I’m surprised by how much action I see in the early hours of the morning around Austin. The airport in Austin is busy, the roads fill with people heading to work, and the sun starts rising over my favorite city in the world.
Austin is the second highest-ranking city in the world (Hangzhou, China is #1) for the highest number of millionaire residents, according to a recent study by Henley & Partners.
Opportunities and hope are a big draw for people and Tesla is playing a major role in the shaping of the new Austin. This article will explain why.
GIGA TEXAS: JULY 2020 – PRESENT
The beginnings: In July 2020, I made trips 2 to 3 times a week to East Austin to start observing the groundbreaking of Tesla’s Gigafactory, in Texas. There, amid the dust and the sound of massive earthmoving machines, I met Joe Tegtmeyer, Jeff, Roberts, and Jack Farrington. All three were creating drone videos of Giga Texas’ progress, and all were convinced of the positive impact Tesla was having on Austin.
Tesla’s HQ – in a massive structure: In October 2021, Elon Musk announced that Tesla’s Global HQ would be Giga Texas.
Attracting investors and talent: Meanwhile, Austin attracted the second-highest number of millionaire residents in the world, and many workers and businesses relocated to Texas finding low taxes were a big advantage during a time when many people were working remotely.
Producing best-selling vehicles at scale: Today, Tesla’s beautiful Gigafactory at “1 Tesla Road” is established and producing Model Y vehicles at incredible speed!
In April, Tesla announced Giga Texas is building 4K Model Y per week! This is being done with the hard work of thousands of employees.
Busy gigafactory: An Uber driver told me that “GigaTexas has rock concert vibes, only at 5 AM in the morning! There’s double-decker buses, trams, cars lined up, 4-5 full parking lots, factory full swing!”
AUSTIN IS A LEADER IN JOBS
Austin is the #2 city in the nation for overall employment opportunity and earning potential in a study published by Chekr, an HR tech firm, in April 2023. Having a job, making an honest living is a big part of building a happy, productive life.
Tesla’s 2022 Impact Report says,
“Tesla created over 128,000 direct jobs in a decade. Our employee count has grown approximately 70-fold over the past decade—and we continue to hire extensively. Gigafactory Texas and Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg are already recruiting for thousands of jobs.”
Tesla’s Careers website lists hundreds of jobs in Austin, giving the opportunity not only to make a living with great benefits but also to be a part of building a sustainable energy future.
CONCLUSION
Tesla made Austin its HQ and is a mass producer of both JOBS and VEHICLES.
Austin is a destination for some of the nation’s most successful investors and business people.
The manufacturing at scale we see at Giga Texas is an example for other vehicle manufacturers and also shows how important manufacturing is to the economy of the USA.
Giga Texas will put Austin, Texas on the map as a leader in manufacturing in the USA!
-Pictured below with this article is the beautiful best-selling Model Y
-Elon Musk at Cyber Rodeo in April 2022 delivering the first Model Ys made in Texas
-Giga Texas at 1 Tesla Road, the HQ for Tesla.
Article by Gail Alfar, all rights reserved. Sources referenced in article are Tesla 2022 Impact Report, @HenleyPartners @Checkr @peterdog @tegtmeyer @jackfarrington All Images Courtesy @Tesla Inc.
Elon Musk spoke for about 1 hour on a private Twitter Space on Saturday at about 4:15pm PT to an audience of over 7900 listeners. Tim Dodd, Everyday Astronaut was co-host. The Twitter Space was recorded and can be listened to by anyone who subscribes to Elon Musk.
“It was good to fly this vehicle so we can move on to more advanced designs. Booster 9 is more advanced.” – Elon Musk
Starship Test Flight 1 was an amazing success and the SpaceX team did a great job and there was a tremendous amount of valuable information learned. Elon explained, “We live on a planet with strong gravity and it takes a lot to leave our planet to get to Mars and Starship is a real path to get us to Mars, and that is mind-boggling. We need reasons to wake up in the morning and feel excited about the future.”
HIGHLIGHTS
Starship Test Flight 1 went better than expected
There was minimal launch pad damage
SpaceX will be ready in 6-8 weeks for Starship Test Flight 2
Some detailed notables as mentioned by Elon were,
“Three engines were chosen by the SpaceX system not to start, so the lift-off was with 30 engines as they were shut down due to not being healthy enough.”
“At T + 62 seconds there was some damage but Starship ran okay.”
“At T + 85 steering was lost on Starship.”
A big change is that Booster 9, which will be used in the next flight in 6-8 weeks will use electric motors instead of hydraulics. The electric motors will be more isolated and less likely to fail, “the engines will start faster, throttle up faster and leave the pad faster,” explained Elon.
