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

thomasmnile wrote:

Thanks for the education and some 'real world' insight. Do you see E-trucks as viable/practical as urban delivery vehicles? Frito Lay has a plant/distribution facility in our area, I have seen a medium duty Frito Lay E-truck making deliveries to the supermarket we frequent. Don't know what their overall fleet looks like, but there's at least one roaming the streets here.

An interesting observation as well about driver hours and mandated rest periods. Explains why the only rest area on I-4 just east of Orlando is 'standing room only' at night. And why, when Fl DOT proposed permanently closing this rest area as part of a 21 mile renovation project, the trucking industry vehemently protested and FDOT reversed their decision.

Yes, urban delivery is called local P&D (pickup and delivery) that I mentioned, along with terminal to terminal relay operations. I just don't see it as viable for the long haul sector.

But the same thing is observable when it comes to Natural Gas powered semi trucks. They are fine for local P&D and terminal to terminal operations, but have a long way to go to make it into the long haul part of commercial trucking. As much as T. Boone Pickens and others myopically stated that the entire trucking sector could convert to NG and will do so in 20 year (he stated that almost 20 years ago). We don't hear from that old codger anymore either. Just another hype to garner attention and appease the greeenie crowd, while at the same time making life more difficult for those already in the profession.

I will admit, the NG solution even caught my attention. The fuel network has a long way to go to garner the OTR market. But it is about as close to realistic as anything has gotten thus far.

One thing I have become acutely aware of is that when folks who have no real experience in logistics try to interject their ideas into the foray, they usually mess things up more than actually provide viable solutions. But, just like even a blind squirrel will find a nut occasionally, there are rare occurrences when outside ideas are credible. Usually offered by people who are not seeking the limelight such as Musk and Pickens.