Tesla – Master Plan 3 -The Goal. Tesla’s investor day laid out its direction and the key players that will help them get there.
Expectations
There was a lot of speculation about the investor day with lots of predictions and suggestions that this would be like any other presentation with a few hints about future products and a breakdown of how they got there.
Many predicted that the suggestion of the new cheaper Tesla would be the discussion point and a recap on the Cars, power, charging and manufacturing, but to say they underestimated the depth and breadth of what was presented is being conservative.
Master plan 1 and 2 were focused mainly on the vehicles creating a base to work from in the electric car industry to deliver the
Model S
Model 3
Model X
Model Y
image courtesy of Tesla.com
The achievement of this and then the subsequent delivery of Giga Factories, battery cell production and a few other vehicles like the SEMI set the stage for the master plan 3 to be focused on the vehicle and manufacturing ramp.
However, Master plan 3 really delivered on the future of Tesla and how they are moving the world to sustainable energy and transportation.
The plan started out with a look at energy and how it will be possible to move from fossil fuels to renewables. This was laid out in a 5 Step process.
Repower the existing grid with renewables.
Switch to electric vehicles
Switch to heat pumps in homes, businesses, and Industry.
Electrify high temp heat delivery and Hydrogen.
Sustainable fuel planes and Boats
Now, most of this has been spoken about before but the one surprise was the discussion around Hydrogen. Elon has always said that hydrogen was not a great source of energy for small road vehicles. But in this instance when talking about large industrial machinery he did concede that hydrogen had a place.
Mining
image courtesy of Tesla.com
They also discussed the minerals required for a sustainable future with Lithium and beyond to be mined. They also conceded that mining would continue just not as much as current coal mining.
Resources that would need to be mined ongoing included.
Nickel
Lithium
Zinc
Copper
Cobalt
Iron
Manganese
Aluminum
Graphite
One interesting fact was that due to the recent increase in interest, the volume of lithium that is being discovered is growing exponentially.
One of the key differences when talking about renewable minerals is their recyclability of them. Once a battery is depleted and targeted for recycling the minerals inside them can be repurposed back to the same purpose again and again.
Technology Company
Tesla – Master Plan 3 -The Goal. The master plan is an impressive step towards looking forward and setting goals for the planet, not just the Tesla Company.
The argument that Tesla is just a car company seems to be no longer narrative and continually moves Tesla towards a Technology company more and more.
It is truly exciting to hear and see the vision that Tesla is laying out to see.
Dave
David McCann
EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.
Tesla Referral Program Returns!!! The Tesla referral program was in the past one of the keys to driving adoption before Tesla was the company it is today.
Its rewards for getting others to use your referral code both were insightful and extremely successful. It used to reward those with vehicles, chargers, powerwalks and so much more.
But then in the September of 2021, it all ended. Those of us here in Australia did not really benefit from the referral program as it finished just as Australia was really starting to get on board.
But on Friday 25/2/2023 the referral program came back. This time it came back with a much more practical approach.
Someone uses your referral code as it was before and you earn credits. The credits can then be used by you and the person who used your code to purchase accessories, upgrades, and supercharger credits. When the code is used, both get benefits.
These make it much more appealing to your average person. It entices you to purchase through a friend or relative because you get some benefit to you and me when we do.
Of course, the rewards of new cars and the like do not appear to be here anymore and that is what makes it so sustainable.
The Tesla Mobile app was recently changed to show a locked chest in the top right-hand corner. When you select the icon, the following page opens.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Loot Box front page
This page shows the current credits that you must spend.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
It also shows the free supercharging credits after they are purchased.
Referral Button
The referral Button when selected asks to be connected to your contacts. You can then send your referral code to all your contacts.
At the bottom of the page, you have a further 3 icons.
The original “Loot Box” icon, is consistent with the icon you selected to get to this page. Then a credits icon and finally a redeem icon.
Credits Icon
When selected the credits icon shows the following page.