“The goal for the next flight is to make it to staging, succeed in staging and go into orbit!” – Elon Musk
SOVIET N1 ROCKET
Elon also highlighted the Soviet Union’s N1 program. “The Soviets were onto their A-Game, they were fantastic and their motivation was maximized. Still, the N1 failed and never reached orbit. N1 is the closest to Starship of any Rocket that has ever flown. The cryogenic fuel is actually more risky than kerosene used by N1 and by Falcon 9. It was too expensive to continue, and was probably embarrassing on a national level (so they stopped the program).”
The Soviet N1 used kerosene-based rocket fuel in all three of its main stages. Falcon 9’s first stage incorporates nine Merlin engines and aluminum-lithium alloy tanks containing liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant. In contrast, Starship Super heavy booster is powered by 33 Raptor engines using sub-cooled liquid methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX).
Elon also explained a robust design as having isolated engines. The next launch will utilize Booster 9, which is exceptional as it has isolated engines.
“My expectation for the next flight is its more likely to reach orbit than not.” – Elon Musk
SPEAKERS
Asking some technical questions were @csi_starbase, John Krause, Mary Liz Bender, Zach Golden Joey Roulette, @Free_Space (Irene Klotz). So check them out!
Thanks to Elon Musk for hosting the Space! This article by Gail Alfar and was first published by Gail Alfar (me) on Twitter.
People await Starship first orbital Launch. Image by the author.
(April 22, 2023) S. Padre Island, Texas
I wanted to write about my first rocket launch. I realized that to best write for you, I had to talk to other people about their experiences. I’m sharing with you some of the beautiful conversations I had at Starship’s first orbital flight test launch. We’ll hear from a SpaceX enthusiast, an ex-NASA engineer, and a SpaceX engineer.
A DREAM COMES TRUE.
When Tesla announced the availability of the first version Model 3 sedan, Jim from Indiana was one of the first to reserve one. Since that date in 2017, Jim has closely been following Elon Musk’s companies and has been supportive of SpaceX. When he heard Starship would launch its first orbital test this year, he had a dream of going there with his daughter.
I saw Jim standing on Isla Blanca State Park beach with his wife, two children and another family friend. Jim’s passion and dedication to supporting SpaceX and its mission to make us multi-planetary is contagious. He wakes up every morning excited about the future!
“I knew I would bring my daughter, and when my wife found out she helped turn it into a family vacation for us all.”
I talked with him on the beach while his children played in the rolling waves at Isla Blanca State Park. Jim is one of many people who came to see the first Starship launch in person on April 20, 2023.
EX-NASA ENGINEER BELIEVES ELON MUSK WILL GET PEOPLE LIVING ON THE MOON.
Fred Becker, an ex-NASA Engineer would not have missed this launch for anything. Fred drove down from Indiana with his tiny Pomeranian in a little carrying pack. When Fred was 16 years old, he watched Apollo 16 land on the Moon on April 16. In a gentle voice, and with a slight sense of humor, Fred told me he wished the Starship launch had been on April 16.
We talked quite a bit, and I felt like I was talking to an old friend, Fred told me,
“NASA has been hamstrung by politics, but Elon Musk is not, for the most part.”
Fred shared with me that he knows Elon Musk is an incredibly amazing and kind person, and if “his mission is to get people living on the moon that’s going to happen.”
As I watched Fred walk away, I thought about how he explained to me that he had played a big role in designing and developing the space shuttle for NASA. Fred came alive when he explained to me his admiration for what Elon Musk is doing. I saw a spark light up in his eye.
There were a lot of NASA folks present at the Starship launch. SpaceX is opening up hope again to them that we will have people living on the moon and beyond!
WORKING FOR SPACEX.
I lingered at Isla Blanca for a while after the launch, the beach started to clear and began to fill up with happy families, kids, toys, and coconut-scented suntan lotion. As I started to walk back to the parking lot, I ran into Justin T., a SpaceX engineer. I asked him what his role was in Starship, and he was gracious enough to explain it to me in terms I could understand. He said he was responsible for connecting the fuel tanks to the Starship, it’s a lot more complicated than that, but I will tell you that he expressed he loved his job and the team he works with.
Justin told me he’s ready to get right back to work for the next launch. He told me he loves working at SpaceX and does not entertain any plans of leaving. He has found his passion and mission. It was incredible to hear him talk and to be able to thank him for his hard work. Without him, the launch would not have been the data-gathering success that it was.
MY THOUGHTS.
I’ve been to Starbase 6 times with most of my family. We’ve camped on the beach 3 times, which is pretty near to the Starship launch site!
