Some of you might need to wait longer for your model 3

[Ulmo]

My brother owns a trucking company, he says intermodal shipments take a bit longer especially after the ELD mandate went into effect. Many carriers started shipping trailers via the rail road, a trailer shipped from Stockton CA to Chicago can take a week.

My guess is Tesla is doing both. They’re loading as many car carriers as they can book as well as rail cars

FYI, Elon did say that rail is problematic for Tesla due to the massive logistic and delay problems causing it to be a net detriment. I think it was in some interview or conference call or something in which he mentioned that, sometime within the last half year. It was during the Model 3 ramp up.

Your information about the ELD Mandate pushing traffic to intermodal rail (so they don't have to use ELD long haul trucks with the new mandate) is interesting! I still have my Class A Commercial Driver's license, but the last time I drove a truck is ... I can't remember. They let illegals drive trucks here in California, so I doubt they have a shortage of drivers. It must have been 2003 when I was last in Iowa. So, that was 15 years ago. I didn't know they went ahead and implemented that ELD thing. I don't even know why I keep the damn CDL. I'll never be allowed in a truck again, due to the lack of need for drivers (unless I hung out like a wasp at every temp agency and only accepted truck driving gigs for $8/hour or whatever -- a fair bit below my $55/hr rate when I work and not worth the risks for my $11.25/hr rate when unemployed).

 

[Ulmo]

That's a good way to have all cars delivered with the rear quarter panel window smashed. Good ol 209.

Classic blame the victim ploy. Fairyland for me thank you very much!

 

[eprosenx]

Hauler to rail yard
Load train when available
Train trip
unload train
load car hauler to distribution point (if not at rail yard)
Train heads back to CA at some point
Hauler to Delivery center

Vs
Hauler to delivery center
Hauler back to CA

Cuts transit time, which boosts balance sheet.
CA to NY costs around 1,200 for a single car in open trailer. Expect much lower for a fully utilized internally costed load. Covered by delivery fee.

Could also be hauling CPOs back to ship to China.

Apparently there is also a lot more opportunity for damage when hauling on rail since there are many more load/unload cycles to get the cars to the rail and then on to their final destination.

With a truck apparently they can just load the trailer once and unload it at the final service center destination.

Door to door trip times are shorter and since Tesla is straining for every last bit of revenue each quarter this likely matters to them.

I would not be surprised if they move back to using more rail in the future once there is less pressure on the financial side (as I suspect it is still cheaper for some destinations).

 

[SMAlset]

So what do you guys think happened. If the cab to the car carrier was yellow, I think part of it was on the left side of the highway and the cab portion might be the kind of "cube" shape off the right side of the road in front of the trailer portion. Thinking maybe a jackknife and the trailer portion rolled.

 

[nvx1977]

So what do you guys think happened. If the cab to the car carrier was yellow, I think part of it was on the left side of the highway and the cab portion might be the kind of "cube" shape off the right side of the road in front of the trailer portion. Thinking maybe a jackknife and the trailer portion rolled.

 

[Olds442]

that looks horrible, hope the driver is ok.