The top right is a history tab used to track credit history.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Below this is 3 selections
Referrer
Buyer
Loyalty
Referrer
When sending a referral from this page it shows an image of the credits you receive when you have an appositive referral. This credit would then appear in your credits after the purchase is complete.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Buyer
When a person uses your referral code not only do you, as the referrer, get credits but so too does the buyer or person who has purchased the vehicles through your referral link.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Loyalty
This selection shows credits that you get if you already own a Tesla and purchase another through your referral code another vehicle for you.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Each of these selections will give you the value based on the selection of the vehicle being purchased.
Redeem
On the Home page of the Loot box, I mentioned there was another icon on the bottom of the page, Redeem.
When selected this page shows the following, a total credit you have earned at the top?
Below this is 4 menu selections
Featured Products
Lifestyle
Accessories
Upgrades
Feature Products
This selection is about the essential items that tesla wants to promote. It is no surprise then that the Supercharger selection is the main image on this page.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Lifestyle
The lifestyle selection shows a few items that can be purchased with the credits, from the tesla shop. A beanie, water bottle, t-shirt, and travel mug/tumbler. These will be the beginning of the selections I am sure, and this list will grow over time.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Accessories
The accessories selection again is pulling items from the tesla shop, but the difference is it is promoting items for the vehicles. The Wall connector, the USB drive, the Pet Liner, Roof Sunshade and Center Console Trays are all featured and offer reasonable credit limits.
Image courtesy of Tesla Mobile App
Upgrades
Upgrades would reference any grades that your current vehicles may not have. I have all the upgrades but would think that premium connectivity is a good example of what to expect here and I am sure cooler tech will appear here in the future.
Below are just some of the key points outlined in the term and conditions.
Referrals cannot be applied after an order has been placed.
Referral Credits are available to current owners in the Tesla community who refer first-time Tesla customers.
Buyer Credits are also granted to first-time customers who order a qualifying Tesla product through a referral link
Loyalty Credits are granted to current Tesla owners who are purchasing additional Tesla products for themselves.
Credits are awarded after the installation and activation of a Tesla energy product (the “Grant Date”).
Tesla customers must be at least 18 years old to be eligible for credits, which are non-transferable and not redeemable for cash.
Referral links should be shared from one person to another, not broadcast en masse on public platforms.
Tesla thinking
So why now? Why bring back the referral program, when you cannot keep up with demand and it puts you in a position of creating more demand?
I believe it is about the customer. Tesla has for many years promoted one of its best assets, the people who keep talking about tesla without paid advertising. You see a referral program of this type takes that promotional expense and gives it back to the customers that have made tesla so successful.
Tesla reinforces this with the following line in the term and conditions
“We introduce programs such as these in good faith and expect the same good faith in return. The intent of this program is to reward loyal Tesla owners for sharing their passion for Tesla products with their friends and family. “
It is one of the best sales and marketing tools because the passionate people who have found the electrification of vehicles to be a revolution can now be thanked for their efforts and rewarded for their loyalty.
Loyalty above all is never celebrated by any company so it is wonderful to see a company like a Tesla once again rewarding those that have made them what they are today.
It is wonderful to see it back.
Dave
David McCann
EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.
Battery Tech – the new power monoliths, Tesla, Ford, VW, Rivian, GM, BYD, Vinfast, Nissan, BMW, KIA, Hyundai, Mercedes, Genesis and so many more electric vehicle companies are working to bring some of the most advanced vehicles we have seen to your neighbourhood.
The evolution has not only turned the car industry on its head but has accelerated other industries to change direction, focus on the future of their products and shake things up to support the new age of electrification.
One industry that has been at the center of this shake-up has been the Battery companies. Panasonic, CATL, LG Chem, Gotion, Northvolt and many more including the startups like Tesla.
Batteries have become essential for the future of not just vehicles but support solar and the power grid. The storage of electrical energy to be used to propel electric motors for vehicles, to store large quantities of energy in storage systems for small dwellings and on a larger scale megapacks that store power grids are becoming the norm.
Opportunities
Battery Tech – the new power monoliths, This evolution has taken some companies from sheer obscurity to global leaders. Panasonic for example was never really known for its battery technology, but now its name is synonymous with Tesla the leading electric car brand globally.