When Starship launched, the vibrations in the air and the deep rumbling sound were much more profound than I could have imagined. I could feel the intense pressure in the core of my heart. This was my first launch to ever attend in person! One of my kids was there and when I turned around he had tears of joy streaming down his face. “It made me realize my life priorities!”
If Starship goes to Mars, we have a great chance of passing the great filter and becoming a multi-planetary civilization. If Starship doesn’t make it to Mars, if the program fails, it will still do one thing that is extremely valuable in the lives of people today: Give people hope where there wasn’t any before. Do you love waking up in the morning excited for the future? I know I do. This alone is justification enough for Starship.
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“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” – President John F. Kennedy, Houston, Texas, September 12, 1962
Elon Musk was asked, “Why should we colonize Mars?”
“Being a multi-planet species and being out there among the stars is important for the long-term survival of humanity and that’s one reason, kind of like life insurance for life collectively, life as we know it. The part that I find personally most motivating is that it creates a sense of adventure and it makes people excited about the future. If you consider two futures: one where we are forever confined to Earth until eventually something terrible happens — or another future where we are out there on many planets, maybe even going beyond the solar system! I think that the second version is incredibly exciting and inspiring… and there need to be reasons to get up in the morning. You know, life cannot just be about solving problems, otherwise, what’s the point? There’s gotta be things that people find inspiring and make life worth living.” – Elon Musk
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Starship First Orbital Flight. Image Courtesy Carlos Nunez
Article by Gail Alfar, please credit accordingly. Thanks to Fred Becker, SpaceX, Elon Musk, and Carlos Nunez Images. Original Article appears on Gail Alfar’s Twitter
Tesla Solar, Megapacks, image Courtesy Tesla, Inc.
Tesla’s Master Plan Part 3 was published April 5 and I’m excited to share the main points with you. The link for you to read it is here, and it is 41 pages. I’ll simplify it for you and share my thoughts. I also hope you’ll be able to sit, back, relax, make yourself a little snack (how about an Apple Danish?) and enjoy this read!
Introduction: Today’s Dirty Energy Economy
Master Plan Part 3 starts out by raising awareness about our current energy economy. Many of us may not be fully aware of how inefficient and expensive it is to maintain our world’s current energy economy. We are living in a time where MOST energy is supplied by fossil fuels (81%). What causes alarm for me is how much of that energy is wasted! A shocking 64% is wasted. How is this possible? Three reasons:
Extraction and refining oil uses energy
When electricity is generated, there are transformation losses
Internal combustion engine vehicles and natural gas furnaces have losses due to inefficient use
In the end, only 36% of the primary energy supply produces useful work or heat for our world’s economy. This is very wasteful, and Tesla has a fabulous approach to correcting this problem.
“There is a clear path to a sustainable energy Earth.
It doesn’t require destroying natural habitats.
It doesn’t require us to be austere and stop using electricity and be in the cold or anything.
The story, and I think this holds together quite well – it will be actually published in a detailed white paper with all of our assumptions and calculations — is that there is a clear path to a fully sustainable earth with abundance.” – Elon Musk
Quick View of the Plan to Eliminate Fossil Fuels
Master Plan Part 3 is the whitepaper Elon Musk mentioned on March 1. It is Tesla’s brilliant plan to eliminate fossil fuel use in our world. I’ll summarize the 4 areas which are: Transportation, Power for Homes and Businesses, Power for Massive Industrial Processes, and Power needed to build a sustainable energy economy.
Transportation will be powered by batteries that store energy that comes mostly from solar.. If you are reading this you’re already familiar with how Tesla is accelerating passenger car production. We’ll see this happen faster with light-duty trucks and Class 8 semis, Tesla says,
“Electric vehicles are approximately 4x more efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles due to higher powertrain efficiency, regenerative braking capability, and optimized platform design.”
Batteries and Charging for Cargo Ships: Cargo ships and all other bulk carriers will need to be powered by batteries. If shipping were a country, it would be the world’s 8th-biggest emitter of CO2.
“Both continental & intercontinental ocean shipping can be electrified by optimizing design speed & routes to enable smaller batteries w/ more frequent charge stops on long routes” – Tesla Master Plan 3
If shipping were a country, it would be the world’s 8th biggest emitter of CO2.
Synthetic Fuel for Planes: Long-distance airplane flights can be powered by synthetic fuels. Tesla says, “Longer distance flights, estimated as 80% of air travel energy consumption can be powered by synthetic fuels generated from excess renewable electricity leveraging the Fischer-Tropsch process, which uses a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) to synthesize a wide variety of liquid hydrocarbons, and has been demonstrated as a viable pathway for synthetic jet fuel synthesis.”
