Here's the best short video that I found 
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Funniest Musk quote ever:
There certainly is a pattern in these trucks (including the Nikola Motor proposal): the cab extends forward and narrows, which is good for aerodynamics and is made easier by the lack of need for engine access or clearance for the top of an engine. Unfortunately, it makes access to the door more difficult, leading to this bizarre enter-by-the-back-door system.
I have no idea why this truck wasn't shown months - or years - ago, since there is nothing very new in it. I suppose Tesla Motors just needs some good press to offset the continuing Model 3 production disaster.
How easy is it to build a prototype like this? Single-speed motor-driven axles are commercially available for large road vehicles. Multiple manufacturers offer multi-speed gearboxes specifically for electric motors (although usually in smaller sizes). Cummins currently makes only engines, and put together a battery-electric truck to promote their proposed electric powertrain products.... using a race car fabricator (which has never built a truck before) to do the work.
I think Wrightspeed has the right idea. Whether you agree with Wrightspeed's hybrid approach or prefer straight battery-electric, long-haul trucks are not a rational place to put expense and effort, if the purpose is to reduce fossil fuel consumption. Stop-and-go operation of transit (buses - already available), service (think garbage), and local delivery vehicles is a more useful but less attractive market; Cummins targeted Class 7 urban hauling with their tractor, and Mercedes Fuso chose a medium-duty straight truck.
I have no idea why this truck wasn't shown months - or years - ago, since there is nothing very new in it. I suppose Tesla Motors just needs some good press to offset the continuing Model 3 production disaster.
How easy is it to build a prototype like this? Single-speed motor-driven axles are commercially available for large road vehicles. Multiple manufacturers offer multi-speed gearboxes specifically for electric motors (although usually in smaller sizes). Cummins currently makes only engines, and put together a battery-electric truck to promote their proposed electric powertrain products.... using a race car fabricator (which has never built a truck before) to do the work.
I think Wrightspeed has the right idea. Whether you agree with Wrightspeed's hybrid approach or prefer straight battery-electric, long-haul trucks are not a rational place to put expense and effort, if the purpose is to reduce fossil fuel consumption. Stop-and-go operation of transit (buses - already available), service (think garbage), and local delivery vehicles is a more useful but less attractive market; Cummins targeted Class 7 urban hauling with their tractor, and Mercedes Fuso chose a medium-duty straight truck.
"Semi"
I think it's hilarious that Musk has chosen "Semi" as the name for his truck.
Semi | Tesla
The term "semi" means "half", referring to trailers which are not full trailers (entirely supporting themselves, with wheels at both ends, like an old horse-drawn wagon) or pony trailers (balanced on one set of wheels, with only a small part of the weight carried by the tow vehicle, like recreational trailers and small trailers drawn by a single horse), but half-supported by their own wheels at the back and half-supported by the tow vehicle at the front. So it's the trailer which is a semi-trailer; the truck pulling a semi-trailer is a tractor. But sure, this might be a semi-useful truck.
I suppose that "Tractor" wasn't an appealing name.
I think it's hilarious that Musk has chosen "Semi" as the name for his truck.
Semi | Tesla
The term "semi" means "half", referring to trailers which are not full trailers (entirely supporting themselves, with wheels at both ends, like an old horse-drawn wagon) or pony trailers (balanced on one set of wheels, with only a small part of the weight carried by the tow vehicle, like recreational trailers and small trailers drawn by a single horse), but half-supported by their own wheels at the back and half-supported by the tow vehicle at the front. So it's the trailer which is a semi-trailer; the truck pulling a semi-trailer is a tractor. But sure, this might be a semi-useful truck.
I suppose that "Tractor" wasn't an appealing name.
Tesla Semi Charge Port
Some impressive numbers from Tesla...
Attachments
These comparisons with a Bugatti Chiron are hilarious. They must start with writers who know nothing about cars, or with marketing people.
The Chiron's price has nothing to do with value or cost of construction: they exist for owners to use to flaunt their wealth. If the same car sold for twice the price, more people would want it. It certainly makes it a good target for idiotic comparisons.
One comparison is the aerodynamic drag coefficient of the Telsa Semi and the Chiron. That's insane: much of that car's drag is induced due to downforce - the Chiron is not intended to be a low-drag design. Nearly every car in current production has a lower CD than a Bugatti or the Tesla Semi; they picked the Chiron because they assumed that their audience would be too ignorant to realize that it was ridiculous. An honest comparison would be with real production tractor-trailer rigs... and besides being useful it would look even better because real trucks drag coefficients run much higher than claimed for the Tesla Semi (with its unworkable trailer fairing).
In the table with the comparison with the Chiron, they should add "time to refuel" and "number of available refuelling stations". If they're going to compare performance, where are the values for lateral acceleration or lap time around a test track?
Maybe for their next model, Tesla can compare performance with a Toyota Prius, fuel economy with a Rolls-Royce, and interior room with a Ferrari.
The Chiron's price has nothing to do with value or cost of construction: they exist for owners to use to flaunt their wealth. If the same car sold for twice the price, more people would want it.
It certainly makes it a good target for idiotic comparisons.One comparison is the aerodynamic drag coefficient of the Telsa Semi and the Chiron. That's insane: much of that car's drag is induced due to downforce - the Chiron is not intended to be a low-drag design. Nearly every car in current production has a lower CD than a Bugatti or the Tesla Semi; they picked the Chiron because they assumed that their audience would be too ignorant to realize that it was ridiculous. An honest comparison would be with real production tractor-trailer rigs... and besides being useful it would look even better because real trucks drag coefficients run much higher than claimed for the Tesla Semi (with its unworkable trailer fairing).
In the table with the comparison with the Chiron, they should add "time to refuel" and "number of available refuelling stations". If they're going to compare performance, where are the values for lateral acceleration or lap time around a test track?
Maybe for their next model, Tesla can compare performance with a Toyota Prius, fuel economy with a Rolls-Royce, and interior room with a Ferrari.
"teck" illiterate?
They are probably tech literate enough to know that the truck and targa coupe are not particularly interesting, that flying cars in general are a long-running joke, and that Musk's tweet about an upgrade package for the Roadster using rockets to make the car hop is a joke... so they were laughing at it.
The Semi is no more "game changing" than the other electric heavy trucks which are available, and it introduces no new technology. That doesn't mean it won't be significant when (and if) it is actually produced, but it is no miracle. PR bull doesn't do anyone any favours.
New technology is interesting. There is none in the Semi or the new Roadster.
That's sarcasm, right? It's legitimately hard to tell in some of these discussions. The Bugatti Chiron is a "supercar" - a title applied to any extreme high-performance car with a huge price tag - but it's neither a heavy truck nor a competitor to the Roadster, so it's not a rational comparison point. Tesla Motors couldn't build a single car like the Chiron if Elon's life depended on it; it is certainly state-of-the-art, as are many cars.
I find EVs interesting and I love engineering; these vehicle announcements are all about marketing and have nothing to do with engineering.
Musk's cost numbers are sheer fabrications of his imagination, and the range is both unproven and inadequate... but it isn't surprising, since anyone could predict that based on the size of the battery and a 2 kWh/mile consumption rate. Superchargers and the required (for the Semi) Megachargers are useless for the majority of long-haul trucking applications, particularly in the quantity which are likely to be available.
Yes, cost and operability are all that matter to trucking companies. The Semi is too expensive for them in general (although there will be exceptions), and operability is far from proven. Tesla Motors can't even built the Model 3 at all, or build cars of any model with 100% million-mile reliability, but they are promising million-mile truck operation.
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