Tesla Semi Trucks launched by Elon Musk, to be an alternative to diesel trucks

Tesla has launched its first electric truck -Semi today. The first unit has been handed to PepsiCo. The Semi is expected to offer three times the power of a traditional diesel-powered truck. The battery-powered electric truck is expected to reduce highway emissions and offer safety, said Elon Musk during the event at Tesla’s Nevada plant.

In the launch event, Musk highlighted Semi trucks wrapped in Pepsi and Frito Lay logos.

Musk said that the company’s team completed an 800-km drive with a Semi truck “weighing in at 81,000 lbs!” in a single charge.

The new electric trucks are designed like a bullet for more efficiency and give a better driver experience by providing max road visibility, space to stand up, two 15-inch touch screens, wireless phone charging, and much more.

“It looks sick,” Musk said at the event.

“You want to drive that. I mean, that thing looks like it came from the future,” he added. He later described Semi as a “beast”.

Tesla claims that its Semi trucks have thrice “the power of any diesel truck on the road, with the efficiency to go 500 miles” and engineers have tested the vehicles in a “variety of harsh conditions to maximize reliability and durability”.

“Semi has a tri-motor system & carbon-sleeved rotors just like Plaid. One unit for efficiency, two acceleration units for torque,” Tesla said in a tweet. The Semi is capable of charging at 1 megawatt and has liquid-cooling technology in the charging cable in an updated version of Tesla’s Supercharger.

Tesla had said in 2017 that the 300-mile range version of the electric truck would cost $150,000 while the 500-mile range cost $180,000. However, there is no update on the price of the Semi.

The truck’s concept was first unveiled in 2017 and was supposed to go into production in 2019. But was delayed for multiple reasons, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and a global parts shortage. Pepsi had ordered 100 Semi trucks in December 2017, a month after it was announced.

(With IANS inputs)