If there’s one thing missing from our lives, it’s a sporty semi-truck. After all, that sounds super safe, right? Imagine a truck hauling a huge load that can corner like a Ferrari. If anything, life would certainly get a lot more interesting.
All jokes aside, it does appear that Tesla’s upcoming semi-truck will have a bit of pep to its step. In his TED Talk today, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that he had taken the prototype truck for a spin in Tesla’s parking lot.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/852580027178696704
“This will be a very spry truck,” he said. “You can drive this around like a sports car.”
The Tesla semi will be unveiled sometime in September and is expected to outperform a diesel truck in terms of range and torque, even with the additional weight of what I assume will be a massive battery.
The semi-truck project was first announced in Musk’s “Master Plan, Part Deux“, which also outlined plans for an electric pickup truck, among other points. In Master Plan, Part Deux, Musk mentioned:
“In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.”
What’s interesting is that Musk also mentions plans to build what sounds like a Tesla bus, which rest assured, we will be keeping our eyes on. In the meantime, it’s interesting to see the type of performance that the Tesla semi can churn out, both in terms of long haul work and actual performance specs.
September is not too far away!
SOURCE | Business Insider