Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. News

Watch Tesla’s all-electric Semi hum around a test track

Trevor Mogg
By

Tesla has just released a video showing its all-electric Class 8 Semi truck humming around the automaker’s test track beside its factory in Fremont, California.

The 17-second clip (below) offers a decent view of the sleek-looking truck — sans trailer — showing it from the front, side, and rear as it rolls by the trackside camera.

Recommended Videos

Semi on the track pic.twitter.com/0QCTYGbLJv

— Tesla (@Tesla) March 14, 2021

An unofficial video shot recently by a drone flying over Tesla’s Fremont site may show part of the same test session …

Tesla’s upcoming electric truck features four independent motors to provide maximum power and acceleration, which the company claims will result in low per-mile energy costs. Fully loaded, the Semi truck will be able to hit 60 mph in 20 seconds, or a mere 5 seconds without a trailer attached.

The Tesla-made vehicle will of course include the company’s driver-assistance Autopilot technology, while a centered front seat will offer maximum visibility and control as the driver rolls along the highway or negotiates tighter city streets.

According to Tesla, the vehicle will have a maximum range of 300 miles or 500 miles, depending on the version. The expected base price for the shorter-range truck is $150,000, while the longer-range vehicle is likely to cost around $180,000.

Tesla’s Semi truck has faced a number of production delays since the vehicle’s unveiling in 2017. Almost 12 months ago, the company announced it was shifting its first Semi deliveries to 2021, with recent reports suggesting Tesla is aiming to start customer production this summer with the aim of building around 100 trucks per week by the end of this year.

The automaker, led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has already received at least 2,000 pre-orders from a range of clients that include Walmart, FedEx, DHL, United Parcel Service, and Anheuser-Busch.

But Tesla certainly isn’t alone in its efforts to gain a foothold in the market, with others such as Daimler, BYD, and Kenworth also developing large electric trucks in a sector expected to grow rapidly in the coming years.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
VinFast’s new electric cars will be available in the U.S. this year
VinFast VF6

As we move toward electric vehicles, all kinds of new car brands have been popping up -- giving the traditional automakers a run for their money. Over the past few years at CES, one of the more interesting of those has been VinFast -- a Vietnamese company that delivered its first cars in the U.S. in November. Now, the company is planning on more releases over the next year -- and at CES 2023, we learned more about what those cars will offer.

VinFast may not be very well known in the U.S., but it's actually one of the larger automakers in Vietnam. It certainly doesn't have the experience in manufacturing on the scale that it's hoping to in the U.S., but unlike many of the other electric carmakers, it is actually shipping cars -- not just building concepts. The VinFast VF8 crossover and VF9 SUV were announced earlier -- but little was known about the smaller VF6 and VF7 models, until now. Turns out, like their larger siblings, they're pretty compelling options.
VinFast VF6

Read more
Tesla used car market no longer as lucrative, data shows
Tesla Model Y One Millionth Car

The cost of a used Tesla is starting to fall, new data shows.

Up until fairly recently, it seemed that customers were happy to pay more for a used Tesla than a new one to avoid having to spend months on a waitlist. The buoyant market also proved lucrative for current owners who found they could make a few bucks by selling their Tesla electric vehicle (EV). But that opportunity now looks to be disappearing fast.

Read more
Elon Musk delivers Tesla’s first all-electric Semi truck
Elon Musk driving Tesla's all-electric Semi truck.

Tesla Semi Delivery Event

He’s a busy man, Elon Musk. Fresh from causing chaos at Twitter, which he acquired recently, and just hours after offering an update on his Neuralink neuroscience, the billionaire entrepreneur drove Tesla’s first Semi production vehicle to a delivery event at the automaker’s Nevada Gigafactory on Thursday night.

Read more