Power for Homes, Businesses and Industry
Two residential air source heat pumps
You may be familiar with heat pumps. Heat pumps are already in use in many homes, apartments and commercial buildings as well as in many industrial processes.
Instead of generating heat, like a gas furnace or boiler does, a heat pump uses electricity to move heat from one place to another. Because they’re not generating heat, heat pumps are highly efficient and use much less energy than a furnace or a boiler!
Heat pumps transfer heat using a system that’s similar to a refrigerator or an air conditioning unit. In the summer, they keep buildings cool by absorbing heat inside and releasing it outdoors. In the winter, the process is reversed and the heat pump is able to absorb heat from the outside and bring it indoors.
I just learned that gas furnace heating systems can be retrofitted with air source heat pumps. Tesla says, “Air source heat pumps are the most suitable technology for retrofitting gas furnaces in existing homes,” and “Gas furnaces create heat by burning natural gas. They have an annual fuel utilization efficiency of ~90%. Therefore, heat pumps use ~3x less energy than gas furnaces.”
Power for Massive Industrial Processes
In everyday life we don’t think about the energy it takes to produce many of the things we use daily. This area of Master Plan Part 3 addresses clean energy for industrial processes.
Tesla explains that “Industrial processes up to ~200C, such as food, paper, textile and wood industries can benefit from the efficiency gains offered by heat pumps.”
Some industrial processes require temperatures above 200C such as steel, chemical, fertilizer and cement production and this is where Tesla explains the power of electric resistance heating, electric arc furnaces and thermal storage.
Most of the steel production industry in the USA today uses electric arc furnaces. Master Plan 3 goes into great detail about thermal storage. I would summarize this by saying there are multiple ways to store thermal energy and Tesla shows them all and specifically details water, molten salt and air.
Tesla also links to a wonderful explanation of thermal energy storage using carbon blocks by Antora Energy and a paper by Sandia National Labs that explains, “sensible thermal storage includes storing heat in liquids such as molten salts and in solids such as concrete blocks, rocks, or sand-like particles.”
Thermal energy stored in carbon blocks. Image courtesy Antora Energy.
Green Hydrogen Production and Storage
Hydrogen is needed for powering steel and fertilizer production. But the catch is that hydrogen is produced from coal, oil and natural gas. Master Plan 3 has a solution for that. Tesla explains, “Green hydrogen can be produced via the electrolysis of water (high energy intensity, no carbon-containing products consumed/produced) or via methane pyrolysis (lower energy intensity, produces a solid carbon-black byproduct that could be converted into useful carbon-based products).”
Storage of Green Hydrogen will be important and I really like the Master Plan 3 solution to this:
“Underground gas storage facilities used today for natural gas storage can be retrofitted for hydrogen storage; the modeled U.S. hydrogen storage requires ~30% of existing U.S. underground gas storage facilities.” – Master Plan 3
An underground gas storage facility in California
Power Needed To Build The Sustainable Energy Economy
Achieving Master Plan 3 will require about 4 Petawatt-hour/year (PWh/year) of sustainable power to manufacture the batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines which are required. This shows us how comprehensive Master Plan 3 is and that it sets realistic and achievable expectations. I had to look up Petawatt, and it is a unit of power measurement system where 1 Petawatt = 1015 watts. Petawatt-hours are large enough to conveniently express the annual electricity generation for whole countries and the world energy consumption.
What a Fully Sustainable Energy Economy Looks Like
Master Plan 3 pages 13-17 are an in-depth model of a fully sustainable energy economy in the USA. There are 6 graphs/tables that detail things like energy demand, energy capacity, demand in various regions of the USA, solar energy curtailment and seasonal hydrogen storage needs. My favorite graphic in this section is Table 3, it shows wind and solar average historical capacity factor and fully electrified economy demand by region.
Wind and solar average historical capacity factor, and fully electrified economy demand by region, Image courtesy Tesla Master Plan Part 3.
Regarding Investor’s Day, Elon Musk emphasized that it was a message for the people and life of Earth.
“Looking forward to Tesla Investor Day on March 1. By this, we mean the broadest definition of investor, as in the people & life of Earth. It will be a message of good hope & positivity for the future.” – Elon Musk
Electrification Demand In The USA And In The World
Master Plan Part 3 is for the entire world and to estimate the world’s needs for power generation and storage needs, Tesla simplified the process by scaling the USA resource mix 6 times.
“Applying the 6 steps to the world’s energy flow would displace all 125 PWh/year of fossil fuels used for energy use and replace them with 66 PWh/year of sustainably generated electricity.” – Tesla Master Plan Part 3
Cathode Components Needed for Batteries for Vehicles, Ships, and Planes
This is a delightful part of Master Plan Part 3 because Tesla revealed some details about three products under development. These are the Compact car, Commercial/Passenger Van, and the Tesla Bus!
