Tesla in September will reveal the design of an electric semi-trailer truck currently in the works.
Plans for the truck were first detailed a year ago in part two of Tesla’s overarching product strategy known as the Tesla Master Plan. And in April we got our first taste in the form of the above teaser shot.
Tesla has been quiet on details but Reuters has learned the truck will have a range somewhere between 200 and 300 miles, which would make it more suited to urban and regional jaunts than long-haul trips. The information came from Scott Perry, an executive at Miami-based fleet operator Ryder System, who met with Tesla earlier this year to discuss the truck.
Such a range would still make Tesla’s truck relevant. According to trucking analyst Sandeep Kar, around 30 percent of trucking jobs in the United States are trips ranging from 100 to 200 miles. Conventional diesel-powered trucks can do 1,000 miles or more on a full tank, but with some cities possibly banning their use in the near future we could see a niche open up for electric trucks.
Mercedes-Benz is already conducting trials of a handful of electric vans and trucks and expects to have an electric truck similar to its Urban eTruck concept shown in 2016 in production by early next decade. American startup Nikola also in 2016 showed an extended-range electric truck. Nikola is promising its truck for production by the end of the decade.
Beyond its truck, which may feature self-driving capability, Tesla also has in the hopper the Model Y crossover SUV, a next-generation Roadster, and a pickup truck. That’s on top of its plans for energy storage and solar roofs. In other words, it’s going to be busy times at the Californian firm for years to come.
