Professional Truck Driver REACTS to Tesla Semi
I recently corresponded with Luke, who is a professional semi truck driver with 20 years of experience and he was willing to answer my questions about the Tesla Semi. Since most of the commentary out there right now is coming from those with little or no experience in the commercial trucking industry, Luke’s perspective is especially helpful. Luke’s opinion about the Tesla semi is not only interesting because he's a commercial truck driver with 20 years of experience, (15 of which were as an over-the-road driver), but also because he also owns an electric vehicle and uses that as a commuter vehicle.
Questions and Answers
One of the first topics that I asked Luke about had to do with the Tesla semi cabin itself, because as you probably know, if you've seen any pictures, if you've watched any videos of the Tesla semi, the driver's seat is right in the center of the cabin, which is unlike any other semi-truck that I've seen. While overall, I think this design could very well improve the visibility of the driver, this change may adjust how truck drivers back up and could take some adjustments and some time for these drivers to get used to this design.
Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
So on that topic, I asked Luke's opinion on the driver seat being in the center of the Tesla semi cabin. To this question, Luke responded by talking about how having the seat in the center of the cabin would be something that would definitely take some adjustment. But he also mentioned that in order to give a fully informed opinion, he would need to actually experience it himself.
Q: What is your opinion on the driver seat in the center of the Tesla Semi Cabin?
Luke: The center seat thing would be an adjustment as I have spent my entire career in the driver's seat position. I think I would need to try it before I gave a fully informed opinion. However, there may be an issue with backing.
This is technical driving here but you have a sight side (the drivers seat where you can stick your head out the window) and the blind side (where you can only see what's in the mirror) for most backing operations you want to arrange to back using the sight side to back, so you have a better view of the operation.
This is a critical issue because the overwhelming majority of accidents occur during backing, we need that better view so, I would need to see what the view is like when backing and practice backing with the truck to give a good opinion.
I'm sure that semi truck drivers will adapt to a new design, but, it's going to take some time for truck drivers getting used to it. In the meantime, I do believe that the built in cameras in Tesla Semi will help with backing up, but once again, it's a lot different to look at a camera and then to actually look out a window.
Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Q: In practical everyday use, are there any aspects of the Tesla Semi that would be inconvenient?
Luke: The charging issue would be a inconvenience. Typically, as a otr [over the road] driver your day starts in a truck stop, you wake up pull to the fuel islands and do your pre-trip inspection… Then, you run all day and park at a truck stop at the end of your shift, so you can do it all again tomorrow.
On Tesla's website it states the semi can gain a 70% charge in 30 minutes, which compared to other electric semis that are available in the USA right now, this is extremely impressive. However, at the end of the day, the real competition for the Tesla semi is not other electric semi trucks. So, in all reality, we really need to be comparing the Tesla semi charging time to fueling up a diesel semi.
If you have a 500 mile range Tesla semi that can gain 70% of charge in 30 minutes, that means that in that 30 minutes you can add somewhere around 350 miles of range. And if you do some basic math, that means you're adding around 11.67 miles per minute of charging.
Now, when it comes to how that compares to a diesel semi, based on my research, it appears like the average diesel truck driver spends somewhere around 8 to 15 minutes filling up their truck with diesel fuel. Of course, this time varies quite a bit based on different size tanks and capacities and different speeds of the diesel pumps themselves. And when it comes to the average amount of diesel fuel that a semi can carry, that number seems to vary quite a bit from somewhere around 100 gallons up to around 300 gallons of diesel fuel. Assuming that the average diesel semi gets around 6.5 miles per gallon, that means that the average semi could drive between 650 to 1,950 miles between fill-ups.
So, once again, adding 350 miles of range in 30 minutes of charging with the Tesla Semi is impressive, but charging could be a bit of an inconvenience as compared to filling up with diesel fuel. Obviously, this is something that can be worked around, and there are applications where this is not an issue. Here is what Luke had to say about this topic in the Tesla Semi:
Luke: With charging, it's 30 minutes out of your day minimum and drivers aren't generally paid by the hour. If your wheels aren't turning your not making money. You could theoretically mitigate this somewhat with careful trip planning, but real life tends to get in the way of this.
Things get worse for slip seat operations because, frequently you're handing your keys to another driver at the end of the shift. The charge time is going to get in the way, especially if he wants to start with a full battery
So obviously, as Luke pointed out, there are creative ways around this, but for practical everyday use, the Tesla Semi is slightly inconvenience as compared to a diesel semi. Some of this inconvenience is offset by the lower cost of operation of a Tesla semi, especially for owner operators, but for those getting paid per mile, extra time spent charging could be a negative for them.
Q: Do you think the Tesla Semi as it is right now can replace a long-haul diesel semi without major compromises?
Luke: No, a long haul or over the road truck in the hands of a skilled solo driver will cover 700 miles in a day or more. For perspective, a solo driver can make a run from New York to Los Angeles in 5 days. A team can cut that time in half.
In addition, the truck for an otr [over the road] driver is a home. The battery would need to handle an overnight with the driver’s refrigerator and microwave, plus whatever entertainment the driver installs. It will need to do this in extreme cold and desert heat.
On the topic of extreme cold and extreme heat, it takes extra energy, for instance, in the winter to heat an electric vehicle battery, which takes a little bit away from the range. For example, according to an article from recurrentauto.com, a long range Tesla Model 3 can lose around 17% of its range in cold weather. While this is quite a bit lower than much of the EV competition, it's still worth noting that an electric vehicle, even the best electric vehicles, do lose range during the winter due to the need keep the battery pack warm.
