For some time now, we have known that Tesla is working on a smaller compact vehicle. However, today as part of the white paper release for Master Plan Part 3, Tesla has revealed it's also working on 3 new vehicles. These include a commercial/passenger van, a bus, and a short-range heavy truck (Semi Light).
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Tesla has been at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution since it launched its very first vehicle back in 2008. The company's stated goal is to “accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy,” and Tesla has been making significant strides toward achieving this goal.
Not only has Tesla been able to disrupt the automotive industry with its innovative designs and high value-for-money vehicles, but over the years, as the company has grown, Tesla also ventured into energy and autonomy positioning itself to perhaps be the most useful ergo the most valuable company in the world.
The first Master Plan was published by Elon Musk more than a decade ago, in 2006, and laid out Tesla's go-to-market strategy of building an electric sports car, followed by a series of more affordable cars. The plan also included developing a solar power product, which Tesla has since done through its SolarCity subsidiary.
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Master Plan Part 2, which was published in 2016, focused on the development of a sustainable energy ecosystem that includes solar panels, energy storage, and electric vehicles. The plan also included the development of a heavy-duty truck and a bus which Musk called a “high passenger-density urban transport vehicle”.
The plan also outlined Tesla's vision for autonomous driving technology and the development of a ride-sharing network that would allow Tesla owners to earn money by renting out their vehicles when they are not in use.
Tesla has introduced two new vehicles since publishing its second Master Plan: the Tesla Semi and the Cybertruck. Tesla Semi deliveries began late last year, and the Cybertruck launch is imminent with Elon Musk recently sharing that he walked the Cybertruck production line for several hours.
With the recent launch of FSD Beta v11, Tesla is also making strides toward its goal of reaching level 5 autonomy. And as Tesla has achieved most of the goals set in Master Plan Part 2, or at least settled on a path to reach the goals, it was time for the EV maker to unveil its Master Plan Part 3.
At the company's recently held Investor Day in Austin, Texas, Tesla unveiled its Master Plan Part 3. Unlike the company’s previous two master plans, Master Plan Part 3 had a broader agenda beyond simply what Tesla can achieve on its own and includes things such as adding renewable power to the existing grid, producing more electric vehicles, installing heat pumps in homes and buildings, using high-temperature heat delivery and hydrogen for industrial applications, and building sustainably fueled planes and boats.
The plan is part of Tesla's long-term strategy to transition the world to sustainable energy and reduce carbon emissions. During the presentation, even though Tesla did not unveil any new vehicles, the EV maker nonetheless shared its new Gen-3 vehicle platform. The Gen-3 platform is expected to be the basis for several new vehicles currently under development and is expected to cut costs by as much as 50% by completely rethinking how vehicles are made.
Despite Tesla sharing in detail all the technological breakthroughs that enable the EV maker to cut the production cost of EVs by 50%, Wall Street was nonetheless dissatisfied with the fact that Tesla did not discuss any new vehicles and the price of the EV maker’s stock fell by 7% following the Investor Day presentation.
In my opinion, this is yet another sign of Wall Street’s short-term thinking however, for those who wanted more detail about future products, Tesla has today provided more information teasing 3 new vehicles.
For some time now, we have known that Tesla is working on a smaller compact vehicle and we know that the new vehicle will be made out of the Gen-3 platform. However, today in addition to the compact car, Tesla has revealed that the company is working on 3 more vehicles.
The information comes in a new white paper Tesla just released to go with the Master Plan Part 3 and it explains in detail the company’s plans to transition the world to sustainable energy. There are a lot of interesting facts in the 45-page document however, something new we learned is that Tesla is also working on 3 new vehicles.
These include a commercial/passenger van, a bus, and a short-range heavy truck. Tesla hasn’t given the first 2 a name but has decided to call the short-range heavy truck “Semi Light”.
Tesla states the Semi Light and the bus will not be too weight sensitive and will be powered by less energy-dense lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries, however, the commercial/passenger van will utilize more energy-dense high nickel cathode batteries.
Tesla has also shared the size of the battery pack that will be used in all 3 vehicles with the van requiring a 100KWh battery, the bus 300KWh, and finally Semi Light at 500KWh of battery.
Although not a complete product reveal with pictures and test drives, it is nonetheless exciting to see that Tesla is not only planning 3 new vehicles but that the EV maker is already thinking about the specifications of the products.
Currently, this is all the information we have regarding the new vehicles however, we will be sure to keep you posted as we learn more about Tesla’s plans. Until then make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.
So what do you think? Are you excited to learn Tesla is working on additional 3 vehicles? From the van, bus, Semi Light, which one are you most excited about? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Image: Courtesy of Tesla
For more information check out: Tesla Is Planning To Increase Giga Berlin Production To 10,000 Vehicles A Week With The Addition Of A 4th Shift
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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