It is this evolution that has all battery manufacturers vying for the opportunity to do the same with other car brands.
Battery technology has in the most part sat idle with little innovation for a hundred or so years. Acid batteries were the most evolutionary step forward in the early 19th century with Lithium-ion batteries coming with the evolution of the Smartphone.
Outside of these batteries have been nothing more than an afterthought. Until now.
4680
Video courtesy of Tesla.com/Youtube
Tesla announced in late 2020 that it was about to rethink battery tech and the evolution of battery technology with the development of 4680 cells. They had redesigned the idea of the battery. Retaining the cylindrical shape but looking for better materials and ways to create them in a smaller footprint.
This forward-thinking allowed them to move with pace and partners to have vehicles in 2023 to be delivered with this battery technology driving their vehicles into the future.
Elon has mentioned on several occasions that Tesla and all car companies will need as many battery cells as they can get their hands on. This has undoubtedly been the case with constraints in the early 2021s as car deliveries and manufacturing was hamstrung by the limited supply.
However, that does not seem to be the case with Tesla currently as production continues to grow along with the construction of more battery cell factories like the one recently announced in Berlin.
But what about the other companies? Each has a different manufacturing process and format. Some are creating the typical cylindrical batteries while others are pouching style and prismatic. Regardless they are producing as many as they can due to the rise of the electric vehicle.
Challenges
When established car companies start looking to move to electric, they have a lot of knowledge of vehicles but not much in the way of battery technology, in most art. This is proving to be one of the biggest challenges in understanding the complexities of battery management systems and how they integrate third-party systems in their new vehicles.
Furthermore, they are all competing for the same battery capacity, which is causing delays in car production. The battery companies cannot deploy enough cells fast enough.
It just proves that Tesla’s early thinking about the development in the house of their own battery cells and top to bottom integration puts them far ahead of the competition as they do not have to compete with anyone but themselves.
Image courtesy of Tesla.com
Of course, this challenge will only last for several years before new players and new thinking around battery tech will bring balance and a more competitive advantage to an equal playing field.
Batteries are fast becoming the coal of the future. The difference is that with this technology the batteries are almost all able to be recycled.
Battery Tech – the new power monoliths, Redwood materials have shown itself to be ahead of the curve with the company developing techniques and processes for disassembling and recycling battery packs and batteries to be reused and recycled back into electric vehicle technologies.
This thinking means that eventually digging the minerals out of the ground will no longer be required in the vast numbers that currently are occurring and the same batteries you had in your vehicle for the last 10 years will help in the vehicles in the next 10 years.
Image courtesy of Redwoodmaterials.com
Reuse, Recycle and have a safer, healthier future for our kids and grandkids.
Infrastructure is imperative! 2022 started with a bang as I looked towards the year with positivity and hope that this year would be better than the last. I work in health and find that the pace that 2021 took drained me of energy and passion for what I was doing, blogging included.
So how was 2022 going to be different? I changed roles and returned to my substantive position working Monday to Friday 9-5. This seemed like a good idea. I then applied to be part of a leadership emerging executive course which would run for 9 months. My application was successful.
I started the course in march of 2022 and to say it has had a profound impact on my thinking and view of the world is not an understatement. 2020 was a year that I had medical issues. 2021 allowed me to find my mojo for my day job again.
2022 was the year I rediscovered the reason I do what I do. The course exposed me to some industry experts in digital health to help challenge my stagnant thinking. It offered a way to unlearn old habits, challenge new ways of thinking and develop my skills as a leader in Digital health.
As part of the course, I was given the opportunity to be part of a project that focused on the delivery of Charging infrastructure to a Hospital District. Those of you who have followed me and supported my blogs would have found I was quiet in 2021.
As part of the project, I had to declare any conflicts of interest and thus my blogging about EVs met these criteria. I then had to make a choice and thus I had to stop blogging for the duration.
Did I stop following what was going on in the world of Electric vehicles? NO!!!!!
