Tesla, the company that is now worth more than Ford Motor Company in the US, despite having far fewer number of years in the market and not turning a profit for so many years already, is set to introduce yet another seismic game changer where vehicles are concerned -- with the introduction of an electric lorry this coming September 2017. Yes, you read that right -- and electric lorry. Now who can argue with the zany ideas that Elon Musk has come up with all this while?
Interestingly enough, Elon Musk does carry plenty of clout with his merry band of investors, and so far it does not seem as though any of his ideas have been shot down by them, either. However, Musk has some ambitious targets that he would like his company to achieve this year, and rolling out an electric lorry is one of them. According to Musk, the electric articulated lorry is all set for a reveal some time this September. Not only that, there are also plans to introduce something which might change the landscape of automobiles in the US for the better some 18 months to two years down the road -- in the form of an electric pick-up.
This is a continuation of Mr. Musk’s intention to branch out beyond just electric cars. Frankly speaking, Tesla’s range of electric cars have been pretty impressive to date. The Model 3 is one such example, where it is a decent mid-market ride that has surpassed expectations having racked up 400,000 pre-orders so far which is far more than what Tesla is able to manufacture within a single calendar year. Unfortunately, the electric cars that Tesla has sold so far has yet to make the company profitable, and there are also run-ins with the law concerning the sales of their electric cars in various states via showrooms and the like.
Investors do not seem unfazed by the situation at all, being thoroughly confident that Mr. Musk will be able to exceed expectations at best, or meet them at the very least. As for the electric lorry from Tesla? Mr. Musk had this to say about his team, commending them for having performed an "amazing job" with the ride all set to be "seriously next level".
With lorries being huge automotive monsters on our freeways and roads, just how much electric power is required to move one of these behemoths? Will the amount of batteries installed within a Tesla electric lorry make it far more heavy than a regular lorry, and can it justify the travel range?
Other burning questions include whether Tesla is going to throw in the autopilot program into their electric lorries. Many road users driving or traveling in far smaller vehicles would definitely be apprehensive about it, considering the force that a lorry generates with its momentum. If the autopilot algorithm fails to detect other vehicles around it, we could be looking at an automotive tragedy of unprecedented scale some time down the road. What do you think?
