They are limited to "80kph", but in reality typically goes 84-90kph, median perhaps around 87kph. Some go as fast as 92kph. Depends on limiter calibration, tire wear etc. A few goes significantly under 80kph even due to tire wear. I think they target 86kph for calibration with new tires -- since 6kph is "technical reduction" when measuring speeds for fines ...

[@stupenduzzman]

This truck might not be very popular in Europe since their length classification takes into account the length of the tractor - that’s why they’re all cab-over designs there. Cab over is horribly inefficient for aero so it would not work well for an EV

[@Chimel31]

There is no such speed limit for Europe as a whole, each country has their own regulations. Semis in France, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg can for instance drive up to 90 km/h (56 mph) on motorways, and it's even 96.5 km/h (60 mph) in the UK. International trucking in Europe is a nightmare, regulations are not just about how fast you can drive (there are now mobile apps that tell you if you drive over authorized speeds), but also when you can drive during the day, if you can drive over week-ends or on Sunday, where you can drive depending on your weight or type of cargo, etc. Currently, there are about 25 countries with truck driving regulations, and 10 with no special regulations.

[@Chimel31]

@@stupenduzzman The max length of the cabin is about 2.35 m, although there are also double-cabin trucks, but it's still a vertical flat front. Recent efficiency regulations actually allow for much longer aerodynamic (rounded) cabins with 7-10% more fuel economy, but there are simply no such truck on the market (yet), because manufacturers are not forced to switch over some of their production to these efficient designs. EU at its best... Aerodynamics are less important for trucks than for high speed cars. Still, a 7-10% fuel savings on a yearly bill, or a similar reduction for electricity, is nothing to laugh at. And with a 0.36 air drag coefficient or so, the Tesla semi is even more aerodynamic (about 20% more) than these "rounded" European designs.

[@mt2nv1]

Great break down! Also worth considering, the securement system including wooden block is easily 1500+ lbs. and the driver and gear is generally estimated at 300 lbs. 👍

[@Fetidaf]

It’s kinda fun to see people who dont know much about transportation try and estimate that stuff. Idk if youre familiar with thunder foot but his was straight up laughable, he said a 10ft jersey barrier was like 500lbs when in truth theyre 4000. And people dont really realize that every single pound is meaningful when you’re talking about truck driving, even the straps themselves can put you over the soft 20lb variance in scales. Gotta count the truck, trailer, and cargo itself of course but also literally everything else on that truck and people tend to overlook some things.

[@mt2nv1]

@@Fetidaf I did see that video. Dude was way off.

[@markbeiser]

@@Fetidaf Thunderf00t's hate boner for Elon is even more annoying than the love boner of the "Elon can do no wrong" crowd. I've been a subscriber to Thunderf00t's channels for years, but dropped out after he put up another one last week. All but one of his videos in the past 2-3 months as been an anti Musk rant.

[@rogerstarkey5390]

@@Fetidaf He actually showed a spec sheet detailing the width (thickness) as 400mm (15.7") . With 3 barriers, plus about a half thickness either side , that makes the trailer bed about 63" wide(😂!) Of course, that explains the great efficiency of the Tesla since we can see that the truck is the same width, so the cross section would be tiny!! Great aero!! The guys a joke.... gives us a bad name... (I'm in London) I'll apologize on his behalf. . EDIT It may have been "500mm", but the premise is sound

[@DarkSorrow29]

This is all true, but we are all actually making a mistake by even trying to calculate anything based on what Elon says or shows in a video, as we all know that he is more than capable, and often prefers, flat-out lying in order to attract investments (self-driving, his robot etc.)... Some, or even all of those barriers could be hallowed out, or not even concrete, I would not be surprised at all, so the best that we can do is just wait for that first "guy" that dares to buy so that we can see what he actually gets and then calculate the capability of the truck based on that 😅😂

[@cbromley562]

Really good engineer’s investigation. Whichever way you look at it, this truck is a marvel of technology, which is going to improve over time in reaction to real world data and technical/innovation advancements. Companies and hauliers are going to be keeping a close eye on how the Tesla Semi performs, and how able it is in improving their profit margins and cost. There’s a lot of emotion surrounding this product, but in the field of business it’ll be hard pragmatism. In the UK, I challenge anyone to maintain a consistent speed of 70 mph all day long, (much of the time for a minute), and as trucks are governed to 56 mph over here, it’s looking very promising for many use cases.

