Tesla Unveils the Semi Truck and Roadster.

Tesla revealed the new Semi Truck and Roadster at it’s design studio in Hawthorn, California on Thursday night.

The new products were well received by the crowd present at the Reveal Party , who applauded and encouraged the vision. Coming out of the worst performing quarter on Tesla’s books, fuelled by Tesla’s struggle to deliver the Tesla 3 to the 500,000 buyers who paid $1,000 each deposit, Elon Musk also managed to please the stock market who responded with a 4.07% positive response taking the share price to $325.22.

First up, we’re introduced to the Tesla Semi which is set to start production in 2019 with a $US5,000 deposit from each customer. When it hits the roads, it is expected to have a range of 500miles on a full charge or 400miles on what Tesla calls a Megacharge (a quicker 30 minute charge with less range). We’re not told how long it will take to charge the Semi in full to achieve the 500Mile charge nor if that range is based on straight line highway, mountainous terrain or even heavy traffic.

The Semi Truck’s performance figures are impressive and come from 4 electric motors – one for each wheel, ie All Wheel Drive – to provide a currently theoretical 0 – 100Km speed of around 5 seconds. This figure includes a trailer attached to the Semi truck .

The Semi is expected to be fully Self Driving, however legislation at the moment means it can only be partially autonomous.

We then see the new Tesla 2020 Roadster which also received applause and encouragement from the Party Revellers.

This will be the second generation roadster and is promoted as the fastest production car ever made.

At a starting price of $US200,000 the Roadster will deliver a currently theoretical 0 – 100Kms acceleration of 1.9 seconds, and to 160Kms (100Miles) in 4.2 seconds on the way to a to speed of 400kms (250Miles). Those numbers, if realised, will mark the 2020 2nd Gen Roadster as the fastest car in production from standing start to 100kms and put it into the leagues of Bugatti and Koenigsegg who each have slightly higher top speeds in both their hybrid and non-hybrid version. In fact in the case of the Koenigsegg Agera R, it’s top speed is significantly higher at 439Kms or 273Miles per hour.

For the price, the 2020 Roadster also promises a range of 620miles on a full charge.

Of course Elon did what he does best – Sell a concept! And he did that exceptionally well with lights, lots of flash and the appearance of delivery with live models on stage. However, as mentioned earlier,  Tesla currently struggles to produce and deliver the Model 3, which is it’s first mass-marketed vehicle. In what has been called “Production Hell”, it needs to fill a pre-order backlog of half a million vehicles before it can focus on new products of the next few years.

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