There have been various controversies over the length and weight of the concrete barriers carried by the Tesla Semi for its 500-mile demonstration.
There are various certain dimensions. The standard height of a shipping container on a regular trailer is 13.5 feet. The Tesla Semi passes a regular Semi truck with a shipping container. The cab of the Tesla Semi was the same height. This means the Tesla Semi cab is 13.5 feet tall. It means the standard trailer used to carrier the eleven concrete barriers is five feet tall.
UPDATE -CONFIRMED 10-Foot Long CONCRETE BARRIERS Carried Which are 4000 Pounds EACH:
I measured the height of the screen capture of the Tesla Semi and the length of the trailer. The Tesla Semi is pulling a 48-foot-long trailer. I measured the height of screen capture of the Tesla trailer (13.5 feet) and the length of the picture of the compact car (assumed 14.5 feet) and both indicate the barrier is 10-feet long.
NEW UPDATE:
I have gone into detailed analysis to determine the cargo capacity of the Tesla Semi versus the Freightliner Cascadia and other diesel Semi. I have a close approximation of the Tare weights and the tractor weight and the cargo capacity.
Other Related Articles:
Typical Diesel truck load capacity per Freightwaves
Other Tesla Semi Articles
Massive State and Federal Electric Semi Truck Subsidies
Worst Tesla Semi is better than best competing electric semi
Anti-elon and anti-Tesla YouTuber, Thunderfoot was claiming that the concrete barriers was 6 feet long. This is clearly not correct. The barriers carried are fill over 80% of the length of a 48-foot-long trailer.
A passing blue car was about 1.5 times the length of a barrier. A Honda Civic hatchback is 15 feet long. A Subaru Impreza Hatchback is 14.5 feet long. Is one of the barrier less than half of the length of the passing car? No. Is the barrier only barely longer than the 5-foot trailer height? No. Thus, Thunderfoot claim of 6 foot length is wrong.
The height of the Tesla Semi is 13.5 feet.
Every visible and known dimension in the video and picture points to 10-foot length or 8 foot length.
8-foot concrete new jersey barriers weigh 3500-3850 lbs and 10-foot concrete barriers weigh 4000-4400 lbs. As I have confirmed with measurements that they are 10-foot barriers.
Thunderfoots has false claims that vastly less than 81,000 lbs (combined truck, trailer, cargo) weight of demo cargo. The size and weight of the eleven concrete barriers checks out to the Tesla claim of 81000 total weight.
There are already 36 Semi in use at Pepsi and hundreds more will be delivered to Pepsi and other companies like Walmart. Every 5,000 Semi deliveries would be about $1 billion in revenue. IF Tesla hits its target of 50,000 deliveries in 2024 that would be $10 billion.
Thunderfoot is making the absurd claim that companies will not verify the quality of purchases involving tens of millions of dollars.
Our best clue to date for the weight of the 500 mile Tesla Semi. The load, 11 jersey barriers at 4K lbs each, is ~44K lbs. A 53 ft flatbed weighs about 10K lbs empty. Assuming this was the 500 mile test, total weight was 81K lbs so tractor is 27k lbs, 2000 lbs lighter than Tre. https://t.co/yKOTWtASai
— Nikola Insider (@InsiderNikola) November 30, 2022
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
