There will be no Tesla Semi this year. The automaker said Wednesday in its Q1 update that deliveries of its highly-anticipated all-electric 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. Tesla has reportedly secured thousands... READ FULL ARTICLE
Probably because of the judgement against them so they will need to modify the outside cab to avoid the "lawsuit".
This negates the huge advantage they had in being first to market with a mass produced electric semi. Daimler is set to launch the Freightliner eM2 and eCascadia in 2021 & they are currently loaning test units to Penske to get feedback.
I cannot help to think that competitors have gotten more serious and pushed simply *because* Tesla is moving in this market. That is great for all of us and the country with so many goods moved by 18-wheelers. I can't wait for many of them to have 'AutoSteer' equivalent capabilities as well. That will make some highway driving more comfortable (I-80 comes to mind).
It's not uncommon to see tractor trailers with over 750,000 miles. Assuming the battery is huge and costly. Tesla needs to keep pushing it back until they get a million mile battery. That's my theory.
No doubt industry giants like Daimler are being pushed by Tesla. As far as autonomous trucking, Daimler has acquired a controlling stake in Torc robotics to automate their trucking division, while they continue to work with Bosch to automate their passenger car division. Daimler's Freightliner is North Americas leading heavy truck manufacturer by far, and they are all in on electric & autonomous trucks.
I'm curious how large the packs would have to be and how heavy they would be? How much they would cut into the Semi's hauling capacity versus the fuel and engine weight on a large over the road Semi such as this 2008 Volvo VNL64T 144"ARI