[@markplott4820]

TESLA already said, there is a clear path to 1.6 kwh/mile and even 1.5 kwh/mile.

[@JonDC70]

Most trucking companies may only get loads at that max GVW 10 or 15% of the time. But they need all of the vehicles in their fleet to be capable of hauling it to prevent from losing that those loads when their customers need them. A race car doesn't drive at top speed around the track anywhere but the longest of straights. But no team is going to take a car that goes 10% slower than all the other cars just because they only do it part time.

[@jimpackard8059]

At last ! A comment from someone that understands the truck market. The Semi may sell a few trucks to those hauling their own goods locally providing they are lightweight. For the majority of the market, the Semi is useless and will never sell in numbers

[@jonasstahl9826]

​@@jimpackard8059You shouldnt underestemate how big the market for "short" distance trucking and fixed routes is. Like between harbour, factory and warehouse. Same with bulk material like gravel or liquids in tankers. The amount of load you can carry at once doesnt matter just the price per ton.

[@moriyamakyon1067]

@@jimpackard8059 Also why do you ever need truck for small batches? (under 8000kg) like...there are vans there, much smaller and more efficient

[@moriyamakyon1067]

@@jonasstahl9826 But! Just but! What if US people start using VANS for small batches (under 8000 kg) on a small distances? just worndering

[@jimpackard8059]

@@jonasstahl9826 you make a good point but what we do know is that the Tesla Semi will not carry a full load and will thus not satisfy the existing market in full . Somebody needs to give me a reason why Musk has refused to state the payload after years since the launch. I guess they are still trying to make it viable but cannot do so.

[@WrathChild-NZ]

They went from 4 motors to 3 motors because they originally were going to be model 3 motors. But after they made the plaid motor they used that instead as they are far more powerful therefore only need 3 of them.

[@JBoy340a]

And that is a good thing. Fewer things to break and less overhead energy waste.

[@judelarkin2883]

Great video. It seems like over the road applications out west may be out where heavy loads and 20+ mph headwinds are common. I’m curious how quickly and how much the batteries degrade. A 10% reduction in battery health would probably not be super noticeable in someone’s daily driver but might make a big difference in applications that push the limits of battery capacity.

[@zmavrick]

The speed of degradation is of real interest if you frequently go from 97% to 4% as in the Tesla demo. Tesla recommends keeping their car batteries between 20% and 80% to extend battery life.

[@st-ex8506]

@@zmavrick Indeed! But that trial and that video was just a demonstration of capability, not of best operating practices.

[@finish_my_projects]

@@st-ex8506 yeah the harsh reality has yet to be seen, another EV scam that tax payers get to fund... you had to stick around to the last few seconds to learn that juicy tidbit

[@zmavrick]

@@st-ex8506 But isn't what is important, the operating range under realistic operating practices? Doesn't that make the demo unrealistic showboating? I am all for the Tesla semi, but want to be realistic about its capability and application.

[@st-ex8506]

@@zmavrick no! The Semi can drive 500 miles at full load on a charge. It does not mean that it will be operated on 500miles routes. It is not lying or deceiving for that much! Does BMW lie if they say that my 330i can go 160 mph? No, they don’t. Do I drive that fast? No, never ever. Max performance is one thing, realistic operating scenarios is another. Definitely no showboating, IMHO

[@DrRadelj]

You really killed it with the research. What an awesome job 👏

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

One slight flaw is using a full tank. It would be fairer to use 500 miles worth of Diesel, which at 7.3mpg is ~ 428lb of Diesel and at 5.3mpg is ~590lb of diesel. This would then be ~1500 more pounds in favor of Diesel. Nit picking a bit, but this is an engineering channel so I think that is allowed? :D

[@merwinwilder3904]

Awesome work as always. Just saying I am over the road everyday ( have been since 1973 ) and anyone that doesn’t make at least 500 miles a day at 65 mph is out of business as far as over the road is concerned. On the weight it is not that every load is max it is just that you must be able to handle it if needed.

