Truck drivers, who look at the Pepsi Tesla Semi, think Tesla should have more closely consulted truckers when designing the Semi.
There is an interesting discussion on Reddit about the Pepsi Tesla Semi truck, which hit the road a few weeks ago. Pepsi received them back in Feb or March I think. They’re like $250k a piece. Based on what modern ICE semis and passenger EVs cost, that seems super reasonable. But truckers, who reviewed them are concerned about one particular issue and that has to do with Tesla Semi's Center Seat.
The driver of the Tesla Semi is centered in the cabin. "That's got to be strange for the driver," commented one user. Here is where the issue is.
A user named PuddlesRex says he remembers hearing a trucker reviewing the center seat specifically. "This can become an issue if Tesla plans for a major rollout. I don't remember everything that the trucker said about this truck, but I do remember the seat: The main issue is arriving at gatehouses for deliveries at warehouses or factories or other such things. These gatehouses are set up so that a driver can hand over their paperwork to the guard without leaving their truck. Out the driver side window. If you put the driver in the middle, then the driver has to leave their seat to hand over paperwork. This is suboptimal at best, especially when you may have a line of trucks impatiently waiting behind you."
"Of course, if this is a regional distribution fleet, then that problem all but disappears. They check in at a home gatehouse, where paperwork may not be required, or they need to physically go into the office to check in. There would also likely be no gate at the delivery site, and they would need to leave their truck anyway to make their delivery," he says.
You see, in order to design a Semi truck cabin, you have to consult with truckers.
Another huge issue is the entry to the Tesla Semi.
One other user says, "You have to enter from a back door and walk through the cab to get to the driver seat, instead of a normal truck entering from right next to the driver seat. What this means is in wet, mud, snow, etc you have to walk with your filthy shoes through the entirety of your cab to get to the driver seat, versus what most drivers do of getting in at just the driver seat and slipping your shoes off when you go back into the rest of your cab/living space when not driving to keep the rest of your cab clean."
Generally truckers think that Tesla Semi's designers should have more closely consulted with actual truckers.
Now, in my previous reports I have spoken very favorably about the Tesla Semi. And in my opinion from a logistical point of view getting out of your seat would barely add any time to what truckers already have to go through. The time at the gate isn’t the issue, the time at the dock is. Waiting an hour plus for workers to show to unload is a bigger issue.
If you are a trucker, please let me know your thoughts about the Tesla Semi's interior and exterior design from a trucker's point of view. But before you go see this most unbiased Tesla Semi breakdown from an engineer.
Armen Hareyan is the founder and the Editor in Chief of Torque News. He founded TorqueNews.com in 2010, which since then has been publishing expert news and analysis about the automotive industry. He can be reached at Torque News Twitter, Facebok, Linkedin and Youtube.
