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Re:Tesla Semi by masklinn on Friday November 17, 2017 @03:37AM (#15720239)
It's way beyond that.

1. it makes changing a tire more complicated, and time is money, the longer it takes to change a blown tire the higher the penalties

2. when a semi tire goes, it goes hard, as GP noted with this arrangement the cowling will probably shatter, requiring a replacement (not just a replacement tire) and the pieces taking out other tire. If the cowling does not break, it will funnel bits of tire straight into the next tires, blowing all of them.

Re:Tesla Semi by Gravityloss on Friday November 17, 2017 @03:56AM (#15720322)
If a truck tire blows, it sometimes hits nearby cars and causes accidents, or just hits a motorcycle driver, cyclist or pedestrian and causes an instant death.

These covers could be useful, if they were made for containment. Requires something like kevlar that can stretch and absorb the impact.

Re:Tesla Semi by unicornporn on Friday November 17, 2017 @05:41AM (#15720856)
Re:Tesla Semi by nwmcsween on Saturday November 18, 2017 @08:01PM (#15731648)
From what I've seen tires don't really blow as in pieces everywhere but tear then slap around, retreads when they blow tend to remove all the tread which is why you see half a tread on the side of the road sometimes. Containment isn't really too much of an issue IMO. Even thick (3/8) aluminum fenders get destroyed.
Re:Tesla Semi by chewyland on Friday November 17, 2017 @06:13AM (#15721016)
When a rear tire blew on my campervan, in addition to having to replace the tire, the blowout caused many thousands of Euros worth of damage to the bodywork.
Re:Tesla Semi by nkristoffersen on Sunday November 19, 2017 @09:04AM (#15733923)
I would think mechanics are going to become fewer and fewer as less mechanical bits exist on the electric vehicles. Tires, alignment, electrical. Those will be you're bread+butter services.
Re:Tesla Semi by zardo on Friday November 17, 2017 @10:16AM (#15722586)
Have you seen (2) happen with the existing aftermarket products like this?
Re:Tesla Semi by CamperBob2 on Friday November 17, 2017 @01:39PM (#15724726)
when a semi tire goes...

... it's usually because the company was too cheap to buy anything but retreads.

Re:Tesla Semi by dsfyu404ed on Friday November 17, 2017 @02:39PM (#15725323)
Retreads don't fail appreciably more often than new tires. Being in the boring part of the bathtub curve makes up for their age.

DOT HS 811 060 is the study you should Google.

Re:Tesla Semi by CamperBob2 on Saturday November 18, 2017 @05:12PM (#15730977)
So any given tire carcass I'm likely to see on the road -- hopefully in time to dodge it -- is just as likely to be from a new tire as from a retread?

Sorry, not buying it.