For batteries, Tesla says standard-range vehicles can utilize the lower energy density chemistries (LFP), whereas long-range vehicles require higher energy density chemistries (high nickel).
Vehicle Fleet Breakdown. Image courtesy Tesla, Master Plan Part 3
Master Plan 3 shows that long-range ships will need a higher density Nickel and Manganese-based cathode while short-range ships will require a lower energy density LFP cathode.
20% of the Airplane fleet flies short range and that portion can be electrified with 7MWh packs with High Nickle cathodes.
How much Investment is required?
Pages 26-29 of Master Plan 3 on investment needed for manufacturing facilities, mining and refining operations are fascinating to study. If you want details please see Tesla’s tables 12 and 13a,b and c.
The biggest takeaway from this section is that a sustainable energy economy is 60% the cost of continuing fossil fuel investments!
Investment Comparison. Image courtesy Tesla, Master Plan Part 3
Amount of Land Area needed
At first, I thought Tesla’s Table 14 on page 30 was missing something! As you can see below, the total land needed to power our world with solar and wind is tiny! Tesla says, “The global solar panel fleet of 18.3TeraWatts will require roughly 71.4 million acres or 0.19% of the total 36.8 billion acres global land area.” For wind, “the global wind turbine fleet of 12.2TW will require an estimated 9.2 million acres or 0.02% of total land area.”
Solar and Wind Direct Land Area. Image courtesy Tesla, Master Plan Part 3
What Materials Are Required to Power and Connect the Grid?
The last section of Master Plan Part 3 contains about 10 tables/figures that list and detail the various materials and tonnage required for solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, transmission and generation as well as what is needed to build the approximately 60 million circuit miles that will need to be added or reconductored globally to achieve a fully sustainable, electrified global economy.
My favorite exhibit in this last section is Figure 18, which shows the global minerals reserve/resource base and how public perception often falsely thinks that the global reserve of minerals will be seriously depleted. In reality, global reserves will increase as the figure demonstrates.
Tesla explains, “Resources and Reserves have historically increased – that is, when a mineral is in demand, there is more incentive to look for it and more is discovered.”
Global Minerals Reserve/Resource base – Correcting Public Perception. Image courtesy Tesla Master Plan Part 3.
CONCLUSION
My experience renting in California in my college days in the 1990’s was always with gas furnaces in old buildings and looking back I think they were never created to be a long-term heating solution. I think they were a fast “track home” solution (70-80 years ago) created to incorporate a limited resource (gas) that will run out. Some sources say natural gas will run out by about the year 2100 and others give it less time. New buildings in California and elsewhere are still being built with gas furnaces, in fact California subsidies that incentivized builders to install gas lines to new buildings were common and are being phased out this year (2023).
The reason I mention my trivial story is that we all have experience with energy. It is part of all our daily lives. I’ll leave you with this statement from Elon Musk about Master Plan 3:
“It’s about scaling. How do we scale? How do we get to that fully sustainable energy economy? And what tonnage do we need of what materials? And what is maybe the best way to get all of those materials and turn them into batteries? But the fundamental governor of the rate at which we can transition to sustainability is the rate at which we can grow the output of lithium-ion batteries.” – Elon Musk discussing Master Plan Part 3 on Johnna Crider’s Podcast
Austin Q2 Stadium. Image courtesy Aerial Austin.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – April 8, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. I write this and all my articles myself without the use of AI/ChatGPT.
Tesla Solar and Megapacks. Image courtesy Tesla, Inc.
In Part #1 of this series, I wrote about how Master Plan 3 was created for the investor.
The term “investor” was clarified by Elon Musk to mean “the broadest definition of investor, as in the people & life of Earth.” We read about how our current energy economy is dirty and wasteful. This is true because over 80% of global energy still comes from fossil fuels. Shockingly only ⅓ of that energy delivers useful work or heat. A sustainable energy economy is within reach and we can and should accelerate it. A beautiful, clean, and fully sustainable energy economy can be achieved quickly and in this article, you will read about how in the words of Elon Musk. All quotes are from Investor Day on March 1 at Gigafactory Texas in Austin.
Make your next car electric
Ultra Red Tesla Model S. Image courtesy Tesla, Inc.
On March 1, 2023, Elon Musk stood onstage next to Drew Baglino [Director Tesla powertrain], with the production floor of Gigafactory Texas in the background. The small audience of approximately 250 people, some of whom traveled from abroad to come to Austin, gave their full attention as Elon Musk explained,
“We are going to walk through the calculations for how to create a sustainable energy civilization.
