Blog Tesla's Semi Program Getting Closer to Reality

[SilverSp33d3r]

Tesla and Edison were at UPS in ontario California back in July of 2019. The were showing off semi. Edison was there to scout a location for superchargers on our facility. About week ago I noticed them tearing out some of the natural gas pumps to make room for something new. Some should check Ontario California for permits.

Where on the property is this located? Is the entire site 3140 e jurupa st?

 

[Brando]

I would expect Freight companies would put in their own chargers. And they could "sell charging to others, perhaps.
[I would not expect owner/operators (one person or couple) to buy just a single SEMI.]
Also freight companies could team up with each other? or existing fuel stations to build what they need.

Walmart, for example, could easily have chargers at the warehouse and the stores - and never need to charge anywhere else.
Same for other big box other big box stores or national chain stores.

 

[AMPd]

I would expect Freight companies would put in their own chargers. And they could "sell charging to others, perhaps.
[I would not expect owner/operators (one person or couple) to buy just a single SEMI.]
Also freight companies could team up with each other? or existing fuel stations to build what they need.

Walmart, for example, could easily have chargers at the warehouse and the stores - and never need to charge anywhere else.
Same for other big box other big box stores or national chain stores.

Not all freight forwarding companies have terminals within 400-500 miles. In fact most do not.
You don’t expect an owner operator to purchase just a single truck? You’re right on that.. Not a single owner operator will purchase this truck at this time.
Freight companies, at least the smaller ones will not be teaming up to build the chargers. That’s not the business they are in. Again, large companies, yes maybe, smaller ones, no way in heck.

 

[MrMassTransit]

I wonder how they plan to slow down the semi when regen is low or non existent Diesel semis have exhaust brakes to help slow them down

The easy solution (not sure if they will go this route) is a resistor grid. The grid creates generates heat from the power as a means of using the electricity and it is usually cooled by a fan. This is how diesel locomotives operate their dynamic brakes. I would imagine they'd need some solution because a semi truck can burn overheat its brakes pretty quickly on long descents if there is not another way of slowing the vehicle. With an ICE truck you can leave it in gear and use an engine brake.

Tesla and Edison were at UPS in ontario California back in July of 2019. The were showing off semi. Edison was there to scout a location for superchargers on our facility. About week ago I noticed them tearing out some of the natural gas pumps to make room for something new. Some should check Ontario California for permits.

Very cool to see UPS start to prep to get them. Between them and FedEx, they always seem to lead the way on reducing their environmental impact (even if many times their major motivation is reducing their operating costs). Large scale hybrid deployments, using intermodal freight to move ground shipments, widespread use of LNG tractor trailers, winglets on their 767s, investing in several EV truck companies and placing orders for a good number of electric delivery trucks, and now leading the way on deploying EV semis. There's a reason they preferentially get my shipping business.

 

[mcot222]

The easy solution (not sure if they will go this route) is a resistor grid. The grid creates generates heat from the power as a means of using the electricity and it is usually cooled by a fan. This is how diesel locomotives operate their dynamic brakes. I would imagine they'd need some solution because a semi truck can burn overheat its brakes pretty quickly on long descents if there is not another way of slowing the vehicle. With an ICE truck you can leave it in gear and use an engine brake.
.

Yah regen ‘not working’ in current Teslas just means the battery isn’t warmed up enough to accept the charge, however it has nothing to do with the motors being able to slow the vehicle down by acting as a generator. So if you want regen all the time with Semi even when the battery is full or cold you just need to do something else with the excess energy generated like turn it into heat .

 

[Saghost]

Yah regen ‘not working’ in current Teslas just means the battery isn’t warmed up enough to accept the charge, however it has nothing to do with the motors being able to slow the vehicle down by acting as a generator. So if you want regen all the time with Semi even when the battery is full or cold you just need to do something else with the excess energy generated like turn it into heat .

Or include enough insulation and excess capacity so that the pack is never too full or too cold.

 

[mcot222]

Or include enough insulation and excess capacity so that the pack is never too full or too cold.

This is where I thought supercaps made sense too but I guess Elon keeps saying they won’t use them. They also make sense to provide power for the initial roll up a grade with an 80,000 pound load.

 

[brucet999]

Or include enough insulation and excess capacity so that the pack is never too full or too cold.

Insulation might be useful to minimize chill factor, but wouldn't hold heat overnight. Still a good idea to make battery conditioning easier.

 

[Brando]

@ThomasD @MrMassTransit Braking with regen

Braking is necessarily a safety requirement. Redundancy is also often required where life & death can be the out comes of failure.
For example vehicles have "dual hydraulic" systems Left Front---Right Rear & Right Front---Left Rear So at least you have 1/2 brake system.

So safety would dictate Trucks have redundancy in brake systems.. So it doesn't often matter if Regeneration isn't working well, the regular brake system will work fine.

 

[Saghost]

Insulation might be useful to minimize chill factor, but wouldn't hold heat overnight. Still a good idea to make battery conditioning easier.

The semi prototypes we've seen didn't seem to have the pack spanning the bottom of the vehicle like the cars do. Decent insulation absolutely could keep a pack warm overnight - or the semi could use a trickle of power to keep the pack warm.

 

[brucet999]

The semi prototypes we've seen didn't seem to have the pack spanning the bottom of the vehicle like the cars do. Decent insulation absolutely could keep a pack warm overnight - or the semi could use a trickle of power to keep the pack warm.

So you think that the packs would not be in the airflow? That would help.

Wouldn't take a lot of heat to keep a well insulated pack warm enough to regen. My Lake Tahoe cabin water heater can be left full all winter with just a pilot light to keep from freezing.