Blog Musk Says Tesla Semi to Have Over 600 Miles of Range

The upcoming Tesla Semi will have up to 621 miles of range, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said Tuesday in an interview.

The boost in battery efficiency was made possible by leveraging Tesla’s new in-house battery tech. The Semi was originally advertised as having a range up to 500 miles.

“Getting a range of let’s say 500 km is, I think, quite easy, trivial to be frank, for a semi truck and this is assuming a truck that is pulling a load of 40 metric tons,” Musk said in the interview. “If you want, for long-range trucking, we think, easily 800 km, and we see a path over time to 1,000 km range for a heavy duty truck.”

Tesla has reportedly secured thousands of orders for the Semi. Many companies with giant fleets of heavy-duty trucks are waiting on delivery, including Walmart, UPS, PepsiCo, FedEx, and Anheuser-Busch, among others.

Musk said in a June note to employees that it’s time to go “all out” and move the Tesla Semi to “volume production.”

“It’s time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production,” Musk said in a note. “It’s been in limited production so far, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design.”

The automaker said in its Q1 update that deliveries of the Semi will be pushed to 2021. When the vehicle was debuted in 2017, Tesla expected to deliver the Semi in 2019, then pushed to 2020, now to 2021.

Watch the full interview above.

 

[robl45]

So what happens when those huge companies get these semis and realize the realistic range is 300 miles? I mean you can push this nonsense on stupid consumers telling them 300 mile range when its more like 220 tops, but that isn't going over well with companies that actually need the miles.

 

[AMPd]

So what happens when those huge companies get these semis and realize the realistic range is 300 miles? I mean you can push this nonsense on stupid consumers telling them 300 mile range when its more like 220 tops, but that isn't going over well with companies that actually need the miles.

They’ll dump those trucks in a heartbeat and move on.
I was hoping elon would stick with conservative numbers rather than trying to squeeze every mile into the advertised range, like he does with current models.

Unfortunately you’re right, companies will not appreciate being advertised unrealistic range numbers. We’re talking about a very serious and expensive problem if trucks are running out of range sooner than advertised.
Semis can’t just stop at one of the current superchargers and charge up, it means a tow truck will be required, freight that’s going to be late and as someone who’s in the business, if you’re late with freight that’s refrigerated its PITA. There’s a reason mega carriers have yet to really place any orders.

 

[mberta74]

They’ll dump those trucks in a heartbeat and move on.
I was hoping elon would stick with conservative numbers rather than trying to squeeze every mile into the advertised range, like he does with current models.

Unfortunately you’re right, companies will not appreciate being advertised unrealistic range numbers. We’re talking about a very serious and expensive problem if trucks are running out of range sooner than advertised.
Semis can’t just stop at one of the current superchargers and charge up, it means a tow truck will be required, freight that’s going to be late and as someone who’s in the business, if you’re late with freight that’s refrigerated its PITA. There’s a reason mega carriers have yet to really place any orders.

 

[mberta74]

I do think your wrong on the statement of dropping and moving on... 600 miles of range will have the serious fleet managers looking at these tractors

I don't know who you term "mega carriers", but the ones with the most tractors have all submitted an order so far..... I have been around the trucking industry for a long time, most drivers sleep in their own beds at night. Other drivers are limited to 11 hours driving with a 1 hour break during the shift before taking 10 hours off duty. At average highway speeds, that driver will get in maybe 600–650 miles during their shift..

 

[AMPd]

I do think your wrong on the statement of dropping and moving on... 600 miles of range will have the serious fleet managers looking at these tractors

I don't know who you term "mega carriers", but the ones with the most tractors have all submitted an order so far..... I have been around the trucking industry for a long time, most drivers sleep in their own beds at night. Other drivers are limited to 11 hours driving with a 1 hour break during the shift before taking 10 hours off duty. At average highway speeds, that driver will get in maybe 600–650 miles during their shift..

If the discrepancy is 11 miles then yeah it’s not bad, but if you read the post I was replying to which was talking about a much larger discrepancy then yeah the trucks will be dropped.

clearly you haven’t been around the trucking industry for a long time because there’s no 1 hour break. There’s a 30 minute break.
Can you post any proof that non proprietary mega carriers ordered any teslas? Because I honestly haven’t seen any. I am thinking of ordering a few for our company to test them out locally.

 

[robl45]

Some of you think it will get 600 miles, I hope that is true but judging by the fact that I get like 220 out of 300, I can't imagine that being true and it's probably less than 220 on my car.

 

[MikieKey]

Musk said, “over 600 km” not miles. Big difference, misquoted in headline

 

[robl45]

Musk said, “over 600 km” not miles. Big difference, misquoted in headline

Even worse is the range is much less now.