I followed along commented where I could on Twitter and linked in and continued to keep track of the great progress being made in the industry.
One of the side benefits of this forced hiatus was the ability to think about my website and my blogs and better plan for 2022. I hope that this year brings with it a better experience for you the reader and for a more collaborative approach.
Project
Infrastructure is imperative! I was lucky enough to find people who were just as passionate about electric vehicles as I. The course asked to have a Project completed by the end of the 9-month time frame. Alongside my colleagues, we worked to deliver the “EV infrastructure transition project” to life.
You see the government has fleet vehicles that currently are mostly petrol and more recently a few hybrids.
An announcement that all fleet vehicles were to transition to electric by 2026 was big news and raised several eyebrows on how to achieve this.
Initially, we thought about the vehicles themselves but quickly realized that infrastructure planning, implementation and strategy were far more important to solve.
The vehicles took care of themselves with the car companies producing the vehicles that could allow ease of purchase. On the flip side, the building that existed and the new proposed building being built did not cater for the most part to the delivery of over 500 vehicles to be charged and housed.
Approach
We first took time to understand the areas that we needed to focus on. This included:
Finances
How to pay for infrastructure upgrades
What incentives are available to us
Sources of income that could be sorted out to help with the overhead costs of the initial infrastructure builds
Infrastructure
Understanding the current locations where fleet vehicles were housed.
What capacity the buildings had with electrical boards
Fleet
Current number of vehicles
Work done to transition and agreements
This as a starting point opened a lot of questions and very few answers.
We got to work. We organized meetings with the facility managers to better understand the current physical locations. Spoke with finance staff to better understand the costs. Our discussions with Fleet managers helped to get a picture of the complex nature we were facing.
Investigations
The biggest challenges that the Health District needed to address included
Limited capacity for further electrical load
Locations of current vehicles being unable to support any electrical infrastructure for new electric vehicles
no central management of vehicles exists variability across facilities
The cost of uplift of locations would cost large amounts of dollars above and beyond the currently allocated funds
Limited time to be able to complete infrastructure uplift based on 2026, time frame.
Outcomes
To address the above and to at least begin the process we as a team came up with 4 key strategies that needed to be implemented for the beginning of success to be found.
These included;
Central management of fleet vehicles in the health district
Assessment of electrical capacity at all locations
Dedicated allocated funds to address infrastructure and electrical shortfall.
Development of a process to assess future sites for appropriateness of charging infrastructure installation.
These four items would put the health district on a solid trajectory towards success to transition to their 2026 target of all-electric vehicles in the fleet to transition to electric. Infrastructure is imperative!
My take
image courtesy of Unsplash.com
Infrastructure is imperative! This project taught me a lot about project processes and investigation. It helped to have me build on the knowledge that I have taken from the EV community and apply it in a way I had never considered.
It also opened my eyes to the fact that infrastructure is imperative to the survival, success, and best outcomes of EVs uptake. I have written a number of years ago about the importance of charging infrastructure and it is so important to get this right.
The world is looking for ways to move towards promoting the uptake of EVs. Being part of this project continues to support my efforts to provide good insights to helping all to understand what to consider when choosing EVs.
It has also helped me to realize that complaints about chargers not working, chargers broken and limited in their capability are not good enough. We must do better and be better to truly make the experience seamless.
There is a long road to go, and I know that I have learned a great deal in 2022 and I hope that translates into 2023.
Road Trip. During Christmas of 2022, I decided to do a long road trip with my family to Melbourne. I decided to see how the Tesla charging network and my Model 3 we bought almost 15 months ago would perform on the road.
In preparation for this trip I took time to consider the needs of what might be required. Some of the considerations included the items below.
List of items
Tire compressor.
I recently backed a “Kickstarter” in which I received a small compact tire compressor. It was designed to be a simple small and competent tire inflater for several purposes including vehicles.
I purchased the blue charging cable from apple that allows for charging at third-party chargers with a bring-your-own cable.
Image courtesy of Tesla.com
Tire repair kits
A friend of mine mentioned he has used the tire repair kits that plug the hole so you can make it to the next town to have it fixed. I purchased some of these, so I had resources in case this eventuated.
