heh.
guy is well known for not the best relations towards musk, but he's got some valid points.
Thunderf00t makes a couple valid points, but some of his arguments are also hogwash in my opinion. It is true that FSD and convoy mode are not working as promised back in 2017 at the announcement of the Semi. It will probably be quite a few years before Tesla can deliver them.
Thunderf00t shows images of the Semi having broken down on the side of the road as proof that the Semi won't last a million miles, but a prototype breaking down is hardly proof of anything, since we don't know why it needed to be serviced, and auto companies often find flaws in prototypes. All evidence so far is that the Plaid motors are very reliable and probably can last 1 million miles. Also, Panasonic NCA and LG Chem NMCA 2170 cells can last a million miles if they are are only cycled between 10% and 90% of capacity. At this point we don't know whether Tesla will or won't offer a million mile guarantee on the Semi's drivetrain, but Tesla's vehicles do have much lower maintenance costs than ICE vehicles, so Thunderf00t is foolish to criticize Tesla on this point.
Thunderf00t's asserts that the Tesla Semi weights so much that it can't be carrying much of a load compared to a diesel semi. If the Semi has a 850 kWh battery, then let's add another 50 kWh for buffer to avoid battery degradation. If using Panasonic NCA 2170 cells with an energy density of 269 Wh/kg, then 900 KWh would weigh 3346 kg. Then add another 25% for the pack, for a total battery weight of 4182 kg or 9221 lbs.
According to
Ingineerix, the Plaid's front motor weighs about 99 lbs (45 kg), while the rest of the drive unit (single-speed transmission and inverter) weighs about 110 lbs (50 kg), which gives us a total of 220 lbs (95 kg). If we multiply by 3 for the 3 motors, we get 660 lbs (300 kg), which is significantly less than the 3000-4000 lbs of motor weight in a long-haul class 8 diesel semi. The diesel semi also can carry 200 gallons of fuel, which weighs 1420 lbs, plus another 200 lbs for the fuel twords, Let's say that on average, the fuel tank is half full, so 700 lbs of fuel.
So let's compare:
Tesla Semi:
9221 battery + 660 motors = ~9,900 lbs
Diesel semi:
3500 motor + 700 fuel + 200 tank = 4,400 lbs
The rest of the truck should be roughly similar in weight, so the difference is about 5500 lbs, but electric semis are allowed to carry 2000 lbs more than ICE semis, so the Tesla Semi's allowed cargo weight would be 3500 lbs less than the diesel semi, which isn't that much when talking about a truck which is rated to have a gross weight of 82,000 lbs.