Tesla HGV completes a 500 mile drive fully laden

[dan_b]

If this is true, this is pretty darned impressive. 500 miles with a 43 ton load on one charge?

https://electrek.co/2022/11/27/tesla-se ... full-load/

[Mart]

That is staggering. He did say 2kWh per mile (at max weight) and more recently 'less than 2kWh/mile at max weight), but still, to actually do it is incredible. Just need to know the battery size now, is it 1,000KWh, or somewhere in the 800kWh to 1,000kWh range?

The cheeky devil in me, did wonder if they used the road that Nikola did to film the 'Nikola in Motion' video to prove their HFCV truck was a runner, only to later admit it was rolling down a very long slope.

Or, reading Elon's tweet:

Tesla team just completed a 500 mile drive with a Tesla Semi weighing in at 81,000 lbs!

it might have stopped for multiple re-charges.

[Countrypaul]

500 miles on a single charge is very impressive for a large vehicle. 81,000 lbs is only just over 36 tons though, where does 43 come from?

[Oldgreybeard]

500 miles on a single charge is very impressive for a large vehicle. 81,000 lbs is only just over 36 tons though, where does 43 come from?

Could it be the load weight? Sounds about right, 36 tonnes of load plus 7 tonnes of truck.

[Mart]

500 miles on a single charge is very impressive for a large vehicle. 81,000 lbs is only just over 36 tons though, where does 43 come from?

It gets worse. In Murica they'd probably convert 81,000lbs into 40.5tons, as they seem to interchange tons and short tons willy nilly.

Glad I live in the UK where we use simple and sensible terms to keep everything tickety boo.

[Mart]

BTW, to compensate for some additional battery weight, the EU is to increase BEV truck max weight by 2tonnes, and the US by 2,000lbs.

[Oldgreybeard]

Glad I live in the UK where we use simple and sensible terms to keep everything tickety boo.

When I first started work we used slugs/ft³ as the standard unit of air density . . .

[dan_b]

I'm assuming it's got a 1MWh battery pack. And therefore the need for Megachargers becomes rather obvious!
But apparently also, these Semi's aren't using the 4680 cells but just a lot of 2170s.

The 4680 structural pack revolution has taken the same Elon Time trajectory as most other Tesla products it would seem, along with CyberTruck, Semi, and Roadster...

[Mart]

Just an update if anyone is interested. Somebody asked Elon how the truck was allowed at 81,000lbs, did it have a max weight exemption to exceed 80,000lbs, and he mentioned the higher weight limit for BEV trucks (+2,000lbs). Though I have heard rumours that the Tesla semi tractor is actually about the same weight as a diesel tractor, but I remain a bit skeptical for the 500 mile model (300 mile model should be fine), but look forward to being wrong to bet against Tesla.

So the truck weighed in at 81,000lbs.

I'm surprised that the max weight is lower in the US than Europe. I think 44 tonnes is allowed with enough axles, so around 97,000lbs.

[dan_b]

Timelapse video of the whole 500 mile journey.
Yes it was completed on one charge - ie no en-route recharging, although the driver had to stop for a wee!

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-semi-fu ... timelapse/