Elon Musk has gone over to the next level in the modernization of vehicles ever since he unveiled the ‘Semi Truck’ in Hawthorne, California at SpaceX’s headquarters on the 16th of November, 2017. He obviously thought things through when he played this card because this truck is electrified for a reason!
Sure trucks do occupy only a small percentage of our traffic, but that small percentage emits enough smoke to account for a nice big hole in the ozone and all kinds of pollution and diseases. That is because of the heavy amount of diesel they consume of course, but hey! The idea of the Tesla Semi has been set and Elon Musk promises to start the production of the electrifyingly beautiful thing in 2019.
What’s it capable of? Glad you asked.
Well, as we could expect from him, Musk made sure that this truck wastes no time in reaching its destination. Powered by a massive battery and capable of hauling 80,000 pounds, it can ramble 500 miles between charges and will go from zero to 60 miles per hours in 20 seconds when fully loaded!
Wow.
Tesla Semi (the truck’s official name) will be charged via “megachargers” which happen to be similar to Tesla’s supercharger network and will generate the energy required to charge the battery through, well, Solar panels of course! Musk says that this truck has economic sense and also plays a major part in his wishes to build a sustainable energy company.
Tesla Semi is sleek and a beauty inside out. The cab is about 6’6 tall (making it easier to stand up) and the ‘driver’ in charge gets two 15-inch touchscreens for various tasks like navigation and blind spot monitoring. Because a bulky diesel engine was not required, Tesla made the nose of the cab a vertical slab, and the main seat is so far forward, that the ground is visible tight in front of the vehicle.
Though this ‘move’ may be a risk for Tesla it may also prove to be very rewarding for the company.
And as always, Musk never fails to surprise us with his genius.
Only recently, on the 19th of January 2018, Musk even let the sexy beast in black matte out for a spin in the bay area in Sunnyvale, California. It was an unprecedented view and we have big hopes for this new project.
by Fatina Shahzad