Founder uses TED talk to spruik torque and ‘sports car’ performance
While the impending unveiling of the Tesla Semi is far from the only thing on Tesla founder Elon Musk’s mind, he took time over the weekend to tease the September event in true vehicle manufacturer style.
Musk used this year’s TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talks event in Canada’s Vancouver to show a silhouetted image of the prime mover and to make some pointed claims about the power of its electric propulsion.
“With the Tesla Semi, we want to show that an electric truck actually can out-torque any diesel semi. If you had a tug of war competition, the Tesla Semi will tug the diesel semi uphill,” Musk is quoted by the TED media organisation as saying.
Musk also reportedly described its handling as being “nimble”, “spry” and “like a sports car” and to confirm that, like his company’s cars, the Semi would have only one forward gear.
Though left unaddressed at TED, Tesla’s strong push into autonomous driving is expected reflect in its Semi driving set-up.
However, Musk did indicate Tesla had moved on from early setbacks for its systems in cars, promising to complete a fully autonomous crossing of the US from west to east by the end of the year.
He also spoke of his new urban tunnelling venture, The Boring Company, again with cars in mind, that would cut the cost of building such routes through small while allowing cars to travel at speed of 200 km/h on electric ‘car skates’.
The latest on the Tesla Semi comes just two weeks after he set the month, September, for its uveiling.