The Tesla Semis promise a real revolution in logistics. Designed as autonomous / semi-autonomous vehicles, these semi-trailers offer 800 km of autonomy, and transformed transport scenarios. First, the Tesla Semis are equipped with fast charging (80% in 30 minutes when connected to a “Megacharger” capable of delivering 1 MW).
Then, like all Tesla vehicles, they are equipped with Autopilot technology. Tesla offers a semi-autonomous driving mode that allows a single driver to lead a convoy of several Tesla Semis on the highway (the cabin of other vehicles then remaining unoccupied).
Tesla finally opens pre-orders of its Semi
The vehicle was quite late. The first version of the Tesla Semi was unveiled in November 2017. After selecting the Austin (Texas) plant in 2020, production was to start in the course of 2021. However, pre-orders have only just been released. open in the United States, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom (Tesla's French site does not yet mention the vehicle). But the firm does not give any delivery date for the moment.
Priority will be delivered to “long-time Tesla customers”, in particular firms such as UPS (125 copies) or PepsiCo (100 copies). By the way, we discover more precise figures on these vehicles. Two versions will be offered, one with 300 miles of range (482 km) and the other with 500 miles (800+ km).
The cheapest truck will retail for $150,000 – the price for the 500-mile version is $180,000. To pre-order a Tesla Semi in euros, you must deposit an initial deposit of 4,000 euros by credit card, then transfer 13,000 euros to Tesla by bank transfer within 10 days.
Booking several Semis is possible, but in this case you have to transfer 17,000 euros more per unit. The interest of the Tesla Semi lies for its customers in the economies of scale that it can potentially achieve. Because of its electric motorization, it is not expensive to maintain.
Read also – The Tesla Semi seen on the highway… without any driver behind the wheel?
Semi-autonomous driving saves labor since a single driver can drive, alone, a convoy of several Tesla Semis. Finally, the Tesla Semi saves fuel, while the price of diesel explodes all over the world. Tesla claims the Semi consumes less than 2kWh per mile, saving the automaker over $200,000 in the first two years of operation.