Alcohol-based window cleaner
This was essential to allow for the cleaning of windows due to bug splatter and the removal of bugs from the fender when charging.
Planning the trip
I spent several hours planning the trip not just through the tesla app and vehicle display but through several other applications.
A better Route Finder
This app allowed me to look at the possibilities of charging accommodation and time travelling
Plug share
This was very handy to find any other charging points that may be available close to the tesla chargers in the case of not being able to charge when tesla chargers might have a long wait.
Charge Fox
Allowing the ability to charge at their sites if required.
EVIE
Allowing the ability to charge at their sites if required.
RACQ Roadside assistance
If an issue arose, I could get assistance if required.
image courtesy of my iPhone
Travelling
Road Trip. The road trip was planned to start a couple of days before Christmas day, and it would take us 3 days to get there. As it turns out it only took 2 days with long days and lots of driving.
The first leg of the trip started at 3:30 am in the morning, this was intentional as we aimed to miss the Gold Coast Highway morning traffic that is notorious for being horrible and slow. Thankfully we missed this traffic and made good time for our first destination for charging at Maclean.
Charger – Knockrow
Knockrow charger is one of the more picturesque chargers around. We arrived early morning which meant that not many people were within the area. It sits on a river next to a restaurant and just up the road is a small country town post office and general store.
Image courtesy of my iPhone
The general store was open, so we got a coffee and something to eat. We then went and sat by the river and had a relaxed time while waiting for the vehicle to finish charging.
image courtesy of iPhone
The next couple of chargers that we stopped at were similarly placed in nice surroundings, next to vineyards, shopping centres and the like.
Victoria Roads
As we moved into Victoria after going through NSW, we found that the roads travelled through some of the most open and beautiful landscapes. In contrast to NSW where there are lots of large forests and bushland next to the freeways, in VICTORIA the fields were spotted with trees and large open fields with lots of livestock to be seen.
image courtesy of my iPhone
The stops along the way included places like “Oliver’s” which offers good wholesome healthy selections of food catering to Gluten and dairy-free options.
Model 3 Travelling
Road Trip. Our model 3 is a 2021 build standard range with no FSD or Enhanced Autopilot. So, on a trip down it was great to understand the benefits and disadvantages of this configuration.
First and foremost, range is king. Due to cost when we bought the Model 3, we had not been able to buy a long-range Model 3 and that has always been a question for us
“Did we make the right decision?”
The Model 3 standard range did not skip a beat, it performed as well as expected if not slightly above.
The distance between chargers was not so much that you would arrive almost on 0% if anything I generally arrived with 10-20% of the charge still available.
This surprised me as I had anticipated more issues with distance. So, the query of “Long-Range” versus “Standard Range” did not really matter.
I had a full trunk and frunk load with more in the back seat, so the vehicle was even heavier than usual, and it performed exceptionally well. Range Anxiety with this extra load did not have any impact.
We covered on the drive down almost 1800km on the way down and we charged approximately 6-8 times over the duration.
We arrived in Melbourne and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with family and friends
Tesla Christmas Present
I have always wanted to understand the benefits, and disadvantages of the Enhanced Autopilot systems so it came as a big surprise to find that Tesla released for 30 days to the ability for all Teslas to experience enhanced Autopilot across the Christmas/New Year period here in Australia.
I was extremely impressed with some aspects and frustrated by others. Of course, I worked out workarounds and streamlined the capabilities attributed to the Enhance autopilot.
The first thing to note was the activation of the Enhanced autopilot. Firstly, entering a destination was necessary for the delivery of the enhanced features. The auto lane change was one exception to this rule as it also worked when in standard autopilot.
The first time I drove it with Enhanced autopilot and turned it on the two blue lines that outlined the lanes on the screen merged into the one leading line in front of the vehicle’s image.
image courtesy of my iPhone
This helped to show its path and guide the car through the navigation. On many occasions, it performed amicably, but on some occasions, it was hard to determine if it would or would not work.