[@Boreasos]

Sure, but in most cases it seems those 500 miles would be done in several legs, which opens up for charging when unloading and loading if the infrastructure is in place.

[@Chrisp707-]

@@Boreasos the problem is time. Those batteries are HUGE

[@Boreasos]

@@Chrisp707- Sure but if it takes 30 minutes to top up that is time spent loading anyway right?

[@Chrisp707-]

@@Boreasos that’s if it takes 30 minutes. Those batteries are huge the amount of power needed to top it up in 30 minutes is insane.

[@Boreasos]

@@Chrisp707- It's almost a requirement that you'd have to be able to top them up enough for the next leg in the time it takes to load and unload. Don't need a full charge for a 150 mile leg for example.

[@martinbaron2921]

What an amazing amount of research and CSI-level investigation. Thank you so much!!!

[@red_orange2971]

What about battery degradation, if the trucks are driven every day how long will it take for the battery to drop to 80-70% capacity?

[@AllInVehicleInspections]

This is like for all technology, some cases will suit it, some won't, but bringing in regulation to force compliance will potentially have worse consequences. Trucks aren't always fully loaded with weight but sometimes are, and it's not the same trucks all the time. Regulation to remove diesel could cause an increase of trucks and journeys by 30%+ as they send 2 trucks for one load. Let's hope we can all keep an objective head in the coming years. Good video, only comment is that day trips like this would be done in light weight semi's not large ones, so there is a greater loss of weightthan you suggest.

[@razorrich]

Tesla fact-checked by an engineer. Good stuff!

[@NordicProspecting]

yes and not thunderf00t

[@Jose.LQ6]

and the engineering checks out

[@bshn10]

Now i want it to get fact checked by a real engineer

[@routybouty]

This is the mechanical engineer that didn't know how to use calipers right?

[@1Snouser]

What if i told you that 1000s of them work at Tesla...like what

[@functionalvanconversion4284]

Your analysis is actually unbiased and easy to understand, please keep these coming, they are very appreciated!

[@markplott4820]

IF , you Analize Enginering Explained , he is INCREDIBLY biased.

[@JAAB9296]

@@markplott4820 Yep!

[@satoristeve]

@@markplott4820 This is pretty straight forward math. You could criticize the sources, which wouldn’t exactly be his fault. He’s basing things on taking the released information at face value, which is a reasonable place to start if you’re trying to figure out if the claims being made are even mathematically in the realm of possibility. Maybe he’s biased in other videos-I haven’t seen many yet-but it’s hard to say the argument he presents here is biased.

[@markplott4820]

@@satoristeve - I use Mathauana , this the Difference. EE is a sub standard Engineer and a Luddite . who WASHED out in the Tesla hiring process. again - SUB standard. let that SINK in. EE could NOT hold a job @ SpaceX or Tesla because of this.

[@ppentertainment2351]

I'm glad you did a part 2 of this. Very informative.

[@younesmdarhrialaoui643]

this part was so much better than the first one!

[@GeekSHO]

I love how objective you keep your commentary. What stuck out to me was the "let's not pretend that you snap your fingers and all trucks will go electric." I hear the argument all too often that, "the electrical grid can't handle switching to all EVs," as though the 2035 mandate will magically transform all vehicles to electric. As the need arises, surely the infrastructure will be developed. Gas stations didn't all suddenly appear overnight either.

