Although the exact load on the day was not shared, the event organisers have previously stated that the average loads during the trial have been around 31.8 tonnes (70,000 lbs).
Without the load size, this is all pretty meaningless. If you're going to talk avg load size, then you need to talk avg distances per charge/day.
Zero load, 53 MPH, 20 hours of driving, absolute flat elevation, zero wind or precip and maybe this thing could do this. Nothing Tesla says about this truck is worth believing given how much they've lied in the past. And there's absolutely no chance Pepsi "leaked" one of these dashboard without express permission from Tesla.
I disagree that it's that big of a deal. The real sticking point with autonomous driving is whether vehicles can actually complete the route successfully. Charging and range can be fixed with more batteries as semis have lots of capacity for weight and space.
The amount of goods that can be shipped and how much it costs to ship them is a massive part of this.
Vehicles have weight restrictions in a lot of regions. Everything you have to put into creating locomotion takes away from the transportation capacity. If the transportation capacity is too low, the investment into non-fossil fuel transportation of goods won't be made as rapidly by companies.
Was it being towed at the time?
Strategic quick charging.
That's the real question. Was this the first Tesla Semi to drive without needing to be towed? That would be the impressive part of the story. 😆
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