Nine years ago, Musk expressed confidence that his company Tesla could transform the trucking market by mass-producing semi-electric trucks. Deliveries of small-scale replicas to select customers won’t begin until 2022, and the company will only be able to fully produce the Semi at a new factory in Nevada that opened this week.
Image source: Tesla
Before that, we remember Tesla assembling semi-trucks piece by piece at its headquarters factory in the Texas capital. However, as pointed out CNBCOpening a plant in Nevada specifically to build trucks doesn’t mean its production will increase immediately. Aggressive expansion is only planned for next year, assuming there is sufficient customer interest. The long-term rollout of the model has its advantages: the company successfully received feedback from customers who participated in the Semi testing program and was also able to take their criticisms and wishes into account when formulating the design and features of the production version of the truck.
The grand opening of Tesla’s “truck factory” was broadcast live last Thursday, although technically the production version of the Semi began rolling off the assembly line in Nevada late last year. Elon Musk was unable to attend the event, but he recorded a video in advance to address the audience. He called half “A breakthrough product for heavy-duty transport”. He compared this corporate model with “Truck-shaped sports car”. The information opportunity created by the opening ceremony is very timely, as automotive logistics is going through difficult times, as the cost of diesel is actively increasing against the backdrop of tragic events in the Middle East. Competition in the truck space is also intensifying, as since the fall of 2017, the Tesla Semi has had many competitors that are actually on the market, not just “on paper.”
Following news of Tesla’s factory opening, potential buyers began to show interest in the semi-truck. The ZET SCALE consortium announced that it is preparing to purchase a batch of 2,500 electric trucks from Tesla, adding products from other suppliers, increasing its number to more than 10,000 vehicles. Transport company Einride recently announced an order for 500 Semi trucks, with the first batch expected to arrive this month. The price of the vehicle has not been announced by the manufacturer itself, but industry insiders have learned that the tractor version with a power reserve of 800 kilometers is estimated to be about US$290,000.
Tesla executives said at a ceremony yesterday that the company plans to produce 50,000 trucks per year in Nevada (or about 1,000 per week) and create more than 3,000 jobs in the state during the ramp-up phase. In July, Elon Musk reported that future Semis would be equipped with a proprietary active driving assistance system, but he declined to give a specific time frame for implementing the solution. He said there is a severe driver shortage in the U.S. trucking market, a sector of the economy that is very important to the country. Musk said semi-trucks equipped with Autopilot could be a good way to solve this problem. Depending on the results of internal testing, Tesla hopes to teach the Semi to drive autonomously by the end of this year or early next year, as Musk promised this summer.
In the fight for trucking company budgets, Tesla would be able to offer a significant advantage in the form of a decentralized network of branded charging stations across the United States. Customer testing shows that the Tesla Semi can be used effectively 98 percent of the time, with the truck requiring almost no unscheduled repairs or maintenance. Tesla mechanics are trained to repair and maintain new models, and mobile teams will be available to perform on-site repairs. It is estimated that buses and trucks make up only 10% of the world’s fleet, but they produce about half of all transport industry emissions. In this case, the transition to electric traction will help improve environmental conditions more quickly. Tesla plans to offer the Semi in the European market, where rivals Volvo Trucks and Daimler already sell battery-powered trucks.
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