Take A Look At This New $2.4 Billion Tesla Semi Truck Factory
Tuesday, December 7, 2021 | Chimniii Desk
Key Highlights
- Tesla Semi is a battery-electric, all-electric Class 8 semi-truck that Tesla, Inc. is developing.
- Tesla intends to begin mass production by the end of 2021 and reach full production capacity in 2022.
- He was correct, as certain reports indicate that the additional space was retained for free-range testing of their large semi-trucks.
- According to Ives, Tesla will also require a test-driving facility.
- The Tesla Impact Report 2020 estimates that the semi-truck will have a range of over 804 kilometres on a single charge.
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Tesla's bold entry into the trucking industry with the semi-truck should be old news by now. Elon Musk intends to leave no stone unturned in his quest to fundamentally transform industries.
He is not only accomplishing this through the development of more advanced and efficient vehicles for the future; he is also accomplishing this through the type of factories he constructs to manufacture those vehicles. A factory the size of 138 football fields. Boardwalk that connects to a hiking and biking trail.
Birds in the trees, butterflies, and fish in the stream create an ecological paradise. The semi-truck is unlike anything else seen in the industry. And that is only the beginning. Why? In a moment, we'll fill you in on all the details. Let us begin.
Tesla Semi is a battery-electric, all-electric Class 8 semi-truck that Tesla, Inc. is developing. Two concept cars were unveiled in November 2017, with production set to begin in 2023.
The truck would have a range of 500 miles (805 kilometres) on a full charge, and with its upgraded batteries, it would be capable of travelling 400 miles (640 kilometres) in 30 minutes after receiving an 80 percent charge via a solar-powered "Tesla Megacharger."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the Semi will include Tesla Autopilot, which enables semi-autonomous highway driving. Musk also stated during the November 2017 press conference that the company would be involved in the installation of a global network of solar-powered "Megachargers" capable of recharging a truck's batteries in 30 minutes to a capacity of 400 miles or 640 kilometres.
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Tesla's 2016 Master Plan was the first to include a section on the Semi. Tesla stated at the time that they had a working prototype equipped with "a bunch" of Model 3 electric motors. Since April 2017, Jerome Guillen has been in charge of the Tesla Semi development.
Guillen previously oversaw Freightliner's Cascadia Diesel-powered Class 8 semi-trailer fleet before joining Tesla to configure the Model S production line. He left the Semi programme a year later to lead one of Tesla's Model 3 general assembly lines, and was named Tesla's president of automotive in September 2018.
Gigafactory Texas, also known as Tesla Gigafactory 5 or Giga Texas, is a Tesla, Inc. factory located outside Austin, Texas. Construction began in July 2020.
Tesla intends to begin mass production by the end of 2021 and reach full production capacity in 2022. Tesla was evaluating locations in eight states across the central United States between 2019 and 2020.
Numerous community organisations and government authorities in the United States have expressed interest in hosting the Tesla Gigafactory, a massive manufacturing complex that is planned.
Several have expressed interest in simplifying land acquisition, removing regulatory barriers, and considering tax incentives. Some used social media marketing to reach out to Elon Musk personally. By May 2020, Tesla was in the midst of a selection process.
The shortlist included Austin, Nashville (Tennessee), and Tulsa (Oklahoma). Tesla had visited two locations in the Tulsa area by the middle of May. Tesla chose Austin as the location in July 2020.
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The plant will produce the Tesla Cybertruck and Tesla Semi for the eastern United States, as well as Model 3 and Model Y automobiles.
Tesla released four images of the massive automobile factory it is constructing east of Austin on July 26th, in conjunction with the release of its second-quarter financial results.
The images show the interior and exterior of the so-called Gigafactory Texas, as well as an aerial view of the construction site, which is home to dozens of employees. Construction on the factory began in July of last year and appears to be nearing completion.
Tesla's plans for 280 acres of the 2,100-acre site it purchased last July for $97 million were first detailed in a report to the Texas state government. The proposal included a massive oblong manufacturing structure immediately east of Texas Highway 130, spanning from near the Colorado River north to approximately Harold Green Road.
