Tesla Semi prototype spotted driving in broad daylight

Aside from press images, our only good look at Tesla Semi prototypes was under some pretty dark mood lighting at the launch event.

But now some spy footage shows a Tesla Semi prototype driving in broad daylight – giving us probably the best look at the electric truck.

At the Tesla Semi unveil event last month, Tesla unveiled two electric truck prototypes with different configurations.

They showed the trucks pulling trailers and later in the night after the presentation, they gave test drives without trailers to transport industry people and potential customers.

Attendees also had the chance to get in the cab, but I’d argue that this new footage gives an all-new look at the prototype and likely the best look yet for anyone that wasn’t at the event.

Roy Greenberg spotted the electric truck driving around at Tesla’s Design Studio in Hawthorne yesterday. He posted a video on Instagram:

We get to see just how deep and empty the back of the cab is – which would indicate that the battery pack is really only located at the bottom of the truck.

Based on the performance numbers that Tesla released, the battery pack would have a capacity of about 1 MWh and that would be a very large battery pack to fit on the chassis – and we are not even talking about the weight.

We can also clearly see the hitch system at the back of the vehicle:

Electrek’s Take

Tesla is now trying to take this prototype and bring it to production within the next 2 years.

Customers have already lined up hundreds of orders for the electric truck – putting some pressure on Tesla to deliver.

I was on CNBC yesterday talking about how I think that I actually like Tesla’s chances to deliver the vehicle on time, which hasn’t often been the case with Tesla’s previous vehicle programs:

Though my biggest concern is that Tesla Semi’s specs don’t appear to be possible with the current battery cells that Tesla uses in its current vehicles in term of weight and cost. Most analysts seem to agree that at least some significant incremental improvements in Li-ion batteries would be required or even a breakthrough with a new type of batteries.

I would very much like for Tesla to clarify its plans for the Tesla Semi’s battery pack.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.

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