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Automotive

Elon Musk says Tesla pickup and semi-trucks are coming

By Eric Mack
April 14, 2017
Elon Musk says Tesla pickup and semi-trucks are coming
Elon Musk speaking at an Nvidia conference.
Elon Musk speaking at an Nvidia conference.
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Elon Musk speaking at an Nvidia conference.
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Elon Musk speaking at an Nvidia conference.
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Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk says the company will soon move beyond just electric sedans and SUVs to offer something bigger - much bigger. Musk tweeted Thursday that a Tesla semi truck is just months away and work is ongoing on an electric pickup truck as well.

"Tesla Semi truck unveil set for September," Musk said via Twitter. "Team has done an amazing job. Seriously next level."

Unlike most publicly-traded companies, it's not unusual for Tesla news to break via the CEO's Twitter account. Musk has over eight million followers on the platform, over six times more than Tesla's official Twitter account. Observers were quick to note that Tesla's stock price saw a bump after Musk's tweet.

Musk is basically narrowing the timeline for unveiling electric trucks, an ambition that Tesla laid out in its "Master Plan, Part Deux" last year.

"We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate," Musk wrote in the plan.

Musk also responded to a question on Twitter about the company's vision for a "new kind of pickup truck" mentioned in master plan revision.

"Pickup truck unveil in 18 to 24 months," Musk wrote.

Musk also mentioned the next generation of Tesla's first vehicle, the Roadster, will be a convertible.

While Musk didn't specifically mention anything about the role that autonomy will play with the company's upcoming truck models, the master plan notes that "as the technology matures, all Tesla vehicles will have the hardware necessary to be fully self-driving."

Sources: Twitter, Tesla

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AutomotiveElectricTeslaTruckElectric VehiclesAutonomous VehiclesElon Musk
10 comments
Eric Mack
Eric Mack has been covering technology and the world since the late 1990s. As well as being a New Atlas regular, he currently contributes to CNET, NPR and other outlets.

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10 comments
LarryWolf
Just hoping they have a mid-gate like the Chevy Avalanche and it can tow up to 10,000 lbs. Do that and every weekend warrior with a pickup truck will dump theirs and buy the Tesla.
CyberPine EducationalMedia
I’m sorry, but the Tesla pickup truck mockups and price points I’ve seen online are just stupid. The idea of full EV Pickup is brilliant, but it will completely flop unless they understand why we buy pickup trucks in the first place… I’ve driven American pickup trucks all my life and it’s all about the bed, the tailgate and the only way to get a bench front seat. A tiny bed due to wanting it to look like a truck or wanting to add four doors or an extended cab is just DUMB and pointless.
Dear Tesla (or whoever enters this market). Model your pickup truck after a Dodge A100 pickup truck... Google that.
Push the cab all the way to the front for and put an upright bench seating for 3 adults. Single cab, Why have storage space in the front just to look like other trucks?? Forget about four doors or extended cab configs. Make the bed long and deep, long enough for full sheets of plywood. Use the space above the wheel wells for accessible storage. It must have a traditional tailgate. It with lots of 110v and 12v outlets near that tailgate. Deliver it with a factory tonneu cover, bed lights and even bed climate control.
Derek Howe
I would love a full-size electric pickup truck, but regular gad versions are already crazy priced...so even by 2020, I'd bet Tesla's will START at 50k. Which prices me right out.
notarichman
if it goes 300 miles on a charge OR tows a boat and hauls weekend supplies for 200 miles and has 4wd; then i want one desparately.
Daishi
@CyberPine. The A100 doesn't look very aerodynamic and that would have a large impact on highway range. If the truck needs a nose for aerodynamics it might as well have a frunk. Not everything you need to carry can deal with sitting outside in the bed so a frunk would be useful.
Racqia Dvorak
Semi??? Really, that's hilarious. 300 miles is a normal trip for a car. Want to guess what a normal trip for semis would be? Want to guess what kind of turn around times are required in the trucking industries.
EVs do not make sense as Semi Rigs. The ease of refilling with internal combustion allowed for efficiencies of time that an EV making a thousand mile trip will not be able to match thanks to battery tech, even if they could go a thousand miles at a time.
Jason Catterall
CyberPine EducationalMedia Don't be sorry. Just try to remember that there are others interested in this idea, not just you. In just about every other market apart from Murica the double cab pickup outsells the single cab two to one. I've driven European and Japanese double cab pickups all my life and wouldn't dream of driving a fat archaic American design. To my mind they are dumb and pointless. Each to their own, eh?
ljaques
I would have bought one instead of the Tundra back in '07 if they had been available. Keep on Truckin, Elon! @LarryWolf, why does anyone need to pull 10k# with a medium sized pickup? As a licensed contractor (handyman), I seldom put over 1k in my truck, and only twice put 3k# behind it in ten years of work before retiring.
Daishi
Semi's require a lot of fuel and seem like something much more poorly suited to EV than delivery trucks. It seems like local delivery with a lot of time idling and stop go driving at low speed would be perfect for electric. You take the truck out in the morning, do deliveries all day (but you don't really log a crazy amount of miles) then plug it in at night to be ready in the morning again. So much of the platform and parts would cross over to long haul semi later on that it seems almost irresponsible not to start with local delivery trucks first. Maybe they'll offer both configurations out the gate.
FliteDoc
Sure hope the pickup has a frame that will take a plow, for us folks in the mountains ... electric drive plowing would be great!