That doesn't seem to be the case at all? The windscreen complaint is about what happens when the vehicle is parked. The baffling "seat is in the middle" decision affects all drivers, both when passing (ever driven in the UK for the first time and tried to pass?) and at toll booths. The muddy floors are worse with short-haul drives, since you're in and out more often. The tablets impact anybody driving at night. The only long-haul thing I really see here is the bed thing.

I don't think Tesla knew all of this. I think they just fucked it up.

<flippant> Maybe the designers were worried about UVA/UVB exposure for truckers. </flippant>

see https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trucker-accumulates-skin-damage...

The drivers won’t even be in these things soon.

Yes, we know. FSD is coming and there will be a million of them driving autonomously next year.

For what these are designed for its pretty easy.

They'll be banned from driving after the smart cruise control veers into a cyclist.

In 2017, he said they all would come with "full self driving", standard, in 2019. You could tell it wouldn't, because his lips were moving.

The main problem with these things is that they can only move 5 tons if they have to go up a hill.

Even in this case what advantage it has over existing electric trucks which don’t have these design flaws?

In an ideal environment the operating cost of a Tesla Semi is about 1/3rd (conservative estimate) that of a diesel.

That environment is, again, very specific. But if your routes are short and predictable, you have massive warehouse space for solar, and you can get your average electricity cost as low as Tesla can then it pays off. 1 million miles in a diesel is going to cost well over $1 million dollars (including the price of the cab). With a Tesla Semi that cost is at least half… IF you can get the electricity cost low enough.

What about the 4 examples of other electric semis shared at the end of the original thread?

https://twitter.com/TOrynski/status/1600970796159336449

There are several other electric semis, the thread lists their manufacturers at the end.

Yes there are: https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/trucks/alternative-fuels/e...

You have to run 3x as many of them, because they move less than 1/3 the freight per run.

Unless you are moving toilet paper or packing peanuts.

TFA references several competing electric truck makers such as https://nikolamotor.com/tre-bev

Nikola was convicted of securities fraud last year for faking their electric truck. They finally delivered 48 trucks this year, and then all of them were immediately recalled for safety issues. I think the fact that the author referenced them as viable alternatives is pretty emblematic of how accurate the thread is.

What existing electric trucks?

Here are four examples for you:

Mercedes: https://electrek.co/2022/09/19/mercedes-benz-eactros-longhau...

Scania: https://www.scania.com/group/en/home/products-and-services/t...

Volvo: https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/trucks/alternative-fuels/e...

DAF: https://www.daf.com/en/about-daf/sustainability/alternative-...

Are any of these actually for sale yet? I work for a trucking company that says they ”have” alternative energy vehicles, but nothing is shipping yet.

Mercedes, Volvo, Nikola, Renault.

This is my issue. You're replying but clearly you are missing that there arent any electric semis to compete with.

The author of the thread also clearly hasn't ridden a tesla semi, so he is just assuming that eg the mirrors can't be cleaned either from the inside nor the outside. Isnt that a bit too bad of a take?

I mean I love to read about his experience, but many of his points of criticism seem hypothetical.

> there arent any electric semis to compete with.

What do you mean? The author of the Twitter thread mentions four electric semi options in the thread.

i see

> Most of the criticism assumes people will be in these cabs for 8 hours at a time

Somebody has never driven from Long Beach to the Inland Empire...

80-100 miles from Port of Long Beach being 2-3 hours? Have you ever driven on the 110, 405, 105, or 605?