Sometimes I want to elaborate because there’s a very wide range of technical expertise out there from people who are like, you know, level nine wizards in the subject to people who do not do engineering at all.
So if you have a gasoline car, you’re converting less than a third, often maybe only 25% of the energy in the gasoline is converted into motion and the rest is turned into wasted heat that doesn’t do any good at all.
There’s a lot of energy required even to get through all of the ground to refine the oil and to transport the gasoline to the gas station. So when you look at all that, a typical gasoline car is actually going to be using less than 20%, fully considered, of the energy from the oil that actually goes into motion.
So when we see people doing calculations for what does it take to create a sustainable energy earth, they assume that the same energy amount is required for an electrified civilization versus a combustion civilization.
This is not true, because most of the energy of combustion is waste heat.”
Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc. Slide: Our Current State versus a Sustainable Energy Economy
Drew Baglino added that a sustainable energy economy is easier to accomplish than a fossil fuel economy, “it’s actually half the problem statement of the fossil fuel economy.” Elon Musk, often making eye contact with his audience via live stream as well as engaging with the people attending in person, carefully explained,
“We’re being conservative here so it could be better than half. We’re trying to have assumptions that are reasonable and not overly optimistic, in fact, slightly pessimistic.
It’s really better than half but it’s easy to make the argument that we need half as much energy with an electric economy versus a combustion economy.”
How Master Plan 3 works
Image courtesy Tesla, Inc. Slide: “A Sustainable Energy Economy Is Within Reach & We Should Accelerate It”
Elon Musk is known for his ability to simplify complicated things. Famous for his first principles approach, he explained the need for battery storage,
“So I think that what is needed at a very large scale that’s not currently present is a vast amount of battery energy storage. Our rough calculations are that this is about 240 Terawatt hours or 240,000 Gigawatt hours.
This is a lot of batteries but it is actually a very achievable amount. We will go into details on that. So that’s a combination of electric vehicles and stationary storage. If you’ve got solar or wind, you’ve got to store the energy when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining, so we are assuming an 8:1 ratio of stored energy to power. So 30 Terawatt hours of power. Our actual capital expenditure calculation for manufacturing investment is more like 6 trillion but we made it higher to make it 10 trillion.
If you look at the total world economy it’s just under 100 trillion, so if this was spread out say over 10 years it would be 1% of the global economy. Over 20 years, it would be half a percent of the global economy. So this is not a big number relative to the global economy.
As Drew (Baglino) mentioned, you need about ½ as much energy with an electric economy versus a combustion economy. And in terms of wind and solar, how much land would be used? It’s less than .2% of the land area of earth. I think generally people don’t realize how much energy is reaching us from the sun. It’s roughly a Gigawatt per square kilometer. And the sun doesn’t shine all the time but if you multiply that by 4 to get the continuous power, 4 or 5, that gives you the land area of solar. And you can put wind and solar often in the same place so in a lot of places that currently have wind, you could put solar there and you double your energy.
You could put solar [or wind as Drew Baglino mentioned] offshore. Earth is 70% water. The point is that with a remarkably small amount of earth’s land area, we can go fully sustainable.”
Drew Baglino explained that our earth has abundant resources to accomplish a sustainable energy economy. Elon Musk, sharing a hopeful and optimistic message, said, “To emphasize that again, the electrified economy will require less mining than the current economy does. Less. not more.”
“To emphasize that again, the electrified economy will require less mining than the current economy does. Less. not more.” Elon Musk
In the next article in this Multi-Part series, we will start to look at the 5 areas that will need work in order to eliminate fossil fuels. Tesla shared a preview in a slide that also showed how much each area will reduce fossil fuel use. With 35%, the largest area is to “renewably power the existing grid.” Switching to heat pumps and to electric vehicles are the 2nd and 3rd largest areas.
Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc. Slide: The Plan To Eliminate Fossil Fuels
A sustainable energy economy on Mars
Elon Musk is in his element when discussing rockets! He enthusiastically shares,
“My personal opinion is that as we improve the energy density of the batteries, you’ll see all transportation go fully electric, with the exception of rockets. That’s awkward, but you can make the fuel with CO₂ and water!
You can make methane with CO₂ and water. In fact, on Mars, if we hopefully get there at some point, the atmosphere is CO₂ and there’s water ice throughout Mars so you can take the CO₂ and H2O and turn that into CH₄ which is Methane and Oxygen.
So ultimately even rockets can be electrified.”