If you take a look at the Tesla semi that during the summer has a 500 mile range or so, if you lose 70% of that range in the winter, that's a range of 415 miles. However, it's also important to note that with an electric vehicle, you need to maintain good battery health, which means not fully charging or fully depleting the battery every time. In general it would be better to not deplete your battery below 10% and not regularly charge it over 90%. So, if you have an 80% spread during the summer, that means that more likely you want to use around 400 miles between charges of range and during the winter, 80% of 415 miles would be somewhere around 332 miles of range.
So, as impressive as a Tesla semi efficiency is, and as impressive as that range is, when you actually look at some real world situations, there still is a downside for long haul applications for a Tesla semi versus a diesel semi.
Once again, as a continuation of my question about the practicality of the Tesla Semi in long-haul application, Luke mentioned:
Luke: In my opinion, the battery will need to have 800ish miles of range, and the infrastructure will need to be constructed to provide overnight charging and shore power for this to be a viable over the road truck. Fast charging times would need to be reduced to make it usable for teams. I can see the path forward, but we aren't there yet.
Remember this is still the first generation of the Tesla semi, and that it will improve. It will get more efficient, and it will get more range as battery technology improves over the next few years. In just a few years a Tesla semi will be able to 100% replace a diesel semi, and I don't think we need to move to hydrogen powered semis. The Tesla semi proves that battery electric semis will be completely sufficient as long as we continue to improve the battery technology.
Q: What features do you want Tesla to add?
Luke: I think it needs a port for a cb radio but that may just be a demonstration oversight, or I may have missed it, but if the truck doesn't have that, it would need to be retrofitted in somehow. There are shippers that won't let you on sight unless you have a cb radio that can tune to the company channel due to the need for communication with other equipment operators. Otherwise, it looks pretty slick.
I would need actual seat time to determine any serious issues, but I doubt Tesla made any major mistakes in the cab design since they have their own drivers working on the project.
When it comes to the size of Tesla's truck fleet, according to official U.S. Department of Transportation data, Tesla currently has a fleet of 291 vehicles in the United States, and I assume that these are all semi-trucks in Tesla's current fleet of 291 trucks. A few of those, of course, are Tesla semis, but most of those are diesel trucks. And as Tesla continues to grow deliveries year over year and as they move towards the 20 million number that Elon Musk said that Tesla is striving towards around 2030, and I believe they will use quite a few of these semis in their own operations. So, since Tesla is using their semi internally, as Luke pointed out, they very likely they got a ton of things right about the semi. But with all new products, there are always things you can improve.
Q: What is your general opinion of the [Tesla] Semi?
Luke: I love the concept. It's not ready for prime-time general use, but as a short haul city truck, I think it's a definite winner. I think in its current form, it's going to be limited to distribution center and terminal operations where the drivers are doing last leg delivery. I think in another 10 years or so of technology advance, we will have serious changes in the industry.
With all this in mind, I think the Tesla semi has plenty of applications in shorter routes and last mile deliveries as Luke pointed out. But, for long haul applications, and to completely replace diesel semis, there still are some improvements that need to be made to the Tesla Semi. Once again, I'm not negative on the Tesla semi, but I'm just trying to give you the reality of this situation and not just hype it up. Tesla has by far the best electric semi in the market, and it is not even close as compared to the competition.
Moving on. The last two questions that I asked Luke about had to do with cruise control and autopilot functionality.
Q: Do you use cruise control while hauling a load?
Luke: Yes. Cruise control is a critical must have for any truck. As a side note, my current truck already has adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist. It will even activate the brakes if it detects imminent collision. It definitely cuts down on driver stress and workload.
As I pointed out in a recent video, due to the lack of autopilot settings and no autopilot indications being shown in Tesla's marketing material, I assume that the Tesla Semi does not currently have autopilot features enabled, despite apparently having all the necessary hardware. Nonetheless, in that video, I pointed out the fact that very likely the Tesla semi does have adaptive cruise control and built in ADAS features even right now. On that topic, I asked Luke's opinion on autopilot for the semi, and he mentioned that autopilot for trucks would be a different ballgame than for passenger cars.
Q: Thoughts on Autopilot for Semi?
Luke: On autopilot, trucks are a different ballgame from cars. We are often looking miles ahead to read the upcoming traffic patterns, in addition to maintaining a constant scan of the mirrors to keep situational awareness to the sides and rear of the truck.
This is a critical skill that needs to stay sharp and I'm skeptical of the utility of a system that takes control of the truck but requires the driver to continue paying attention so he can intervene. I think there's a good chance of the driver being lulled into a false sense of security and being too slow to react when sudden intervention is required.
FSD needs to be full on set and forget, go read a book good before I would want it on my truck, otherwise it feels like an invitation to highway hypnosis. If FSD does get that good, I question the future of my career, the benefits of automation are undeniable, but I've spent most of my adult life in this career and would require a masters degree and years of work experience to match my current income in another job, those are years I won't have. There's over a million like me in the US alone. It's going to be a serious issue when the technology gets there.
I do believe it's going to be a decent amount of time before we actually see full self-driving trucks on the market. Even if Tesla, gets regulatory approval for full self-driving on passenger vehicles in just a few years, I imagine that their requirements for a commercial truck are much more strict, because there's a lot more on the line when you're hauling an 80,000 lb. rig as compared to a passenger vehicle which weighs somewhere between 3,000 to 5,000 lbs. Nonetheless, if anyone's going to do it, I believe it's going to be Tesla.