[@doittoit00]

@Sean Simons This is a great point. I saw recently that automobile adoption went from 10% to 90% in 10 years in the early 1900s, and there was almost zero infrastructure for the oil and gas industry at the time. Can our electrical infrastructure be upgraded in 10 years time to accommodate electric cars and trucks? It most certainly can - @Engineering Explained did a video about that very issue.

[@adamsmith-bg5wq]

Jason already did a video on growth of the electric grid vs future energy needs of passenger EVs. Basically he said the historical growth rate of the grid is already close to enough to accomodate everyone switching to EVs over a reasonable time-frame.

[@cmitchell17a1]

@@adamsmith-bg5wq In the early 1900s they had a lot less constraints. Today there will be more constraints, efficiency, environmental, price of land (eminent domain), bureaucracy, etc. Also, will the energy and carbon cost of the infrastructure accommodations be properly accounted for, ripping up concrete, installing high voltage lines, installing transformers, pouring new concrete? I don't think the increased mechanization efficiencies today will outweigh the extra constraints of today.

[@neilkurzman4907]

He makes the statement that electric tractors will not replace diesel ones on all routes. You then immediately take a wild guess about the grid that you have no support for and use that as an argument. If every diesel truck in America was converted to electric what percentage of current electrical usage would that be? What about for automobiles? You don’t seem to understand how much electricity we use as a first world country. Your electric dryer or your stove uses the same amount of energy as it would to charge a car? Industrial usage dwarf set an aluminum smelter, or a steel mill uses enough to power city. Even in a factory, the lighting and electric forklifts are heavy energy users, and if the factory does welding, another heavy use. He actually did the work to prove his statement before he made it. You didn’t.

[@RyanOlander]

Thank you for working out so much of the engineering on projectslike this! It is fascinating!

[@Simon-dm8zv]

Damn, speed limits for trucks are really high in the USA :o

[@JohnSmith-pd8kd]

For the weight section: 1) It's likely that Tesla semi weighs more than an average truck because if it was lighter, Tesla would tell you. It's an important factor for economics. They don't disclose the weight. 2) You compare apples to oranges. For a 500 mile range, the tanks don't need to be full for a diesel semi. 3) "You can -probably- save another 2000 pounds." - I sincerely doubt it. Check John Cadogan's analysis for why.

[@RobMcGregor-tb6gd]

I would love to see you run the numbers on electric cars in the winter in real world driving. I have heard people say that 30% battery capacity losses are not unheard of in the colder months of winter (down to -40C). I'm also curious what the drain is of the HVAC system plus heated seats to heat and maintain the cabin at -40C. I know my fuel mileage suffers noticeably at those temps.

[@MrVelociraptor75]

I'd like to see EE cover that in more detail too, but, it shouldn't be much of a hit on the Semi's range. The larger batteries mean less of the total is needed to heat the cabin and even the batteries themselves (This battery is ~10 times that of a car, even if you tripled the energy needed to heat/cool the batteries+cabin, that's 3 times less taken from the battery's total. So, ~10% range lost in the cold maybe?) Then there's also pre-heating while on the charger, and the fact you're probably hauling a heavier load than a car typically does, so the batteries/motors will run hotter. The heat pumps can absorb some of that excess heat. That ~500mile range would also presumably include [some] running of the heat-pump system too, as they need to regulate the batteries regardless of cabin climate

[@fradaja]

Well the first thing you have to understand is they’re not all the same , some have heat pumps , some use the motor and battery cooling , some just have a heater element , some have all 3

[@sjsomething4936]

My 2018 Bolt takes roughly a 30% hit when it gets quite cold, say -20C or lower. Of course, anything below about 20C already starts to affect range but the really cool temps are worse. Heater doesn’t consume a huge amount, but the heated seats and steering wheel seem to use next to nothing. Having said that, wife drives 160km (100 miles) round trip to work and back in it with no problem at all, including dead of winter. As someone else mentioned, pre-heating the cabin and battery temperature loops while still on the charger help a great deal as the battery will generally maintain a good temperature on its own while driving (due to heating caused by battery discharge), down to about-5C. Sorry I don’t have the exact figures, I’m not one to track stuff like that.

