Yesterday, Tesla (TSLA) unveiled its new truck, and the event was vintage Musk. As if the world’s first fully electric semi wasn’t enough, he used the occasion to unveil a new roadster that was driven from the trailer of the demo. That kind of showmanship and marketing has been his genius in the past. It has helped to cement his reputation as an innovative, disruptive thinker and it keeps the Tesla fans in awe. The haters, of course, see it all as a distraction from the production issues and increasing losses at the company, but you either buy into the visionary thing or you don’t. Even for the doubters, though, the numbers make it hard to be anything but impressed with the truck itself.
Tesla claims it will make truck operation cheaper and safer, and given the relative cost of electricity and the inclusion of autopilot features such as automatic braking and lane departure correction both of those claims look justified. Probably the most impressive numbers, though, are the single charge range of 500 miles, and the 400 miles achievable after thirty minutes on a Tesla Supercharger. It will also lumber less from a stop than diesel vehicles, reaching 60 MPH in 20 seconds fully laden and in an incredible 5 seconds without a trailer.
What we don’t know at this point is how much it will cost. The lack of that information is understandable, as predicting cost for a vehicle scheduled for production in two years would be tough in any case, and is…
