free radical wrote:


Ah but does your fuel tank refils on the way down !?

Tesla bateries do get recharged going downhill. Can you say free energy? I knew you could

Heres the full delivery vid.
Somewhere around 16 min is the good stuff

https://youtu.be/LtOqU2o81iI

Reisender wrote:



Yah good points. As well charging to 70 percent is 30 minutes and that last 30 percent wouldn’t take more than another 45 minutes. My guess is fleet operators will employ them where it makes sense.

As well not all loads will be at max which will extend range. A load of Doritos will weigh a lot less than a load of concrete curbs. As well not all routes have grades like the grapevine that the test trucks did.

We actually see this in real world with our smaller more aerodynamic trailer being towed by our tesla. (Picture below). Ford lightnings are struggling to get 120 kilometers of range pulling bigger heavier boxy travel trailers. We can tow double that range with an SUV that has a 30 percent smaller battery. I’m not knowledgeable about these things but I would assume that some of this physics carry’s thru to the big boys.

Jmho. Definitely not an expert.

Groover wrote:



The energy recovered is better than free. Due to the energy being recovered the brakes rarely get used. The expectation is that a fully loaded Tesla semi can go down any interstate highway hills without speeding up and without touching the brakes. The brakes should last the life of the vehicle.

One thing that does not seem to be getting mentioned is that the Tesla semi went up the Grapevine hill at or over 60mph. I think that a lot of us will appreciate it when we can make a trip without getting stuck behind semis cranking up a hill at 45mph. But we probably won't give it a second thought either.

Groover wrote:



I have heard that a leading cause of runaway trucks is drivers missing a gear at a bad time. Regen should eliminate that.

JRscooby wrote:



I think the "missed shift" is less of issue the last few decades. In the days past, like my '76 Pete, (by then that set-up was rare. But that was the 3rd truck the 1693 was in. Likely the gearboxes where from earlier times too) with 2 non synchronized transmissions, trying a split, getting both boxes in neutral, getting back in gear was hard.
And driver not wanting to show they missed was issue. Going up hill, speed would drop fast enough with the peaky torque curve, by the time got in a gear could not pull. Down steep hill, the best idea is save the brakes by standing hard until stopped.
But many trucks sold in the last 15 years (or what I saw last time I was used truck shopping) for fleet operations had some form of computer controlled auto-shift. Bell, the Super 10 in my '95 Pete, moved the stick once from 40 MPH to topped out.

Dadoffourgirls wrote:

And I hope the taxpayers appreciate this. I read that they are paying $15.4 Million for Pepsi to have this.

And I hope you approve of the $40,000 per every semi coming from the Federal Government. That would be like giving 4 people $10k towards their student loans.

stsmark wrote:

While it is capable of going up the Grapevine at 60, is there video of that? It would have been speeding as the towing limit in CA is 55. I’d really like to see the consumption doing it as if I understand correctly all 3 motors would be working in that situation. I’m sure it’s well under a mile per KWh then.
Said it before, Pepsi is beta test. I’m sure it will do great for them as the use pattern is set for success.