[@bobkonradi1027]

Ford suggests not using a car or truck's heater in the winter, but instead turning on the heated seats for warmth. The problem is, a person's tootsies are not on the heated seat, they're under the dash where the heat from the seat doesn't reach.

[@fradaja]

If you preheat the car and battery , not only is it Loverly and warm , you don’t need to de ice, and you can use most of the battery , things have moved on

[@walterdimmick653]

A very big factor that you did not include is climate. The performance of these vehicles will be seasonably curtailed in a very dramatic way during certain months in the upper midwestern and northeastern USA. This means your estimates of how many routes based on expected range are dramatic overestimates for a very significant part of the overall trucking industry.

[@engineering_page]

⬆️⬆️Thanks for watching my video♥️♥️ Send a direct massage right away You've won⬆️⬆️⬆️

[@paul_london]

Thank you for the video! I was always wondering why there is no such thing as PHEV semi? It feels like half of the battery could be replaced with small 1 litre diesel engine generator, that would've topped the semi along the route.

[@falxonPSN]

This could still be a good solution with a sufficiently powerful generator. Energy density of liquid fuels is pretty damn high, even given how inefficient it is to burn it. A hybrid approach may offer an option for ultra long distance routes or allow for less charging infrastructure.

[@sebastianorye2702]

I think the biggest answer to that question is that it's not future-proof. PHEVs are the same as BEVs. The main advantage of BEVs is the lower cost of ownership. Plus, you'll be adding extra weight. anyway, Maybe it still works out in situations were altitude is changing a lot during the drive.

[@paul_london]

So I run calculations. 100 litre petrol is 890kwh. Atkinson engine with 40% thermal efficiency would produce 356kwh of that. The engine weigh around 100kg as well. 200kg gives 356kwh using petrol. 200kg of Tesla batteries is only 60kwh (300wh per kilo). So it should make sense, it’s just not Tesla business.

[@baptisteg4728]

I still think the physics for these trucks don't make sense but I can agree that from an engineering perspective it checks out. What I mean by "it doesn't make sense" is using trucks for delivery is so inefficient when compared to train that its staggering to think that this is the "green" solution. And second the wear of a road isn't proportional to the weight of vehicles but exponential so I'm not sure about putting heavier vehicles on the roads and increasing the average weight. Still good video, thanks.

[@avaedana4763]

My main concern has always been the financial part of the trucks. If they're being subsidized in such a way that they're practically free, I feel like it is a bit of a trap. Forcing financially sub-par options to do mid to less than the standards already in place is wasteful and ignorant. I imagine the upkeep of the vehicles being grossly worse than the standard diesel as well. Thank you for the math and explanations on the technical side.

[@IronPhysik]

my biggest fear is the loss of capacity of batery packs yes the truck may be able to do 500 miles on a fresh cell, but over time it greatly reduces the max capacity possible, especially when you power charge them.

[@avaedana4763]

@@IronPhysik Exactly. Which is makes them prone to being financially cumbersome compared to diesel.

[@kylegeldmaker]

The most intriguing part of the video is where I learned that our government is spending tax dollars on buying Pepsi new trucks. Cool cool cool.

[@KameeGaming]

Us goverment will do anything to avoid having to build a useable train infrastructure

[@Dqtube]

The question is winter range and charging speed in winter. I think public money would be better spent supporting new rail infrastructure that can be more efficient and faster at once than any freight electric vehicle.

[@sanisidrocr]

Correct. Rail is far more efficient in many cases and this is an misuse of tax payer money

[@pablopicaro7649]

True, so in that case the EV truck is good for 'last mile' from depot to delivery

[@NONO-hz4vo]

Rail is about 1/3 the cost of trucking. I don't know what is holding back the rail industry from building more infrastructure to take away from long haul routes. Is the capital cost too high to build the lines vs the trucking industry using the extensive network of government funded roads?