The vehicle found exit and entry points a breeze for the most part with a few small exceptions. It took turns on freeway interchanges extremely well and navigated through traffic with ease.
Where it did find some challenges was the transition from lane to lane. The auto turn was mostly consistent and worked well however it did tend to suggest turning to the right-hand lane often even if there was no reason to do so.
This was above all else the most frustrating thing. On many occasions, I would cancel the suggested upcoming lane change as there was no reason to change the lane.
One of the more unusual behaviours came when I was driving in the right lane and attempting to merge back to the left lane using enhanced autopilot systems functionality. I would indicate to go to the left lane, I found when there was no other vehicle in the left lane ahead the system just would not engage. No matter how much nudging of the steering wheel to confirm lane change the system did not do it.
The results would be the autopilot disengaging, it just continuing in the right lane and the system disregarding the request, or the screen displaying that auto lane change is not available at this time.
Besides these frustrations, overall I was most impressed with where it is at currently. Does it need more work to meet expectations, of course, but it is early stages of development for right-hand drive countries in my opinion and I think Tesla might need to give the system some attention.
I would think that the data they were able to get from all the different vehicles using it over this period might give a clear indication of areas for improvement. Let’s hope so.
The Return Trip
The return trip was again long, and we visited mostly the same superchargers on the way back. Having enhanced autopilot was so much better than autopilot for one specific reason.
I didn’t have to turn it off to change lanes 95% of the time. In the included version of autopilot that comes with all Tesla’s it disengages when trying to change lanes. If no other feature for standard autopilot could be included, it would be this.
We again made it in two days and even though we were not as tired as we would have been driving another vehicle without autopilot. The energy it takes to concentrate on keeping the car between two lines cannot be understated.
Tesla does this extremely well in standard or enhanced autopilot and the level of fatigue does diminish with this capability.
I had a wonderful time driving the Model 3 and I can say without hesitation it is one of the best vehicles I have ever owned.
One last Observation
The Supercharger network needs to grow. Sure, we were lucky not to have to wait at any superchargers along the way but the number of Teslas and electric vehicles we identified on our drive was significant. Australia is only getting to 4-5% of recent purchases being electric, but that is only growing.
image courtesy of Tesla.com
Tesla needs to increase their number of chargers, along with other vendors. It is imperative that this happens with great expedience.
With Tesla opening their superchargers to other electric vehicles this will only increase demand and at most charging sites 6 seems to be the maximum on this road trip. That is not enough if more and more Teslas and EVs are coming into the market.
The trip was amazing, the enhanced autopilot was worth experiencing and the fun, family, and memories we made during this time cannot be replaced.
2023 Let’s Get Started!!! I have had a lot of time over the last 12 months to sit back and watch the evolution of the electric vehicle market in Australia start to heat up.
Having been involved with a project last year that asked me to pause my blogging whilst I completed the project, I was able to take stock of what is going to be important to blog about moving forward.
Until now I have been blogging about several things that relate to the tipping point of the ability to move towards electrification, cars and many others things.
It would seem now that that process is well underway, and I need to adapt to this change and now focus on what is important to the people buying the new cars, the evolving landscape of the Australian and global vehicle uptake and the long-term views of what is coming.
Tesla Fanboy
Of course, I am a self-proclaimed Tesla fanboy so I will continue to write about tesla where I believe there is news to share. Just like I wrote about 2022 would be the year of the Model Y I will continue to write about future trends with tesla and the cyber truck especially.
I am also looking at my website to uplift it to be more user-friendly and provide information and access to resources that are relevant to anyone who needs a one-stop place to discover the things that are important when starting out trying to understand what differences there are for electric vehicles to consider when making that shift.
As part of this moving change that I am about to embark on I am always open to collaboration, working with the EV community to continue to grow the conversation, evolve the thinking and look towards the future that we leave behind for our children.
The beginning of my blogging will come in early February.
2023 Let’s Get Started!!! So, keep an eye out and I hope you enjoy my thinking and perspective on the future of the electric vehicle.
Dave
David McCann
EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.
