The Tesla Semi Is an Engineering Failure

The video argues that, with current battery technology, to achieve the same range as a current semi, most of the weight of the truck will be batteries, leaving little weight for cargo (3 tonnes relative to 19 tonnes).<p>I&#x27;ve noticed there is a common theme to arguments against electrification: that they assume it&#x27;s necessary for an electric vehicle needs to match all the capabilities of a fossil fuel equivalent. i.e. trade offs are not possible.<p>Why can&#x27;t the truck just have shorter range (and thus more cargo capacity) and charge more regularly?<p>If there was proper carbon taxing, the cost of the driver waiting around for charging would be mitigated by the savings made from avoiding carbon tax.<p>Similarly with electric cars, I&#x27;m happy to stop on a very long trip for charging if it means my environmental impact is significantly lower.<p>I&#x27;m assuming the maths in the video is correct. The key figure seems to be that you need 20kg of batteries to achieve the range of 1kg of petrol. Which sounds plausible, but I&#x27;m no expert.

When I see insiders in the industry adopting new technology, while a commenter with no background in the tech says it&#x27;s terrible.. I&#x27;ll generally believe the industry experts. Tesla has presold hundreds of these trucks to walmart, fedex, etc. The question is what did he miss...<p>Here&#x27;s the first big mistake I think he made in the video at 3:45. He pulls this &quot;1 to 20&quot; number out of no where to come up with a battery weight of 17t. But we know a 600kwh battery is 8000lbs.[0]<p>This article also mentions that the max legal payload is increased by 2000lbs for ev trucks... meaning the payload is going to be very close to a gas truck.<p>0. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;insideevs.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;525765&#x2F;tesla-semi-payload-comparable-diesel&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;insideevs.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;525765&#x2F;tesla-semi-payload-compara...</a>

Interesting. The problem described is the load capacity.<p>According to the video: The maximum capacity of a truck is 80,000 lbs or 36 metric tons. The average weight of a semi-tractor is 25,000 lbs or 11t, leaving 25t for fuel, trailer, and cargo. 300 gal of diesel at 7lbs&#x2F;gal is 2100lbs or about 1t. A trailer is around 10t. That gives a cargo capacity of 14t. The difference between the Tesla and a typical semi is that the 1t of diesel is replaced by batteries, (according to the video) at a rate of 1lb to 20lb. As a result, the Tesla load capacity is small (or negative, according to my calcs here).<p>This is wrong.<p>I <i>think</i> the 1t of fuel is calculated as part of the 25t of semi tractor, rather than a separate weight. But that&#x27;s a minor problem.<p>The big difference is that the range of a semi on 300g of diesel is about 1200 miles. The claimed range of the Tesla is a maximum of 500m. Therefore, the Tesla battery is comparable to 125g of diesel, or 875lbs, or about 1t. As a result, the Tesla should have about the same load capacity as a normal semi, just with 42% of the range.<p>On the other hand, that range is a problem. Truckers routinely complain about speed limits and limiters, because the difference between 55mph, say, and 70mph over a 10 hour (say) driving day is 150 miles. Drivers get paid by the mile, so that is some number of hundreds of dollars per day.<p>The Tesla&#x27;s range of 500 miles per day (how long does it take to charge, compared to the driving hours schedule?) compared to the 600-700 miles per day of a typical semi is again some number of hundreds of dollars per day.<p>Does the Tesla have a hot-swappable battery pack? And how much <i>does</i> the Tesla tractor weigh? And why is this article flagged?

I understand the drivetrain weight argument, but this guy makes money off these negative viewpoints so.. now my YouTube feed is gonna be conspiracy theories.

I feel this is a work in progress = the delays. The drive train will be lighter, and the new battery cells will also be lighter, but it seems to me that a well designed frame will also be needed to maintain the usual 36 tonnes load and keep within the total max weight. It is possible that a rules variance for electric trucks will be requested - and granted to raise the total by 4-6 tonnes with the same 36 Tonne load, since this will help meet the carbon lowering that mankind MUST have. IC engine makers will fight this, but not strongly as they see the need for electric and will also back Tesla. Tesla has stated he will mutually allow access to all Tesla patents, so a convergence towards an EV truck will emerge. Those who refuse access to their patents will soon fall behind the Tesla de-facto patent pool. This is much like the way the radio patent pool worked.<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jstor.org&#x2F;stable&#x2F;792163" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.jstor.org&#x2F;stable&#x2F;792163</a>. Back in the days of Kitty Hawk the right brothers were classic patent trolls and never made another major advance - and set back US aviation for many years.<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;time.com&#x2F;4143574&#x2F;wright-brothers-patent-trolling&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;time.com&#x2F;4143574&#x2F;wright-brothers-patent-trolling&#x2F;</a><p>Musk is well aware of this and has been very creative in earning many new and valuable EV patents. I expect these to serve him well in creating this pool.<p>Right now his cars are battery starved and he is unable to fill all his own needs, and others are also after lithium and related minerals - I expect lithium reserves will serve adequate, esp if other metal battery techs emerge - it is quite possible lithium will be surpassed by a new-tech battery?

This video is bullshit. The 1:20 ratio for battery weight is nonsense. A Model 3 long range has a 1060 lb battery vs 20 gallons of gas which weighs 126 lbs. So it&#x27;s more like 8.5x. Also he doesn&#x27;t take into account the simplicity of an electric motor vs a ICE engine. e.g. an electric truck doesn&#x27;t need a transmission, so there will be a lot of weight savings there.

The video does make a good point about the load capacity being at best half of what current trucks have. I wonder what the range would be at 45MPH vs 60MPH.

I realize this won’t make a huge difference, but how much does the Diesel engine, transmission &amp; drivetrain on a conventional truck weigh?

It all depends if a fully loaded truck is going up or down the hill, regen of electric semi will be crazy good

it might make more sense to use this to transport batteries while using them? Since the batteries are rechargeable - that would help the truck run and also transport the battery. Win-win.

&gt; “Did Elon Musk do it? Did he finally create something that isn’t a worse version of what we already have?”<p>This statement strikes me as ignorant even if we talk exclusively about Tesla. The idea that Elon hasn’t improved on existing designs across all of his current companies (or Paypal) borders on indefensible. Reusable and landable stage 1 boosters come to mind.