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The dust and many chemicals kicked up by transportation is not going to be eliminated and what about the increased electromagnetic bath we will be living in? Nobody knows the health effects of that yet. Besides, I doubt government is going to transfer healthcare savings to transportation...

My side... Eventually EVs will have to contribute to infrastructure costs, petroleum can't subsidize electricity forever in that way. I believe it needs to be considered as it may come as sticker shock when they do eventually decide EVs need to contribute.

But road tax on petroleum vehicles is ongoing, there has to be some sort of ongoing mileage tracking and charge rate eventually, especially if these vehicles are traveling interstate.

How are electric trucks being charged road taxes?

Something occurred to me the other day... Are electric vehicles paying road taxes? In the States around 30 to 70 cents a gallon of petroleum fuel are taxes, how are electric vehicles contributing infrastructure costs?

There you go, I also discovered China is running electric busses the other day One city in China has more electric buses than all of America’s biggest cities have buses Charging must become a logistical nightmare when it gets cold.

That's a good, honest assessment Cloxxki, I actually don't see issues with long haul after the infrastructure is setup on dedicated routes either. (New York/LA and such.). You recharge when you stop to eat and sleep so at least twice a day. It's those that travel all over the continent that need...

A problem I see with the different ratios would be breaking traction on the wheels with the higher ratio in slippery conditions. Are these units capable of manipulating the inverters so they can provide the exact same torque output to each wheel?

I guess this is why you see lineups of vehicles at fuel stations in times of crisis, people don't plan ahead. It will be interesting considering these trucks have never been on the road. If these claims are true Elon should be crowned as the most honest salesman ever.

I don't understand what you're saying here, do you have a link to this program? It sounds like Tesla's truck customers are going to have to invest in way more than just the trucks? Why pay anything for electricity if you're producing it yourself anyway? Requiring trucks to plug in at every stop...

You're saying Tesla cars have actual range 20% higher than advertized? Why would Elon advertize his truck as 500 mile range if it'll get 600? Tesla would be the first company ever to advertise honest range. As a prudent operator I am looking for fuel/recharge at a quarter tank. I've run out...

In the real world the trucks on the stage will have a maximum range of around 400 miles so I guess if it was doing a run of a hundred miles it could deliver electricity as well but what would be the incentive of the owners to do that? It's going to be interesting as sunshine is a finicky...

Good, well thought out design and site selection would practically eliminate this issue. Good drainage, heated pads and weather resistant covers would be required. Remember existing fuel stations still need to have snow cleared to function as well, virtually all fuel storage is below grade level...

Could still have cable plug in for overnight, long term charging, for areas that don't supply fast chargers or if the fast charger port goes down for some reason. Makes sense, how would that work in the case where AC is being converted to DC? I suppose the DC circuit would still have to be...

Trying to wrap my mind around this. Are you implying Tesla's trucks are going to have enough energy reserve to actually transfer power power from one location to another?

I think they should work on a standardized automated system , it doesn't need to be as complex as the one in the video. Drive over would still get my vote, the charge station would be surface mounted so no excavation required and greatly reduced chances of vehicle striking anything important...

I think that would be an easy fix compared to manhandling huge cables and sockets. It's possible to also have the receivers built into the front or sides. Special covered plugs through the front bumpers could be a solution as long as they retract into a position that could be driven over or...

Maybe for quick charging special drive over stations could be developed that are hydraulically actuated with big matching pins and sockets? No human interaction with the couplers at all and huge power transmission.

Both trucks are the same, the white one is just taller. The top of the cab is still the "roof" as stated and although some extend to the full height of the white truck (referred to sometimes as penthouse suites), most are built like the dark truck with fairings or extensions installed to...

Just curious, are there any Tesla taxis, buses, delivery vehicles etc out there? If not, can anybody guess why?

Might want to rewatch that video... That "prototype" is a hybrid , closer to a Nikola one than a Tesla. Actual steering is still accomplished by the front wheels, they aren't on castors. On a computer you can do anything. We'll see...

No, they are not clean but traction was point. Electricity will have it's own issues, just watch...

You're right, I've only been to 75,000kg and 35m so far and 63,500kg all the way to 38m a few times (usually we go to 25m). I've run these in all conditions including busy highways and ice roads up north a few times. Nowadays I usually stay home when conditions deteriorate to -30, near zero...

Well people, basically Tesla and batteries have three criteria to meet, performance, range and weight, so far it appears they can only meet two. Nikola has seen this, hence the hybrid. It's good Elon is trying to build a truck, it's good Trevor is trying to build a truck. They both have major...

Sounds like driving a Tesla car is more like driving a heavy truck if you want to avoid using the brakes. I'd love to test drive a Tesla, I have no doubts about the drivability, quietness and smoothness. I'm actually considering one for local commuting. The biggest issue is range, I live out in...