It was late yesterday that several Tesla Community members who had ordered Model Y performance started receiving their prepare for delivery soon emails.
Australian Tesla Performance Orders – Coming Soon, It will be wonderful to hear the reviews the insights and the differences between the Model Y performance and the other vehicles in the Tesla Fleet.
The Model Y was a highly anticipated vehicle and has only grown in popularity s more have hit the streets. With the introduction of the Performance model, it is again anticipated to increase interest and continue to drive Tesla’s popularity amongst Australians.
Tesla SEMI Delivered, 5 years ago Tesla held an event that set the tone for what was to come and the disruption they felt would come to the trucking industry.
Now I must preface, Tesla is not the first Electric truck to market, but they certainly are the most interesting. When you consider the power-to-weight ratio and the motor that is doing the heavy lifting (pardon the pun) they are one of the standouts.
Friday the 2nd of December 2022 Tesla presented the production version of the SEMI and delivered them to Pepsi Co and Frito-Lay.
The new SEMI rethinks the way truck drivers interact with their vehicles. As an example, it is possible to stand up in the cabin and change out of a jacket and hang them up before sitting in the driver’s seat to drive.
The SEMI weighs in at 82000lbs when fully loaded and can cover a range of 500 miles (804 kilometres)
With 1 x Plaid motor that drives the truck most of the time and a further two more motors that engage for torque and acceleration, it is a very powerful vehicle. This tri-motor configuration is clutched and geared automatically, which offers a seamless experience for the driver.
Elon Stated in the presentation” It is an elephant that moves like a cheetah”, he went on to state that the vehicle has 3 times the power of any diesel truck on the road today. This type of power and acceleration is unprecedented in the trucking industry.
One comment which caught my attention related to the 1000volt powertrain and how it will be used beyond the Tesla Semi. If I was speculating that might very well speak to either the CyberTruck or another vehicle in the works. Whatever it is it will be impressive for a smaller vehicle to have this type of technology.
Notable Difference.
Tesla Semi Delivered, one notable difference between the existing Deisel trucks and the new Electric SEMI by Tesla is the ability for anyone to hop in and drive. It drives, excluding the size, the same as driving a Tesla Vehicle.
It has a central driving location with two large screens to either side allowing for cameras to see the length of the truck and trailer, navigation, speed gear and other metrics specific to large trucks. (Images Courtesy of Tesla.com YouTube Channel)
Notable Omission
One notable omission related to “Autopilot” and “Full Self Driving” (FSD). Something I am sure will either be in the software or still in development. This is all yet to be confirmed by Tesla but if history is anything to go on there is great confidence that it is on the road map.
A video of the truck driving for over 8 hours was shown and can be accessed on Tesla’s Youtube channel. It demonstrated the ability of the vehicle and helped to show how the vehicle performs under normal daily driving conditions.
During the presentation, Elon and the team made comments that the SEMI had within its technology that is already proven out with Tesla’s Current Fleet. This included
These components have been distributed throughout the Tesla fleet over the years and it is a testament to Tesla that they continue to evolve and improve on their already amazing innovation. To include these elements in the Semi only reinforces the importance of consistency and transferability of the functionality of these components.
Tesla Semi Delivered, Electric vehicles are by their own admission revolutionary vehicles in an industry that has been lagging over the last many years. As we move to a world of electrification and renewable energy there is a need to be able to transfer that electrical current in larger and larger volumes.
Charging Infrastructure
That is why Tesla continues to innovate their charging infrastructure. This is no different for the Tesla Semi. Elon and team introduced the 1MW – DC CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE showing the evolution of V3 – V4 of the Cable technology. This new cable version has shown great improvements in charging times and capability.
It was also announced that this new infrastructure will be part of the CyberTruck configuration, and they will be retrofitting the Charging network starting next year. It would stand to reason that long term this may become the standard for all Tesla vehicles.
For now, though the Semi with such a large battery pack is required to meet the need of the distances to travel for Heavy vehicles it is important to charge in the most efficient way with the least amount of time and this cable helps to realize this ability.
