Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has confirmed that the brand’s all-electric semi-truck will be unveiled on October 26 in Hawthorne, California at the SpaceX facility.
In typical Musk fashion, the news was announced on Twitter and he referred to the semi as a “beast” while also describing it as “unreal.” Based on the teaser image previously released, it certainly looks eye-catching.
In launching the semi, Tesla won’t look to disrupt the long-haul trucking industry and instead focus on the 30 per cent of all trucking jobs that involve regional trips between 100 and 200 miles. As such, the semi is predicted to get a range between 200 and 300 miles.
Last month, it was revealed that Tesla wants to test autonomous semi-truck prototypes in Nevada and California.
An email between Tesla regulatory official Nasser Zamani and Nevada DMV official April Sanborn detailed the automaker’s intentions.
“To insure we are on the same page, our primary goal is the ability to operate our prototype test trucks in a continuous manner across the state line and within the States of Nevada and California in a platooning and/or Autonomous mode without having a person in the vehicle,” Zamani wrote.
Tesla Semi truck unveil & test ride tentatively scheduled for Oct 26th in Hawthorne. Worth seeing this beast in person. It's unreal.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 13, 2017