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Tesla's plan to charge electric semis relies on its customers
Customers have been lining up to order some of Tesla's electric big rigs since the Semi debuted in November, but there is one big question: where will they get charged? According to Reuters, at first the rollout will rely on customers like Pepsi and UPS to build on-site "megachargers" and trucks will be restricted to going back and forth on routes that keep them near home base. Representatives for the companies confirmed they're working with Tesla to build in-house charging locations, however, the plan for a Supercharger-like network that could juice up trucks on the road is a bit fuzzier.
Tesla's latest Semi electric truck customer is DHL
Tesla has scored an order of ten Semi electric trucks from DHL, which plans to use it for short runs and same-day deliveries in US cities, according to the Wall Street Journal. The transport service also plans to trial it for longer trips and evaluate safety, comfort and other concerns. DHL won't be buying the Semi sight-unseen, as it has reportedly test-driven the rig and worked with Tesla over the past few months.
One of Tesla's first Semi truck buyers is a Canadian grocery chain
Tesla only just unveiled its Semi electric truck, but it's already lining up honest-to-goodness customers -- and we don't just mean for testing, either. Canadian grocery chain Loblaws has pre-ordered 25 of the giant EVs to haul food to its stores across the country. That's a larger purchase than Walmart (which ordered 15 for its test), and no small commitment when Tesla hasn't even revealed the (likely high) price. It may seem odd for Tesla to score one of its most important orders beyond the US, but it makes more sense knowing Loblaws' strategy.
Tesla unveils its vision of the future of trucking
At an event adjacent to SpaceX, the Tesla Semi (yes, that's its name) electric truck was introduced with the same pomp and circumstance the company uses for all its automobile launches. The tall, slick big rig follows the Tesla minimalist design language. The only protrusions are the side mirrors and a sensor array that resembles tiny wings situated at the top rear on either side of the truck. It looks like the future. CEO Elon Musk says it's "designed like a bullet."
Tesla's massive Supercharger rest stops come online in California
While we're all waiting for the reveal of Tesla's electric semi this evening, the company's new charging stations are ready for prime time. Well, two of them are at least. According to a report at Electrek, Tesla has two new stations active in California, one between LA and San Francisco in Kettleman City and the other in Baker (between LA and Las Vegas). As shown in pictures published by Electrek, the newly online travel stations look a lot like, well, a gas station without the gas.
Tesla pushes EV semi-truck launch to November 16th
The automotive world has been awaiting Tesla's long-teased electric semi-truck, which it was supposed to unveil on October 26th. But the company is pushing that date back to November 16th for a couple reasons: First, it needs to fix a few bottlenecks to speed up production of its upcoming Model 3 car. But more pressingly, the company is delaying the release of its truck to make more Powerwall batteries to send to Puerto Rico and other hurricane-devastated areas.
Tesla's electric truck will be revealed October 26th
We can finally put all the rumors to rest next month because that is when Tesla will show off its electric big rig. Elon Musk tweeted that the reveal event and test rides will occur October 26th in Hawthorne, CA, promising that it's "unreal." Last year as part of his Master Plan, Part Deux Musk said the truck will "deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate." Of course, the event is occurring a month later than previously mentioned, but we'll let that slide -- as long as our invite is in the mail
Tesla is getting 1,800 Model 3 reservations per day
After narrowly meeting its promise to launch the Model 3 in July, Tesla has released its latest earnings report (PDF). Other than slightly higher than expected revenue, the company says that since the delivery event, it has averaged 1,800 Model 3 pre-orders per day. Of course, if you're getting in line now you could be in for quite a wait. The company expects to build about 1,500 Model 3s during the third quarter, but is maintaining its prediction that it will expand production to reach 5,000 of the cars per week by the end of this year.
Waymo will battle Uber with its own self-driving trucks
Google was one of the first companies to show off self-driving car tech, but it's pretty late into the autonomous truck game. Well after companies like Daimler, Komatsu and Uber unveiled their own platforms, Waymo has started testing a single truck on public roads, it told Buzzfeed and Reuters. "Self-driving technology can transport people and things much more safely than we do today and reduce the thousands of trucking-related deaths each year," it said in a statement.
Daimler tests a self-driving, mass-produced truck on real roads
Daimler's dreams of self-driving big rig trucks just took one step closer to reality. The automaker has conducted the first-ever test of its semi-autonomous Highway Pilot system in a production truck on a public road, driving an augmented Mercedes-Benz Actros down Germany's Autobahn 8. While the vehicle needed a crew to keep watch, it could steer itself down the highway using a combination of radar, a stereo camera array and off-the-shelf systems like adaptive cruise control. The dry run shows that the technology can work on just about any vehicle in the real world, not just one-off concepts.
The first self-driving big rig licensed to operate in the US
A Daimler-built autonomous truck can now legally operate on the highways of Nevada. Gov. Brian Sandoval has officially granted the "Freightliner Inspiration Truck" a license for road use in the state, making it the first of its kind to navigate public roads in the US. The Inspiration's "Highway Pilot system" is loaded with cameras, radars, other sensors and computer hardware like most autonomous vehicles. However, it's not completely self-driving -- it still needs a human driver behind the wheel.
Apple tablet rumored for launch early next year, for serious this time: seriously
After what AppleInsider claims has been four years of development "riddled with setbacks," Apple is purportedly finalizing its long-rumored tablet for an early 2010 launch. AppleInsider claims to have been tracking the device get bounced back to the drawing board repeatedly over the past few years, but says that Steve Jobs is finally happy with the product and there's an internal go-ahead to get this thing ready for next year, barring any other setbacks. Purported specs include a 10-inch screen, 3G data and a custom ARM processor courtesy of its P.A. Semi purchase -- after previously considering Intel's Atom, as the story goes. Rumors elsewhere point to Verizon data instead of AT&T, but that might just be wishful thinking. While AppleInsider still claims the device is positioned somewhere between an iPhone and a laptop, its inside sources apparently didn't give the thumbs up to early artist renditions of the handheld, and so AI's new and "improved" render is above -- striking fear in the heart of aesthetes everywhere. Sure, we've heard so many iterations of Apple tablet rumors over the years, with varying degrees of confidence behind them, that it's really hard to latch onto yet another promise of this supposedly inevitable device. Still, this is what it is: a decent rumor with some reasonable excuses for "delays" and a glorious promise of tablet nirvana right around the corner. What more could an Apple rumorphile want?
iPhone takes on semi, lives to tell the tale
We though we'd seen it all when it came to creative device destruction -- iPod with a bullet: check, exploding laptops: check, everything in a blender: double check -- but we've never seen anything spend over an hour on the highway and survive. Yet that's exactly what Mike Beauchamp's iPhone did after he left it on his trunk and drove off from a gas station -- and the kicker is that just as he was about to run out and grab it, he watched it get run over by a semi truck. Shockingly, the unit still work perfectly, even receiving a call as Mike finally nabbed it. Obviously, it's missing a few chunks and there are some broken pixels, but the touch sensitivity is solid, and it sounds like Mike's been talking to Apple PR about using it in a promo -- how's that for random luck? Check the read link for a few more pics of the damage.