The facility covers an area of 7.9 million square feet, including parking lots, or the equivalent of 138 football fields. Tesla's future plans for the remaining 1,800 acres of the site remain unknown, as neither Tesla spokespeople nor Musk himself have addressed the issue.
Tesla was expected to increase its work at the site significantly, according to Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives, but he cautioned that the company has a reputation for concealing its intentions. "I envision them eventually producing much more than a typical factory," Ives said. "It is not limited to the factory."
He was correct, as certain reports indicate that the additional space was retained for free-range testing of their large semi-trucks. According to Ives, Tesla will also require a test-driving facility. Beyond the initial 280 acres, he noted, "there is a significant amount of timber to chop ahead" in terms of development.
Meanwhile, the site plan submitted to the city does not appear to depict any of the public facilities touted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk when announcing plans to build the plant here in July, suggesting that they may be included in subsequent phases.
"We're going to make it a stunning factory," Musk stated at the time. "It is located directly on the Colorado River. As a result, we're going to have a boardwalk with a hiking and biking trail.
It will essentially be an ecological paradise, complete with birds in the trees, butterflies, and fish in the stream. And it will be open to the general public as well, so it will not be closed to anyone except Tesla." He described the aforementioned public facilities in the following manner.
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Travis County and the Del Valle school district aided in the business's attraction by offering tax credits totaling at least $60 million. The state provided no financial incentives to the corporation in exchange for building the facility, which is expected to employ 5,000 people.
Approximately 70% of Tesla vehicles are currently manufactured in Fremont, California, with the remaining 30% manufactured in a facility in China that Tesla opened late last year. In addition to the proposed Austin factory, a Tesla assembly facility is currently under development in Germany.
With all of this information about the factory in hand, let's take a look at what we know about the Tesla Semi truck. In mid-2017, researchers at Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering conducted a theoretical analysis of electric semi-trucks, apparently in response to Musk's April 2017 lecture description of Tesla's work on a "heavy-duty, long-range semi-truck."
The study calculated an electric vehicle's weight and range based on available battery technology at the time and published their findings in June 2017.
According to the calculations, an electric semi-truck could be used for short- or medium-range hauling, but not for long-hauling, because the weight of the batteries would consume too much of the weight permitted by law.
According to one estimate, the battery would weigh 11,800 kg, accounting for one-third of the payload and increasing the truck's capital cost to roughly double that of a diesel counterpart.
Others have questioned the payload capability of the production-spec Class-8 heavy truck. However, the Impact Report 2020 indicates that the payload capacity of the Semi would be increased due to the increased weight allowed for electric semi-trucks in the United States and the European Union.
In the European Union, electric semi-trucks can already carry a two-tonne load more than their diesel counterparts. In the United States, electric semi-trucks have a payload allowance of 0.9 tonnes greater than diesel semi-trucks.
"With both the US and EU approving increased weight allowances for electric heavy-duty trucks, we anticipate payloads to be at least as high as those of diesel trucks," the report stated.
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Tesla claims to have made significant advancements in battery technology over the last several years. This, too, will contribute to the Tesla Semi's cargo capacity expansion. The electric vehicle manufacturer asserts that its 4680 battery cells are technologically superior to those used in 2017.
These battery cells are compact and lightweight, but have a high energy density. As a result, the new 4680 battery pack significantly reduces the weight of the electric vehicle, enabling it to carry more cargo. Additionally, it extends the range of a single charge.
The Tesla Impact Report 2020 estimates that the semi-truck will have a range of over 804 kilometres on a single charge. Additionally, it boasts that the Tesla semi-truck will achieve an efficiency of more than 0.80 kilometres per kWh due to its aerodynamics and powerful electric engine.
We should take a step back and consider the fact that Tesla is investing heavily in a factory that will primarily produce electric trucks, an unproven market segment. $2.4 billion on such a large-scale factory by such a newcomer to the automobile industry?
It is unthinkable. Nonetheless, the Semi's future appears bright, and it's easy to see why Tesla saw merit in the programme. Allowing the critical trucking industry to transition to zero-emissions mode will be viewed as a massive technological achievement, as well as a victory for environmental activists, who will view Tesla more favourably.
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