 

[ThomasD]

I see a few owners of Teslas complain of reduced supercharging after owning the car for a few years. This would piss off semi owners if it happened to their trucks after a few years.

 

[Electroman]

The upcoming Tesla Semi will have up to 621 miles of range

NOPE. That is NOT what he said in that interview. TMC Staff are being a little loose on the interpretation and coming up with their own alternative facts here. This is what he said at 15:35:

"If we want we can easily get to 800 KMs, and we see a path to get to 1000 KMs (691 miles)"

That does mean the upcoming Semi will NOT have 621 miles range with 40 ton load. It fact it actually means the upcoming version 1 of the product will be somewhere between 500 and 800, and sometime in the future Tesla is confident that they can get to 1000 KMs, when energy density increases and dead weight decreases.

Trying to do a favorable interpretation like main stream media spouts FUD, does no good to TMC

 

[bobleland]

Is it possible for a semi trailer to have an ice generator similar to the refrigeration units?

 

[Master Chief]

If you think about it, long haul trucking is an anomaly. I doubt that Tesla is vying for the coast-to-coast business. What he is most likely looking to sell to is the "warehouse to outlet" niche. Anheiser Bush, Walmart, UPS, etc. make relatively short runs from distribution facility to store or other smaller distribution facility. Trips of less than 100 miles. Way less. Perfect for an electric vehicle where the large distribution facility can have the charging infrastructure for these tractors.

If the freight needs to be hauled hundreds or thousands of miles, put it on a railroad or use an ICE vehicle. The real miles are the "local" miles. There is your sweet spot. Couple that with self-driving and the ability to back a trailer automatically into a spot and Musk comes out a winner.

 

[Master Chief]

Some of you think it will get 600 miles, I hope that is true but judging by the fact that I get like 220 out of 300, I can't imagine that being true and it's probably less than 220 on my car.

One disappointment I have with my Model X is that the range number while charging is expressed in "unicorn miles". The percentage reading is pretty accurate, however. Why can't the car just be honest with me? After 22,000 miles of carrying me around, it should know how I drive and should be able to tell me that my full charge will take me 250 miles, 220 safely.

 

[AMPd]

If you think about it, long haul trucking is an anomaly. I doubt that Tesla is vying for the coast-to-coast business. What he is most likely looking to sell to is the "warehouse to outlet" niche. Anheiser Bush, Walmart, UPS, etc. make relatively short runs from distribution facility to store or other smaller distribution facility. Trips of less than 100 miles. Way less. Perfect for an electric vehicle where the large distribution facility can have the charging infrastructure for these tractors.

If the freight needs to be hauled hundreds or thousands of miles, put it on a railroad or use an ICE vehicle. The real miles are the "local" miles. There is your sweet spot. Couple that with self-driving and the ability to back a trailer automatically into a spot and Musk comes out a winner.

I think you’re right, right now that’s exactly what it’ll be used for.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

I know it will be a while but I’m guessing once anyone can just buy the Semi, soon after a Motorhome integrator will buy a few and turn them into Super C motorhomes. Kinda cool.

 

[Great White]

I am so disappointed with Tesla's range lie, my X was rated at 295 when new, hasdropped now to 268 after 46k miles and really only going to get about 160 real world miles daily if I adhere to what I am told will minimize future battery capacity loss by charging to only 90% and discharging to only 20%

 

[Electroman]

if I adhere to what I am told will minimize future battery capacity loss by charging to only 90% and discharging to only 20%

That 90-20 recommendation is only for daily charging. If you need to go on a long distance drive, you can absolutely charge it to 100% and drive down to 5%, as long as you drive soon after 100% charge, and plug it in soon after the drive.

 

[SageBrush]

If the freight needs to be hauled hundreds or thousands of miles, put it on a railroad or use an ICE vehicle. The real miles are the "local" miles. There is your sweet spot. Couple that with self-driving and the ability to back a trailer automatically into a spot and Musk comes out a winner.

I also see lots of trailers on railcars. The tractors show up at rail stops, connect to trailers and complete the run.

 

[AMPd]

I also see lots of trailers on railcars. The tractors show up at rail stops, connect to trailers and complete the run.

That’s exactly what I have planned for the Tesla semis. Our trailers/containers arrive at Stockton CA, about 50 miles from our yard. The truck leaves our yard, heads to Stockton and then back to the yard where it’s swapped for another trailer destined for a customer in the Bay Area about another 80 miles.
Daily total miles usually stay below 300.

if the truck meets the range specs it would be perfect.

Another detail we need to learn before purchasing is what type of charging equipment will need to be installed. There’s no way we’re buying a truck if we need to install an expensive charging station. The truck is already going to cost about 40k more to purchase than a Volvo, if we need to drop another 10-20k for charging then it’s a no go.