The big problems with putting the driver at the center - Tesla Semi truck review

Tesla officially launched its semi truck in December 2022. it was three years late but now you can finally order yours I believe the transition to electrical trucks is inevitable electric motors provide huge torque instantly remaining in a large rotation range and that's why many diesel locomotives have electric motors driven by diesel generators electric trucks also have regenerative braking when the same Motors that drive the vehicle become generators recovering energy for the battery look at this graph of a 500 Mile route made by a Tesla truck the blue line is the battery charge level which discharges as it moves and gray is the terrain elevation you can see that the battery consumes a lot of energy as it climbs a mountain but when it goes down again it recharges as the route made by them begins and ends practically at the same elevation the reduction of the battery load is almost all referring to the truck traveling horizontally in addition to some losses that obviously exist that's an amazing thing about electric vehicles they also consume almost no power if the vehicle is parked in traffic they do not emit polluting gases on the displacement considering that the energy used in the charging stations is from renewable sources they are quieter than those in thermal combustion engines and have fewer moving Parts spoiling less and Tesla's semi already has a reasonable range of 500 miles it seems little against 900 to 1 400 miles of diesel but according to Tesla 80 of routes in the United States are less than 250 miles long it also has several amazing screens and the seat in the middle just like a McLaren F1 very futuristic but that's when the problems start Tesla is one of those disruptive Silicon Valley companies that don't usually ask customers what they need because they believe they don't know what they want until you show it to them often this is valid it was hard to show the potential of cars to people when they lost to a horse [Applause] but an Innovative company must also have a great understanding of customer needs which seems to have been lacking in Tesla's truck cab design and the company describes the cabin as built around the driver let's look at three points in relation to the cabin reported by some truckers and others that I found important starting with the seat position Tesla put it right in the center to give the driver better visibility I think it's cool but I'm not a trucker according to them in hindu's activities such as access to the concierge Terminals and exchanges of documents through the window I think Tesla has visualized day-to-day with the simplest tasks already automated which is not so far away but still not the reality for most truckers it also makes overtaking more difficult being further away from the middle of the highway making visibility difficult and leaning over the window to look back when you're going to backup won't be possible anymore either only using the mirrors and the reverse cameras but because the camera images are viewed on a screen if the truck is almost still it doesn't have the Parallax effect that effect when you move your head and look from another angle changes the apparent position of one object compared to another and gives a good idea of the distance and if you're wondering if there's going to be room for a hitchhiker yes there's a folding seat over there on the wall behind the driver's seat but it must be kind of weird to talk to someone behind the doors are located on the sides obviously but more at the rear of the cab which prevents the installation of a bed and the cabin is not small but it has a corridor behind the seat that occupies a good part of the internal space according to Tesla itself it is a day cabin not a sleeper cabin this isn't a sleeper cab it's a day cabin so their strategy is to focus on the regional transport Market instead of the long distances which take days they say the cabin is so large that the driver can stand hang the coat in a hook that they put very important and change clothes without exposing themselves to the external environment yeah that's actually like a really big deal I mean your ball got you on like you're able to stand up just fine and you can still stand up and you can shed your jacket put it on the wall fall in the comfort you can put your coveralls on while in the cab standing is not even a differential other trucks are also like that they basically exchange the bid for closet Corridor and they sell as something super Innovative that level of space is you know unheard of we're able to do that with some pretty Innovative packaging but a bid is very important to the driver traffic regulations prohibit the freight driver from driving for long periods without rest in the United States after eight uninterrupted hours the driver must rest 30 minutes and in the European Union after four and a half hours he must rest 45 minutes during these breaks that bed that comes in most trucks gives a good help to the driver both when you can't find a place to rest and saving money on accommodation and in 30 minutes according to them it is possible to recharge 70 of the battery so the truck could be used for longer trips maybe Tesla will still make a sleeper cabin version for these longer commutes and finally it has a very minimalist panel basically consisting of two 15 inch touch screens the same one used on the Tesla Model 3 which I found very cool but there is a point raised by drivers that make sense since there are no physical buttons you have to look at the screen to be able to click the right button in other words you have to take your eyes off the road if they were physical buttons the driver already kind of knows where they are and could touch them maybe it would be a good option to put screens but keep some physical buttons for some more important functions while moving I think Tesla to get some points for trying to innovate in such a traditional area but the cabins are all very similar is not for nothing there are many decades of optimization just transforming a traditional truck into an electric one is already an incredible advance and with many challenges but tell me what you think of this design and if I missed something thanks for watching and I see you next time [Music]

Channel: The Shell

Views: 1,552,890

Keywords: tesla, problems with tesla, tesla semi, trucks, semi truck, electric vehicle

Id: WT7usFCCTmY

Length: 5min 49sec (349 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 27 2023