[@bubbleman2002]

@@sanisidrocr But elon musk whole chungus 100 said that taking a diesel electric train off of the tracks, removing the diesel generator engine, shrinking its cargo capacity significantly, and making it compete with traffic is a good idea!!!

[@waynerussell6401]

Convoy Semi train is cheaper than rail door-door.

[@frankhoffert3480]

Great video but as a 40 year veteran in the trucking industry the only practical use of electric trucks as I see it is as a very short haul truck.

[@donchaput8278]

Can we also start pushing for a POWER LINK to batteries built in to the trailer for extended range trailers? If there is still extra capacity in most situations, why not have a class of long haul trailers with batteries built in that link to the tractor and also regen brake? Would be really useful in the consumer travel trailer market as well!

[@djtaylorutube]

Weight of the overall tractor trailer would leave a reduced load capacity but where lighter but bulky loads were normal then it could work.

[@donchaput8278]

@@djtaylorutube Right, but we just went over in the video how rare it Is to have loads with full capacity

[@djtaylorutube]

@@donchaput8278 yep,I hadn't got that far into the video. :)

[@cbenson513]

Maintenance (scheduled and unplanned) along with downtime and longevity are all extremely important for businesses operating vehicle fleets. Time will tell how the Tesla Semi fares for both, but the potential savings are huge compared to Diesel and are important in any evaluation.

[@markplott4820]

Tesla costs only $0.79/ mile to operate, Diesel semi costs $1.26/mile , let that SINK in.

[@Villani_AV]

@markplott4820 batteries don't have an infinite number of charges, fast charging currently reduces the life of the battery, breakdowns are still possible, granted it will be less common due to fewer moving parts. These are unknown quantities at this point in time, but we do know that they are going to be events in the life of the truck at some point. Also the amount of time it will take to charge is something logisticians are going to be looking at

[@zmavrick]

@@markplott4820 According to someones theory. We will have to wait until they are working in the real world to have good data on costs per mile and downtime figures. I am hoping for good things, but time will tell.

[@Yathuprem]

9:39 That was genius, Jason. Well done.

[@fmilan1]

I do not understand why people are only considering pure EVs car and tucks. I own a hybrid that I bought in 2012 that used to make 44 miles to the gallon, today, after 210K miles, it is making 42 miles to the gallon. It cost me 28K dollars when I bought it, today it must worth 7K dollars. The money I saved during this time more than offset the 4K dollars I paid more to have a hybrid. After 10 years the battery did not died, had to change breaks only once and the actual amount of millage I put in the engine is about 190k miles -- I am considering that 20% of the miles were done in EV mode -- engine off. Also, because the car is hybrid, the engine operated at lower RPMs, lower temperature, lower ware and tear. So, why not a hybrid truck? What the hell, you could double the millage on a truck if you pair the engine with a relatively small battery and motor. Image, every time you have to stop a big truck its waisted energy that could be recoup into a battery and used to put it moving again. Can't understand that did not happen yet.

[@sunwire]

So "Does The Tesla Semi Make Any Sense?" Of course, as long as the government pays for it.

[@spacetoast7783]

It will. It's hard to imagine the government would dismantle all roads before this is released.

[@RolandGustafsson]

Max truck speed in CA is 55 - I was shocked when driving in southern states where the semis were driving 75+ mph... scary! 🙂 Not sure about Idaho?

[@MDP1702]

The 55mph speedlimit is similar to the 90 km/h speed limit (nearly) every country in the EU has, though for a semi with a trailer attached.

[@danielfish101]

It's 70mph in idaho. Eh it's not scary at all going 70+ mph. Whats scary is having the speed limit for tractor trailers lower than cars speed limit. That'll cause more accidents

[@matthewwiemken7293]

Nice work on the research and presentation of data:) Far better than most if not all the videos and comments I c on KZbin about Tesla.