CONCLUSION
Empowering the world to choose sustainable energy options is within reach. With the existing technology, an affordable, reliable electric vehicle movement can take place with battery storage systems that can save and harness energy from sources like solar and wind. It’s an achievable goal – one that allows us to switch from a highly destructive fossil fuel industry to a much cleaner, kinder energy model. The investment will be well worth it, as this shift could create a healthier society with far less harmful pollutants in the air. In short, it’s now or never; let’s make this switch. Investing in clean energy not only aligns with our personal economic goals but builds towards a more balanced and stable relationship between humans and nature. I believe a beautiful, clean, and fully sustainable energy economy can be achieved quickly!
Gail Alfar, Author, Military Veteran. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – March 18, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
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Did you watch Tesla Investor Day on March 1 live from Gigafactory Texas in Austin? Master Plan 3 was created for the investor and Elon Musk said he meant “the broadest definition of investor, as in the people & life of Earth. It will be a message of good hope & positivity for the future.”
This article is part 1 of a series that will examine the message of good hope and positivity for the future. The “investor” is considered the people & life of Earth instead of only retail and institutional investors.
The People of Earth
You may have heard Elon Musk explain how our earth is like a small vulnerable candle in vast darkness and that we must not let that candle blow out. Each of the 8 billion people who are alive today has a unique story and their life is amazing. The generations that come after yours can live in a clean beautiful future. Master Plan 3 explains how to make this a reality.
The Life of Earth
The life of earth takes on many forms as depicted in the header picture of this article. All life should be preserved so the earth can remain healthy. Non-human life forms need us humans to work to preserve them. It is easy to destroy the earth and we should stop doing so. Tesla shared a picture of our current state and this is what needs to change to protect the life of earth.
Our energy economy is dirty & wasteful. Image courtesy Tesla.
Message of Good Hope
Stamped Tesla car parts, courtesy Tesla, Inc.
No one feels great after listening to a message of doom and gloom. If we want to inspire the young generation to raise a family then the older generations can start by sharing a message of good hope.
Tesla shared a pretty gloomy photo at the start of Investor’s day of our current dirty and wasteful energy economy that leads to a polluted world and the goal is to change humanity from depending on fossil fuels to one of clean-energy use exclusively.
Tesla also shared what seemed like an infinite number of stamped vehicle body parts. I was first hit with how cool and artistic it looked and then later I was hit with the message that Tesla may one day be able to create limitless vehicles that are affordable for people to own or ride in. What a message of good hope this really is!
The new Gigafactory in Mexico will build a new vehicle that is expected to be a huge volume product.
Elon Musk highlighted the challenges, which may explain why Mexico was selected for the next gigafactory,
“Demand for our vehicles, in terms of desire to own them may as well be infinite, it’s indistinguishable from infinite at this point.
The affordability is what matters so as you make the car more affordable we will have to amend go crazy basically. The hard part is building the cars. I can’t emphasize that enough.
The hard part is building the cars and the entire supply chain that goes with the cars. this is a logistics challenge of extraordinary difficulty.
All the things that have to go into the car have to scale with the car while everything is doing an exponential ramp and if you miss even one of those things — and, it doesn’t matter why, earthquake, fire, revolution, I thought I’ve heard them all! If any part of that supply chain gets interrupted, then you have a seizure.
The hard part is building the cars in the supply chain that goes with it.” Elon Musk
Gigafactory Mexico is a message of hope that Tesla will be able to build affordable vehicles faster and at greater volume.
Tesla has the magnificent support of the government of Nuevo León, Mexico and Mexico is home to many automotive clusters that have grown up throughout the country as a way to more effectively support local manufacturers through economies of scale.
Message of Positivity for the Future
Positivity means you have an optimistic attitude. Master Plan 3 is achievable. It is fitting that the Tesla HQ is in Texas. Texans are known for having a “CAN DO” attitude. Elon Musk said,
“The thing that is needed at a very large scale, that’s not currently present, is a vast amount of battery energy storage.
Our rough calculations is that this is about 240 TeraWatt hours — 240,000 GigaWatt hours. It is actually a lot of batteries, but it is actually a very achievable amount that’s a combination of electric vehicles and stationary storage.” Elon Musk
Elon and the Tesla team explain how battery storage can be achieved and I’m going to add that it will create endless job opportunities so the road it takes to get to a clean energy future is a bright one. I will write more about this in Part 2 of this series.
Master Plan 3
On the live stream, Elon spoke about the most important message, Master Plan 3,
“There is a clear path to a sustainable energy Earth.
It doesn’t require destroying natural habitats.
It doesn’t require us to be austere and stop using electricity and be in the cold or anything.
The story, and I think this holds together quite well – it will be actually published in a detailed white paper with all of our assumptions and calculations — is that there is a clear path to a fully sustainable earth with abundance.
In fact, you could support a civilization much bigger than Earth and much more than the 8 billion humans could actually be supported sustainably on Earth.
