With a style more fitting of Star Wars than Smokey and the Bandit, Tesla’s electric semi made its twice-delayed debut Thursday in Hawthorne, Calif., the home Tesla Motors’ design center and company founder Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket factory.
Promising a range of up to 500 miles at maximum weight and highway speed, the company says the Tesla Semi consumes less than two kilowatt-hours of energy per mile when fully loaded. Battery capacity wasn’t disclosed Thursday night. The company is currently accepting reservations for Tesla Semi for $5,000 per truck with production set for 2019.
Thursday’s reveal ended a nearly 15-month-long tease of the Class 8 prototype Musk initially confirmed was in development in July of last year.
Without a trailer in tow, Musk says Tesla Semi features a five second 0-60 time, versus about 15 seconds for a comparable diesel truck. At a full-load of 80,000 pounds, he says the electric truck can hit the 60 mph mark in 20 seconds – about a third of the time of a diesel truck – and adds the truck can climb a 5 percent grade at a steady 65 mph. Most diesel Class 8s, he says, would top out around 45 mph on the same grade.
“We wanted a vehicle that feels incredible,” Musk says, “that accelerates like nothing else.”
Musk didn’t offer torque or horsepower figures for the truck.
