Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, recently created a large buzz in the trucking world after revealing his highly anticipated electric semi truck. The truck surprised even some of its harshest critics, with specs that were greater than expected.
The class 8 truck, designed for local hauls, has a reported range of 500 miles, with only a 30-minute recharge time using its “megacharger” stations, significantly higher than the 200-300 mile range that most analysts expected.
Musk also ensured that the truck would be reliable, guaranteeing that it will not break down for at least 1 million miles.
Tesla Semi drivetrain is guaranteed to last 1M miles = to more than 40 trips around the earth pic.twitter.com/xfWVocUdaB
— Tesla (@Tesla) November 17, 2017
The biggest surprise, perhaps, came after Tesla’s live reveal. During the company’s livestream, Musk failed to mention the price of a new truck, however shortly after the presentation the prices were added to the company’s website.
The 500-mile range truck is listed at an expected price of $180,000, and a shorter-range 300-mile model is listed for only $150,000.
For comparison, a 2018 Freightliner Cascadia daycab currently sells for roughly $123,000.
With the lower-than-expected price range, the 1-million mile breakdown guarantee, and significant fuel savings, large carriers are clamoring to add some of the new Tesla rigs to their fleets.
JB Hunt, Walmart, NFI Industries, and several other large carriers have all reserved trucks so far with $20,000-a-pop down payments.
The vehicles are expected to hit the road sometime in 2019.
