Tesla Semi is Finally Ready for Production – But, there is a Snag!
Elon Musk is undoubtedly one of the most successful, richest, and a successful man on the face of the earth. As CEO of Tesla, he has taken the electric car industry of the world to another level. He has recently announced that Tesla’s A class Truck with eight battery-electric power has completed its pre-production engineering work. He also added that the vehicle would be completely ready at the end of this year to hit the market.
However, there is a little snag. Keep on reading to find out what that is and how Tesla is planning to overcome.
Tesla’s New A-Class Freight-hauling Semi-Truck
According to the Statista report, Tesla is by far the most successful and leading electric car vehicle manufacturer in the whole world. Despite the COVID-19, Tesla sold more than 500,000 electric vehicles only in 2020. Its new Freight-hauling Semi-Truck is about to hit the market, as CEO Elon Musk said in the 2020 Q4 (fourth Quarter) earnings call of the company took place on 27th January 2021. The truck is manufactured with an all-electric powertrain.
The only thing that the company is lacking is its ability to produce enough battery cells. As mentioned, it was clarified in the fourth-quarter earnings call of the company when the first-ever full-year profit report came out. Musk said on the call that the major reason why Tesla is not accelerating new products is simply that the company at the moment doesn’t have enough cells. He added that we could directly go to the execution of the Semi Truck’s mass production if we had enough battery cells. Here are some of the most important specs of the Tesla’s Semi Truck.
Specs
- Acceleration: 0 to 60 miles per hour in 20 seconds with 80K lb.
- Speed Up Five Percent Grade: 60 miles per hour
- Mile Range: Two different variants (300 miles and 500 miles)
- Powertrain: four independent motors available on the rear axles
- Energy Consumption: Less than 2 kWh on every mile
- Expected Fuel Saving: More than 200,000 US dollars
- Expected Base price for 300 Miles Variant: 150,000 US dollars
- Expected Base price for 500 Miles Variant: 180,000 US dollars
- Base Reservation: 20,000 US dollars
- Expected Price for Founders Series: 200,000 US dollars
- Founders Series Reservation: 200,000 US dollars
How is Tesla Planning to Resolve the Current Obstacle?
The Q4 call of Tesla has been reported on many platforms. Elon Musk also said in the call that he believes that the problem is temporary. He added that the company is expecting to have enough battery cells to meet the current requirements. That’s because Tesla is planning to produce more cells in its battery factory located in Fremont, California. The battery that will be mass-produced in this factory is a 4680 battery pack. It is the same battery cell that the company designed and showcased to all of its shareholders last September at the battery day presentation. It’s basically a large battery with tabless lithium-ion cells with a specialised design that allows it to achieve greater range and higher energy density.
It’s important to keep in mind that the Semi-Truck will have a battery with five times more cells as compared to a traditional electric car. But the fact of the matter is that it certainly will not be sold for five-times more than an electric car. So, Musk said that it doesn’t make any sense for the company to go for the Semi-Truck right now. But the CEO also said that it completely would make sense for the company to allow the Semi to hit the market as soon as the battery cell production constraint gets resolved.
It’s not the very first time when Tesla has faced this experience. In 2017 when this electric truck for the first time was introduced to the world by Tesla, at that time, Musk announced that the mass production of the Semi-Truck would begin somewhere in 2019. But it was later announced in 2020 that the Semi-Truck has been delayed and will now be launched in 2021.
Tesla Electric Van!
The battery constraint is not only affecting the production of Semi-Truck from Tesla. Experts suggest that it could also be the reason which is keeping the company from developing the electric van. Elon Musk himself said that resolving the battery cell issue will allow the company to work and develop a range of different electric vehicles. It has been published by the company several times that they have very big plans for the new future and the company is also working on them. Musk now has said that the latest battery development project will ramp up production exponentially.
Tesla is expecting to have an infrastructure in place to produce batteries that will allow the company to achieve a 200-gigawatt house every year. This project is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. Moreover, Musk said that he also has plans to improve this project to add more gigawatt-hours of capacity. These improvements will be added as subprojects to the main one gradually as the production process streamlines.
Elon Musk’s Comments on Electric Van
Musk said that electric vans and many other light-weight trucks that have high commercial value would also have high demand, especially in the US. Additionally, the plans of the newly elected President, Joe Biden, also add more value to the electric vehicle industry. The President has plans that will eventually replace all the combustion engine vehicles of the federal government’s fleet with quieter and cleaner electric vehicles.
According to the latest data, the federal fleet approximately has over 400,000 trucks. If the projects aim to replace all of them, then the demand for electric vehicles will boost drastically. Some of Tesla’s competitors, such as Rivian, Daimler, GM, Ford, etcetera, are already selling electric vans. That’s why Musk said that Tesla is definitely going to launch its electric van very soon. But first, the company needs to resolve its battery cell constraint.
References:
- https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/27/elon-musk-says-tesla-semi-is-ready-for-production-but-limited-by-battery-cell-output/
- https://www.tesla.com/semi
Written by The Original PC Doctor on 14/2/2021.