Almost a hundred percent of the engine and transmission weight is over the front axle on a diesel powered truck plus over fifty percent of fuel. Tesla is going at least fifty percent on the rear axles. The drawing may not be true placement of the batteries either, video shows a solid wall right...

Well, come for a ride in a heavy crosswind and I promise you'll be reprogramming your computer. It is possible even for empty trucks to have problems achieving the speed limit in heavy crosswinds due to power limitations, turn straight into the wind and load lightens up on the engine. Anybody...

How much can regen contribute to braking? Like can it literally slide the tires if allowed to? I assume the car has cruise control which would use regen automatically without you even knowing it?

Ever driven truck in a heavy crosswind? Well, putting the battery pack as far back as they did tells me they either have extremely heavy batteries or they don't have a clue how to design a truck for proper weight distribution. It's claimed Elon has a crack team of truck engineers working on...

A little more on aerodynamics from my flight training days :cool: Angle of attack - Wikipedia Slip (aerodynamics) - Wikipedia A highway truck and box trailer is basically the shape of an airfoil or the fuselage of an aircraft, driving straight into the wind is like a well trimmed airfoil or...

True, in a sense... First of all there are only a few trucks, the orders I've seen aren't even pocket change for these companies, this is their "go out and play with" money. They are going to try them out and see if they can make it work. Second I bet they are going to try these trucks on runs...

I did some rough math earlier and I came up with a tare weight of about 12,000kg to 14,000kg, a typical highway truck in North America is about 8000kg to 9000kg full of fuel. I removed engine, transmission, fuel and tanks (about 3000kg). Added a thousand kg for motors, gear trains and controls...

Nope, just commenting on what I see. So far it's sales pitch that those not in the industry are buying. Hopefully for Tesla's sake it's within sight of the truth.

Cross winds increase drag dramatically, I promise you. Head on you have a sloped surface 8.5ft wide and 13.5ft tall with drag being produced from the same area at the rear. Cross winds hit the whole area of one side and the front while the whole other side and rear is producing drag. Even if...

Perfectly legal. This is Canada, tandem truck, triaxle trailer = gross weight of 46,500kg or 102,515lb. Where is it stated range is based on loaded milage only?

Information that's theoretical and being spoon fed to us... So far all we got is semi information based on the model S. Cars and trucks are two different animals and they will discover this when they finally get a truck on the road. The motors they are using in the trucks should be designed...

Hi Karen :)

There is a big thing about wind in the real world everybody is missing. Trucks traveling in the real world experience direct on wind tunnel headwinds about .01% of the time. The vast majority of the time winds are hitting highway trucks from the front corners and anybody that's ever been in a...

That's how they're activated, they are also tied into the cruise control. By cruise they can be programmed to engage in either two or three stages depending on the engine configuration.

You work for Tesla by any chance KarenRie?

Putting recharge stations every hundred miles along major highways shouldn't be a problem and if the range was an actual 500m with a 300m top up in less than an hour long haul trucking could be practical. But I bet you would have an issue achieving 200m on a charge loaded into the wind westbound...

Is the Nikola 1 project dead? Battery technology is going to need a huge leap in energy density to work in my world. You can set fuel tanks anywhere to get the energy you need to work out in the country, the power grid would need 10x the capacity we have now. Yesterday we traveled 540 miles...

Truck engines produce the same or more power through compression brakes compared to their rated power for years now and jackknifing hasn't been an issue. Regenerative braking can be tied into ABS just like traction control.

I was thinking if the Nikola1 truck was a success we could start to see many hydrogen powered Perterbilt like trucks on the road. I could be wrong but if the hydrogen platform is what they are making it out to be I think it'll be the next evolution in truck and industrial equipment energy.

I watched a documentary "Who Killed The Electric Car", it was an interesting watch. I don't think safety would an issue.

I thought of that back in the nineties, trucks could be equipped with special hitches, they would couple together as they entered the freeway and form a train and as they reached their destinations they could uncouple and remove themselves from the train and then the train could close up and...

Nice Avatar :D Yep, it's been posted. He's only been trucking for nine months, although it gives him some experience he technically hasn't really advanced to "professional". Sitting in the center of the cab does look goofy though, and having your rider talking to the back of your head? I don't...

We've discussed it a bit, probably the biggest issue would be developing and building a whole new fleet of trailers that may not mix with existing technology, could be pretty expensive. Existing fifth wheels would handle forward thrust easily.

Your completely correct, it's only real benefit would be if it added only a small nominal cost to the unit new without adding any real cost to weight and maintenance and you were buying all the power to recharge this unit. If you're not running the unit around the clock it shouldn't be an...

You should notice it's an advertising video, they are going to make claims to sell their product. Aerodynamic trucks started in the mid eighties. I doubt we'll see very much in terms of self driving by 2020. Maybe but they still have a lot to do. Is platooning running nose to tail with other...