Stopping Short: Tesla's Electric 'Long-hauler' Rumored to Have a Maximum Range Under 300 Miles
Tesla Motors will be dabbling in the commercial freight industry when it unveils its electric semi-trailer next month. But, with news of it only possessing a 200- to 300-mile range between charges, dabbling may be a best-case-scenario. Diesel-powered rigs traditionally run in excess of 1,300 miles between stops, even though they also go through hundreds of gallons of fuel in the process. And it’s all that burned fuel that makes the concept of an electric tractor-trailer so appetizing to the trucking industry.
However, the EV prototype “long-hauler” won’t be fit for cross-country trips due to its limited range — meaning the inevitable Smokey and the Bandit remake probably isn’t going to have the Bandit or Snowman driving Teslas.
According to Reuters, Scott Perry, chief procurement officer at Ryder, said he met with Tesla officials earlier this year to discuss the technology at the automaker’s main facility in Fremont, California. Perry explained the manufacturer’s goals centered around an electric day cab rig with no sleeper compartment, capable of traveling roughly 200 to 300 miles with a complete payload before needing to be recharged. But even among shorter distance day cab trucks, Tesla’s rumored range isn’t exactly competitive. Non-sleeper diesel tractors can easily clock 600 miles before having to worry about refueling.
“I’m not going to count them out for having a strategy for longer distances or ranges, but right out of the gate I think that’s where they’ll start,” Perry explained.
Tesla Motors is famous for teasing details and not providing the full story until the very last minute. It may already have something better waiting in the wings. Company CEO Elon Musk has expressed his desire for large-scale production of the Tesla Semi within a couple of years. It’s conceivable that the prototype could represent a modest offering, with longer range variants to follow. The company is also promising autonomous features that would eventually limit the need for a human operator.
“We’re getting [the trucking industry] closely involved in the design process, so the biggest customers of the heavy duty Tesla semi are helping ensure that it is specified to their needs, so it’s not a mystery,” Musk told shareholders in June. “They already know that it’s going to meet their needs, because they’ve told us what those needs are. So it’ll really just be a question of scaling volume to make as many as we can.”
The trucking industry has been monitoring Tesla’s trucking plans with healthy dose of skepticism, though. Servicing these already expensive vehicles could be extremely problematic and no fleet manager is going to green-light spending if the logistics don’t work. Range is also a critical factor within the commercial freight industry and these hypothetical EV trucks offer diminished distances and a lengthy recharging period.
Electric semi trucks are believed to lose their economic feasibility past a 300-mile range. Present-day battery technology would effectively limit it to around that threshold. Anything more and rigs would need to be equipped with heavy external power supplies, probably in the trailer — which would limit their usefulness.
“There is a certain amount of hype to Tesla’s announcement,” said Antti Lindstrom, an analyst at global research firm IHS Markit, last April. “It doesn’t seem that long-distance trucking is ready for electrification right now.”
Musk disagrees, obviously. “A lot of people don’t think you can do a heavy-duty, long-range truck that’s electric, but we are confident that this can be done,” he said.
Roughly 30 percent of U.S. trucking jobs are regional trips of 100 to 200 miles, according to Sandeep Kar, chief strategy officer of Toronto-based Fleet Complete, which tracks and analyzes trucking routes. “As long as [Musk] can break 200 miles he can claim his truck is ‘long haul’ and he will be technically right,” Kar said.
[Image: Tesla]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
The real question will be what is the entry cost to acquire in the first place. Long term operating costs don't mean anything if the difference at the end of the day doesn't show value over that of a tradition diesel semi because some insane amount of daily driver miles are required in order to break even. Given that unlike a diesel, recharge times will impact not only that time period, but also cost in terms of storage, upkeep, and of the course, the unknown amount of the time the batteries can actually maintain that range, I don't see it taking off unless a few things happen. Government will have to subsidize the intial buy in price, which will only make it attractive until the subsidies run out. Second, they will have to prove long term reliability which won't happen over night. Finally, the proof that long term, money is saved versus a traditional semi, which will require a decent data pool before people jump on board. I'm not holding my breath for a runaway success. As of right now, I view this as going the same way of the tesla roadster. Unique, but not a mass market item.
Even if they get a small portion of the trucking market, it will be interesting to see how battery production will scale. It will take a lot of lithium with current battery design. I don't see how this scales economically without a new battery design using more available resources. And what happens when all this extra power is pulled through the grid? ...assuming it is available.