The Staggering Economics of the Tesla Semi

500mile range, the weight and amount of batteries needed, and the charging time required to get back on the road. This works against an18-wheeler long hauler..

I'm sorry we are just not there yet... But hoping in the next 10 years the battery technology will get there

There's an easier way to figure cost savings. Find someone using a Nikola or Volvo or the other electric trucks already on the road to get your numbers.

Add back in additional capital expenditures and use local rates (not national) and you still come out probably 30 percent ahead over the life cycle of a truck.

This article is cherry picking data but it is still a good deal if you average it out over 10 years.

The two assumptions used in the article to justify the operations cost, not considering the initial markup and additional wait times too charge the massive battery.

First, the assumption of 7c per kWh. The average cost of electricity on premise is about 13-15c and the supercharging will cost about 35c to 53c. So, relying on supercharged while driving on the highways, the cost is diesel, no staggering economics there.

The second assumption is that the semi can cover 1 miles with 2kwh. I don't know how the mileage was calculated, but going by experience with car, the efficiency on highways is less than 70%, even when you are sticking to the speed limits. Lesser if you go 10% over the speed limit.

Plus the time it takes extra to charge is downtime for the truck, requiring, payment for the driver. Increasing the time to destination.
Plus idle fees, so can't be done while over nighting / sleeping.

I redid your calculations, including the cost of oil, and the cost of DEF, which works out to only a penny a mile. Making the new cost per mile of 86 cents. ($0.86)

I understand you said Tesla can provide, but nobody's going to believe that, including me, so I figured the calculations based on the average kilowatt hour price in the US of 12 and 1/2 cents ($0.12⁵)

200 mi * 12.5¢ = $25, which is still less than 1/3 the cost of driving the semi. That is a more believable number.

The Tesla Semi is not a source of clean energy it is supppsedly a consumer of clean energy. You are also assuming it is charging from solar, hydro, or wind sources. In 2021 20 percent of all power produced came from all sources of "renewable" energy. 38% from natural gas, 22% from coal, 19% from nuclear, and .5% from petroleum. So if we are being truthful about this process depending on your market of use you have a 20% chance you are truly transferring and consuming what is touted as green energy. I don't think anyone with a bit of logic will argue that electic motors are far more efficient and powerful than a similar sized and weighted combustion engine. Lets look at diesel/electric locomotion as a perfect example. But this existing fantasy that all electric is some how will be the savior of the world needs to get back to an acceptable level of logic. And that is before we even begin to discuss all the negative effects of obtaining the materials required to make the battery systems. Or how will we deal with the recycle and or disposal of all of batteries,solar panels, wind mill blades, etc of this new power paradigm. I tend to believe like in every other shift in beliefs we are too caught up in the moment and the possibilities that we knowing over look the total environmental risks over the true long haul. A simple Google search will show how all the 1st gen solar panels are piling up and no one has come up with a financially sustainable solution other crush them and bury them. And since history does tend to repeat itself there seems to be no reason that we will not be in a similar place with this generation of technology when it begins failing in 5 to 10 years.

The Tesla Semi is not a source of clean energy it is supppsedly a consumer of clean energy. You are also assuming it is charging from solar, hydro, or wind sources. In 2021 20 percent of all power produced came from all sources of "renewable" energy. 38% from natural gas, 22% from coal, 19% from nuclear, and .5% from petroleum. So if we are being truthful about this process depending on your market of use you have a 20% chance you are truly transferring and consuming what is touted as green energy. I don't think anyone with a bit of logic will argue that electic motors are far more efficient and powerful than a similar sized and weighted combustion engine. Lets look at diesel/electric locomotion as a perfect example. But this existing fantasy that all electric is some how will be the savior of the world needs to get back to an acceptable level of logic. And that is before we even begin to discuss all the negative effects of obtaining the materials required to make the battery systems. Or how will we deal with the recycle and or disposal of all of batteries,solar panels, wind mill blades, etc of this new power paradigm. I tend to believe like in every other shift in beliefs we are too caught up in the moment and the possibilities that we knowing over look the total environmental risks over the true long haul. A simple Google search will show how all the 1st gen solar panels are piling up and no one has come up with a financially sustainable solution other crush them and bury them. And since history does tend to repeat itself there seems to be no reason that we will not be in a similar place with this generation of technology when it begins failing in 5 to 10 years.

I see lots of quick electrical recharging stations charging $0.35-$0.40 per kWh.

$0.07 is your cost at your private home based charging station, off peak hours.

A tesla semi weighs about 25k pounds and a diesel semi weighs about 12k. Max weight allowed in the us is 80k pounds. When a Tesla semi is attached to a trailer it must haul about 13k pound less than a standard semi. This means more trips for the same load as a standard semi. A big part of the cost of running a semi is the driver and the insurance. Drivers get paid by the mile and insurance rates are based, in part, on total miles driven. I am somewhat skeptical of the economist of this technology. I doubt that any private operators would roll the dice on this.

A: The Tesla semi will not cost $150,000, just addd up the battery costs.
B: Plenty of electric tractors already on the road and available for sale (Peterbilt, Volvo, Freightliner, Kenworth) and they are all achieving .5 miles per kWh at 82k GVW with a variety of different battery chemistries and electric motor locations. So 500 miles = 1000kWh of battery capacity. Even if we predict Tesla having a 20% efficiency advantage, they still need 800kWh of batteries.

It's hard to find a megacharger. You would have to build one. Might want to calculate the cost to build one of those if the electric utility even allot you that much power.

If you can find a charger, it won’t be 7 cents per kw A regular Tesla auto cost as much as some cars to fill up now.

If the electricity is coming from the burning of coal or fuels, you are doing more harm than good.

Plus consider the 1800 mile trip. The diesel truck with its 300 gallon tanks and at 6 mpg can make the trip nonstop. The Tesla will have to stop to recharge 4 times and if you use the recharge at 20 percent and don't charge over 80 percent the Tesla will only have 300 miles of range and will need to recharge 6 times. This shows unless battery technology greatly increases that the Tesla semi will be usable for only limited small runs and at this time is no threat to diesel dominance.