What’s Next
Tesla Semi Delivered, Tesla has made no secret of their Master plan and they again showed this at the [presentation. Now that the Semi is heading into production the focus shifts to CyberTruck.
Not only will CyberTruck be a new evolutionary vehicle, but it will again learn and adopt several innovations that have come before.
The Tesla Semi is a beautiful, well-thought-out vehicle that will influence the view of what heavy vehicles are, can do and deliver in the future. Tesla has already stated it will integrate them into its own fleet and continue to learn and grow their development.
Congratulations to Tesla and the Semi Team on taking the time to get this right. I cannot wait to see how it evolves over the coming years.
The Tidal Wave has arrived. And Australia is riding it all the way.
G’Day
G’Day, hope you are all doing well, this is my first official blog in almost 5 months. I have been blogging on and off this year due to a project I was part of out of my day job. I will fill you in on that later this year.
While I have been away though a lot has changed, especially in Australia.
Political Will
Since the election earlier in the year seeing the federal government change, we have seen several significant moves for Electric vehicle adoption.
Money dedicated to uplifting the Electrical Network
Money dedicated to uplifting the number of Vehicle Chargers
States making significant moves to transition their fleets to electric vehicles
Unfortunately, though we still have a lot of work to do to change the perceptions of those that believe electric vehicles are nothing more than a boon and would never replace their current internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles.
Up till this point we were known as the laggards, the last in line and the underachievers when it came to electric vehicle adoption. The atmosphere of that retroact has shifted and we can see real change in the way Australians are looking towards electric vehicle adoption.
Incentives in a few states have helped to increase vehicle adoption. Unfortunately, they are still out of range cost-wise for an average wage earner.
How things are changing.
Tidal Wave, In March of this year, several changes occurred that helped to entice the uptake of electric vehicles for government and fleet vehicles. This helped to energize the marketplace regarding electric vehicle purchases and increased interest from car manufacturers.
The long-term view is to increase the second-hand electric vehicle car market for when the lease periods end for government vehicles. This will ultimately drive price competition and allow more people to enter the EV marketplace.
EVs coming to Australia
This move has helped to increase the interest of car manufacturers who previously felt that Australia was a less-than-viable market. Wheels Magazine Australia recently published their list of vehicles coming to Australia over the coming years. I have listed them below with the original links – Worth having a look
It seems that Australia has finally woken up to the advantages of owning electric vehicles. The ability to charge from home, the possibilities of the vehicle to grid support and cars that can use their batteries for other purposes like boiling a kettle as demonstrated by UK publication “ThisisMoney.co.uk“
The Tidal Wave of electrification is coming. Australia in previous years has struggled to get electric vehicle purchases by over 1% last year it was more than 3% and growing. This is a small amount when considering the entire vehicle market but Australians want this change and they are showing that through their buying power.
Car companies are now seeing Australia as a viable electric vehicle landscape and are working to deliver more vehicles to meet the demand.
The EV vehicle market can only grow from here and I for one am excited by the possibilities that it provides.
What a Year!!!!! Let me explain, it is very rare that my daytime job and the world of Electric Vehicles cross paths but that is precisely what happened earlier this year.
I work in health care and as part of that, I was given an opportunity to grow my executive leadership capability alongside many other emerging executives. As part of this opportunity, I was part of a project that worked to develop a strategy to implement EV charging infrastructure across the Hospital Health service.
Due to the above clash with my day job, I was restricted to be able to blog for a time. Well, that time has come to an end, and I am back.
In that time so much has happened, changed, and evolved. Australia is now a fertile landscape for EV adoption and growth. I have had many varied conversations over the last couple of months and hope to bring them to you and all over the coming months and years.
So, I will be working to deliver greater insights to the growing Australian EV marketplace and offer my insights into burgeoning ideas, opportunities and of course my take on Tesla and the new vehicles coming our way.
What a Year!!!!! So, sit back, enjoy and be happy for you to bring your comments and opinions my way.
Cheers
Dave
David McCann
EV-HQ founder, passionate about sharing the passion for Tesla and Electric Vehicles everywhere.