[@haileyr.s8107]

As a truck driver myself, most trucks going down the road are loaded to the max G.V.W.

[@dielaughing73]

Recharging these monsters in half an hour will take incredible charging rates. What are the specs on the chargers, and what is the upper limit on the rate these batteries can safely be charged?

[@FuzTheCat]

Upper limit is 1MW+. Typical car chargers can be 250kW-350kW max charge rate.

[@BiggMo]

Freightliner also has an electric truck in development (so I’ve heard from an employee). A comparison could be enlightening

[@XXfea]

Electrifying!⚡⚡⚡

[@dfor]

There testing them around the Portland area. They have a big charging station on Swan Island where they have a manufacturing plant.

[@phtofl]

i think its safe to say that every semi truck OEM has an EV truck in development.....

[@mychaljw]

If you are talking about the eCascadia, their range estimates from early 2022 were only 230-250 miles on the "long range" battery option. Not really groundbreaking.

[@phillyphil1513]

@@mychaljw re: "Not really groundbreaking." well no it wouldn't be, and neither would Teslas unless you're willing to fit a nearly 1MW size battery to the vehicle. the eCascadia's range is commensurate with their smaller battery sizes (same as Volvo and Nikola). it's very important we pay attention to the things that are right in front of our faces.

[@Paper4150]

"Lets not pretend we are going to snap our fingers and suddenly every class 8 truck is going to be electric." Tell that to california........

[@michaelimbesi2314]

The best critique of the Tesla truck is that all trucking over about 150 miles should be done by rail, not trucks

[@davidfrancis4414]

Once again, an informative and balanced video. Thanks so much.

[@mathewherges397]

The nature of trips will nearly always reconcile elevation and conservation. That's the nature of most behavior, you tend to go some where and then go back, nearly the same way you went. So, I think its more than fine to include energy regeneration if it will play a significant role in the trip. If you deliver something up a hill, you will likely travel down that hill on your way back. Not always, but I'd say, most of the time.

[@f.f.s.d.o.a.7294]

With the primary different remaining being when going uphill heavy then downhill light. Loads going the other direction would get the benefit. Finally, this same issue surely applies to diesel consumption - so it's a range factor more than a cost comparison factor?

[@MCatwar]

doesn’t that mean it’s more than fine to assume no regen, as conservation of energy assuming efficient regen would yield no change in elevation?

[@MCatwar]

@@dasfoot totally agreed! regen in general for any vehicle is superior on hilly terrain. saves brakes, puts that gravitational potential energy back in the batteries!

[@MrMan_47]

What was the temperature during the test? It matters drastically.

[@Ericwvb2]

It was from Fremont, California to San Diego, California I believe on or around Nov 26, 2022.

[@JP-sw5ho]

I love how you cite your sources

[@legostud]

Great Video. Do you you think you could do another video on how much a Diesel Semi’s drivetrain (stuff not needed in an EV) actually weighs? I saw a FB comment on this and they mentioned some pretty large numbers for the hardware and fluids. It would be interesting to see an actual break down on the weight of all those things.

[@markplott4820]

Tesla semi uses PLAID Drivetrain from model S/X - 3 motors , Carbon Wrapped. PLAID Drivetrain is over 1200 HP and 1000 lb torque . the Tesla semi can do Burnouts 0 - 60 under 10 Seconds unloaded and 20 seconds with FULL LOAD 82k Gross UPHILL . thats one bad ass semi.

[@chadingram6390]

@@markplott4820 So how much does it weigh again?

[@ozibit99]

@@markplott4820 ah yes fast 0-60 in a semi is what u need

[@markplott4820]

@@chadingram6390 - Full Legal weight 82k Gross. weight of CAB is not much Different from Fully Fueled Diesel semi class 8, and TESLA semi CARGO capacity is about SAME as a Diesel semi , (40,000 - 56,000) lb minus Trailer and CAB. Tesla semi can even Deliver MAX cargo of Chips/Empty cans & bottles to Bottlers.

