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Tesla's upcoming all-electric heavy-duty truck.

‘Tesla Semi’ is an heavy-duty all-electric truck program at Tesla led by Jerome Guillen, Tesla’s former Model S Program Director and VP of Vehicle Engineering. Before joining Tesla, Guillen was an executive at Daimler where he successfully led the development of the Cascadia truck program (picture on the right).

The vehicle was first announced in CEO Elon Musk’s’ ‘Master Plan Part Deux’. Here’s the relevant part of the ‘Master Plan‘:

“In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.”

It was officially unveiled on November 16, 2017. Here are all the details.

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Tesla Semi met and then crushed almost all of our expectations

I’d argue that leading up to the event, CEO Elon Musk was hyping the Tesla electric truck unveiling even more than your average Tesla event, which led us to set some crazy high expectations for the truck.

Surprisingly, Tesla actually met most of our expectations and they even crushed a few of them. Here’s our quick recap of the event.
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Tesla Semi Unveiling: here are our ‘mind blowing’ expectations for the electric truck

Tesla is set to unveil its electric semi truck this week and as usual, the expectations are high. CEO Elon Musk did nothing to manage those expectations yesterday when he went as far as saying that the unveil will “blow your mind clear out of your skull and into an alternate dimension.”

While it may sound just like a simple exaggeration, it’s only the latest in a series of statements hyping the upcoming electric truck.

Now we try to set those expectations and see why Musk seems so confident. A hint: it’s all about the economics. 
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Is this our first glimpse of the Tesla semi truck?

On October 26th, Tesla is set to unveil an all-electric truck which will surely shake up the trucking industry.   Details on the truck are light so far, and all we’ve seen from Tesla officially is one teaser photo.  The event is right around the corner however, as yesterday Tesla sent out a “save the date” email to owners who have reached 5 referrals.

So despite having few details, today we’ve seen our best tip yet.  On reddit, a user posted a photo which we can’t quite confirm the source of, but is reportedly from “an undisclosed place in California where they test Tesla vehicles.”  While we can’t see any logos or other confirmation that this is the actual Tesla truck, it certainly looks like it – the headlights and fenders match up, the nose looks like it doesn’t have an engine in it, and the angle of the windshield looks similar to the teaser photo.


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Tesla Semi could be ‘the biggest catalyst in trucking in decades’ and 70% cheaper to operate, says analyst

Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas is one of the top analyst covering Tesla and now he seems pretty excited about the imminent launch of Tesla Semi, the automaker’s upcoming all-electric truck.

In a new note to clients today, Jonas even suggested that the reveal of the truck could be “the biggest catalyst in trucking in decades”.
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The trucking industry has to embrace electric propulsion fast or face obsolescence

While electric cars have been part of the car industry since its very beginning, they are only now starting to truly transform the industry and they are expected to dominate it over the next few decades.

Things are likely to move much quicker in the trucking industry now that EVs have matured and if legacy truck and bus makers don’t embrace electric propulsion fast, they could face obsolescence, according to analysts. 
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Tesla Semi: Daimler talks down Tesla’s electric truck plans, says they need more infrastructure

Just like Tesla did with the Model S in the premium sedan segment, Tesla Semi, the company’s upcoming all-electric semi truck, is aiming to become the best-selling truck in its segment, according to CEO Elon Musk.

It means that they are attempting to dethrone Freightliner’s Cascadia.

Daimler, Freightliner’s parent company, doesn’t seem too worried about the upcoming competition from Tesla based on recent comments from an executive.
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Tesla Semi to reach ‘scale production’ in ’18 to 24 months’ and will be unveiled with something unannounced, says Elon Musk

There were actually a lot of interesting announcements and comments from Elon Musk at the Tesla’s 2017 Annual Shareholder Meeting yesterday.

We got a Model Y teaser, Model 3 configuration update, and Musk gave more details about Tesla’s plans for new factories.

He also shared some interesting information about Tesla Semi, the company’s heavy-duty electric truck program.
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Tesla Semi is using ‘a bunch’ of Model 3 electric motors, says Elon Musk

During a conference call with analysts following Tesla’s first quarter financial results, Elon Musk briefly commented on Tesla Semi, the automaker’s upcoming electric semi truck.

The CEO disclosed that Tesla Semi shares “a lot” of parts with the Model 3, including the new motors made for the upcoming $35,000 all-electric sedan.
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Tesla Semi: analysts see Tesla leasing batteries for $0.25/miles in 300,000 electric trucks for $7.5 billion in revenue

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the company plans to unveil its electric semi truck, called ‘Tesla Semi’, in September, which is sooner than most industry watcher anticipated.

Now analysts covering the company are weighing in the new trucking business in their valuation of the company and coming up with business models that Tesla could use for its battery-powered trucks.
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Tesla Semi: analyst warns truck makers not to laugh, Tesla’s electric truck is going to be disruptive

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The idea of an all-electric class 8 truck is being met with a lot of skepticism in the trucking industry. With the current status of electric passenger cars barely breaking the 300-mile range, they have difficulties envisioning a truck capable of towing tens of thousands of pounds of cargo and still achieving a decent range.

It’s in this context that Elon Musk announced in a tweet last week that Tesla plans to unveil ‘Tesla Semi’, its all-electric truck, as soon as September 2017. An analyst now warns the industry that they shouldn’t laugh at Tesla’s plan.
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Tesla has now 8 vehicle programs in the works: an updated look at its planned vehicle lineup

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Tesla’s automotive business is expanding quickly and we are not only talking about the Model 3. The Model 3 program will significantly increase its overall production capacity from roughly 2,000 vehicles per week to ~7,000 vehicles per week by the end of the year if all goes well, but Tesla is also expanding its automotive offering with now 8 vehicle programs at different stages of development.

CEO Elon Musk’s update yesterday gives us a better idea – albeit still vague – of the timeline for those programs.
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Tesla Semi all-electric truck to be unveiled in September and be ‘next level’, says Elon Musk

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today, on the eve of the New York International Auto Show that the company plans to unveil its all-electric semi truck, called ‘Tesla Semi’, in September.

He also teased that it will be “seriously next level” and briefly discussed the upcoming Tesla pickup truck and next-gen Roadster… 
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Tesla Semi: Elon Musk says they are making progress with new electric semi truck, focus is still on Model 3

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When Elon Musk released his‘ Master Plan Part 2’ for Tesla last year, he surprised a lot of people in the industry when he announced that the automaker will soon venture in the semi-truck business.

Musk confirmed today that the project, which has been called ‘Tesla Semi’, is making good progress, but we shouldn’t expect much until Tesla can get the Model 3 out the door.
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