Tesla Semi truck unveil & test ride set for Oct 26th !

stsmark wrote:
Tesla states less than 2 kw per mile, so if I give them the benefit of the doubt and say 1.5 kw / mi.

And you believe them? Seriously? You really believe them?

I was on vacation last week and the guy next to me had a beautiful 35' to 38'5er and new(ish) GM Dmax truck. So I ask him what kind of mileage he was getting towing that big 5er. He looked me straight in the eye and said 14 mpg. So I say, you're getting 14 towing that trailer? He said yep, but it's not as good as all as the 2017 Dodge I had.....it got 17 mpg towing it. I just smiled and said, oh that's really good. LMAO.

Let me show you my math: The Lightning extended comes with a 131mwh battery. That 131mwh battery towed a 7K lb trailer86 miles in this towing test

Now, this is a teeny tiny little 1/2 ton pickup with a tiny 7K lb trailer. So waaaaaay less than 20K lbs total gross.

You do know a semi weighs 80K lbs fully loaded right? So 4 times the weight of this little rig. Now couple that with more than twice the amount of tires (think rolling res) and a whole bunch more of trailer catching wind. Now couple that with brakes and suspension likely also 4 times the weight of this pickup. Then you have the rotating mass weight of the drive motors and all of that kind of stuff.

Now lets do the math. Not really much to do. The truck had 131mwh battery in it and it went 86 miles. Waaaaaaaay less than 1 mile/mwh towing way less than 20K. Do you really think a semi towing 80K will get 1.5 miles/mwh?

The Lightning got around a 1/3 of the mileage when it was towing than solo. Also during this towing test there was not much for hills at all. I have been on this road towing a few times.

Tusk says the Semi will have a 500mwh battery in it. So lets say the Semi can go 1/4 mile/mwh. I don't think that will every happen but lets say I'm wrong. A Semi with a 500mwh battery will have a range of 125 miles. Now in real life you better find a charger around 75 to 100 miles. Remember when you are OTR trucking; much like RVing, you can't go to the last mile before filling up so your range will be less.

Now do you think you can compete with a OTR truck that can go over 1,000 miles on a tank of fuel? And can refill the tank in less than 10 minutes? Really?

On another note, my state just issued a power warning. They want you to cut back on AC and not plug your cars in and not wash your cloths and all of that for fear of black outs. Nice hu? I can't wait until these Semi's hit the road to suck up tons of juice!! :S