[@markplott4820]

@@chadingram6390 - also , Tesla semi can Legally haul +2,000 lbs more , than Diesel semi limited to 82k Gross. and Still goes UPHILL faster , than Diesel .

[@ph1lthyvision]

Thanks EE! I listened to too many descriptions saying payload made this EV semi idiotic. Plus, if the taxpayers fund the truck purchase entirely, it makes sense for profit driven companies!

[@carholic-sz3qv]

There shouldn’t be any subsidies on those vehicles at all! That never happened to diesel vehicles! Let alone even subsided oil is used to make those EVs possible which is a ruling of redundant subsidies

[@andrews2623]

@@carholic-sz3qv Semis already are subsidized by taxpayers as they only pay ~50-80% of their cost responsibility for road use.

[@cacodemon_doom]

I ain't paying for that.

[@orishaeshu1084]

The taxpayers? They just can raise the cost of their sugary and salty snacks that cause obesity and heart disease.

[@gophop]

Tax payers haven't been making decisions for decades.

[@randomdamian]

This is little confusing when you only use MPH and never KPH but when using KG you do LBS... :( I'm from Germany and I watch your videos since a longer time and I would love if you shared your knowledge with the whole world.

[@MrVelociraptor75]

haha, I agree (from Australia). I see this a lot with Americans who do scientific calculations, where they'll use metric when calculating, but use Freedom units when explaining it to their audience. It's an odd place to be

[@randomdamian]

@@MrVelociraptor75 Even funnier is that USA uses metric, they have just a conversion on it that they do. They dont have a defined "Foot" unit sitting somewhere. They convert metric to imperial and i think its the dumbest thing

[@johnniblueeyes2786]

In Europe the 500 mile range is ideal because of tachograph laws.The driver has to take a 45 minute break after 4.5 hours of driving.The truck could be charged during the drivers break if the infrastructure was in place.This would make the Tesla ideal in the EU if they made a 4X2 version.

[@ColonelKlinck]

I would have liked to see you cover the charging issues with these trucks and the massive upgrades in infrastructure that will be required to charge them. A few trucks here or there is one thing but I'm sure Tesla are hoping to sell 1000s of them and that is going to require a lot of electricity and the infrastructure to deliver it to the vehicles.

[@KalifUmestoKalifa]

It's generally not a problem. (Other than the cost of batteries to smooth out the peak demand for the charging station)

[@IronPhysik]

@@KalifUmestoKalifa it absolutely it 1MW power for each charging station is not smth thats easily archived everywhere, thats a HUGE amount of power needed.

[@KalifUmestoKalifa]

@@IronPhysik it's much more than 1MW it's 1MW per charger a station would presumably have at least several of chargers. But one Tesla megapack is capable of Abt 1.5MW peak output and it stores about 3MWh so a couple of those would be quite enough.

[@bugguy1967]

I believe their Megacharging stations will utilize both solar and stationary storage at each location. Reno is getting the first solar charging station for regular cars. I expect Tesla is already preparing the semi chargers.

[@sneed915]

@@bugguy1967 whoops storm knocked out our power. charger is down for two days guess your stuck here 🙃

[@JerGol]

As ever, the insight is brilliant, the conclusions well developed, and the presentation interesting! No small feat!

[@jimgraham6722]

Thanks, great analysis. Electric semis are difficult engineering. Tesla should be congratulated for giving it a go.

[@markplott4820]

only TESLA has the Longest Range electric Class 8 semi w/ 82k Gross that goes 535 miles. everyone else has lower weight capacity & shorter range.

[@ulyden1947]

@@markplott4820 There are semi trailers in europe with 1MW batteries in operation today. They claim the battery is 5600kg or 11000 pounds Range is similar

[@PraveenKumar-ei6qr]

Ill have to go through this math once again. But thanks for bringing in a new perspective to a rather binary pov most of us were holding about load factor and range.