PepsiCo employee says the Tesla Semi is a “disaster” & does 400 miles “at best” with round-the-clock servicing by Tesla engineers
So, barring the apologists take, the issues seem to be:
- They used car parts, not semi truck parts
- the batteries wear out incredibly fast, such that a fully loaded ride from LA to Phoenix had to have two backup tesla semis towed by a diesel rig alongside for when it broke down
- batteries wear out quickly, at about $100k per replacement
- the trucks are entirely paid for by CA taxpayers, and Pepsi keeps using them for eco-credits, not because they’re useful
- 100k trucks were promised, 90 (not 90k - ninety) were manufactured
That the whole thing appears to be stock-pumping vaporware is an opinion, but it does track.
Is all that hearsay? Well, yeah, it’s illegal to talk about it. Against the NDA anyway. Classic Musky.
The article is kind of unfounded garbage.
Here’s a better source that actually breaks down the math behind the Tesla semi, weaponizing the true specs behind Tesla’s intentionally-obfuscated figures against the Elon Musk reality distortion field:
https://youtu.be/o3dCDNIRM34?si=UQ4Qta12RLhemncl
In conclusion, even with an impossible 100% increase in battery efficiency, a battery-powered Tesla semi would only be able to (at best) pull 2.5 times less than a standard diesel semi. Normal semis pull around 20 tons and in Tesla’s demo video, the “fully loaded” Tesla Semi was towing just 5 tons. AN impossibly optimistic 100% increase in efficiency would bring that to 8 tons total. It’s sad but true that even the most promising battery technology just can’t compete with the energy-to-weight-ratio of internal combustion.
Just because Elon Musk tells you that a technology is ready for prime time, doesn’t mean it’s true. Do the math. EV isn’t ready yet. I’d love it to be. But it’s really not….and companies like Honda and Toyota have been saying that for years. Hybrid is viable but straight EV is a joke with current (or 2x better future) battery tech.
The semi may be a disaster but this article is also full of EV FUD
I skimmed it and tend to agree. It’s just a list of complaints, a non-critical attempt at a technical clarification of each complaint, and no analysis beyond “this user says this sucks, here’s a possible explanation why it sucks”. The multiple references to a stock pump towards the end and the financial disclaimer at the bottom makes me think this is TSLAQ fodder.
The tone of this article is the guy wants to hate the Tesla semi, and provides no facts other than “A Pepsi insider said so”
Lol disgruntled truck driver said it sucks so all EVs should be abandoned
Edison is going to fucking eat them up.