I am often just shocked and surprised by how few people realize this. Most of the smart people I know actually don’t see a clear path, they think that there’s not a path to a sustainable energy future or at least there’s not one that is sustainable at our current population or that we have to resort to extreme measures. none of this is true.
So we are going to walk through the calculations for how to create a sustainable energy civilization.”
Elon Musk
A Sustainable Energy Economy is Within Reach & We Should Accelerate It. Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc.
To be continued…
In my next article, I’ll write more in depth about Master Plan 3 and how it affects you and future generations. Please subscribe to my blog to get a notice of when my articles publish.
Tesla Semi and Model S 3 X Y make an appearance at Investor Day. Image courtesy Jeff Roberts.
Gail Alfar, Author, Military Veteran. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – March 5, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
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Elon Musk talks about an exciting future. Image courtesy Tesla, Inc.
On March 1st, Tesla hosts Investor Day at Giga Texas in Austin and it will be livestreamed for everyone to watch. But this won’t be your typical investor event. According to CEO Elon Musk, this is an event for investors in earth—a chance to learn how we can all make a difference and create a fully sustainable energy future. It’s time to have optimism and hope for the future!
Tesla is leading the way in accelerating earth towards sustainability, with electric cars that are a pleasure to drive, solar roofs that can strengthen the power grid and massive battery storage. But what else does Elon Musk have up his sleeve? If you want to get a glimpse of Tesla’s vision of the future, then you’ll want to watch the Investor Day livestream on March 1st. It will begin at 3 pm CT and here’s a link to Tesla’s Livestream!
At Investor’s Day, Tesla says, “Our investors will be able to see our most advanced production line as well as discuss long term expansion plans, generation 3 platform, capital allocation and other subjects with our leadership team.”
Tesla Investor Day agenda (March 1):
11:00am – event check-in
11:00am – 2:45pm – Factory Tours and Plaid Demo Rides
3:00 – 4:30pm – Keynotes (livestream)
4:30 – 5:30pm – Q & A (livestream)
5:30 – 7:00pm – Meet & Greet
Elon Musk’s Master Plan 3 is highly anticipated by people around the world. Thus far, Elon has shared,
“Looking forward to Tesla Investor Day on March 1. By this, we mean the broadest definition of investor, as in the people & life of Earth. It will be a message of good hope & positivity for the future.” Elon Musk
Master Plan 3, the path to a fully sustainable energy future for Earth will be presented on March 1.
Tesla has been expanding its presence outside of just cars; their projects like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics will help automate processes within factories so humans can focus on more creative tasks. Tesla is also constantly improving and developing batteries that store clean energy for use when renewable sources aren’t available—like at night or when there’s no wind —so we can still have access to clean energy even during stormy days or calm winds.
I believe Tesla has the best plans on the planet for sustainable energy production and I think we all possess a collective ability to make the world a better place through renewable energy sources like solar and wind power. I know we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and that we’ll live to see the world switch from gas-powered vehicles to electric ones.
This Investor Day is sure to inspire hope in many for a bright future! Join Elon Musk on March 1st on the livestream as he talks about his vision of a sustainable future 100% powered by clean energy — and find out what other innovative projects Tesla has in store for us!
We should all take heed of Musk’s advice and believe in a bright future. After all, if we don’t believe it ourselves first, who will? Let’s join together and create a brighter tomorrow starting today!
Gail Alfar, Author, Military Veteran. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – February 28, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
Cybertrucks (lots of them!) on the roads are essential for Tesla’s mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.
As we await delivery of first Cybertrucks, it’s worth looking at the ecosystem forming in anticipation. This article takes us on a journey into our future cyberworld and looks at,
Travel, hunting and camping applications
Military, law enforcement & apocalypse mods
Artistic expressions
Travel, camping and hunting applications
Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc.
Tesla has people excited with their beautiful render of a camping addition. Camping enthusiasts are ready to reserve this the moment Tesla makes it available.
Cybertruck Hunting mode has been suggested, “One of the things I’m really looking forward to in my CT is hunting Elk on southern Montana public lands. My dad’s truck was modified to disable all lights (interior, headlights, brake lights, blinkers, etc., with the flip of a couple of switches. Has anyone given any thought as to what a “Hunting Mode” might do? It would be great if all lights could be disabled from the control screen, and the screen itself dimmed, once you were off road.” (Michael Jorge, Cybertruck owners club)
StreamIt, Inc. created the CyberLandr, a retractable camping add-on that has solar panels mounted on top allowing you to stay off the grid for days. The Green Product Award went to this American company for creating a distinguished product in sustainability, innovation & design. For information regarding CyberLandr visit https://cyberlandr.com/features.
Image of CyberLandr courtesy StreamIt, Inc.
One South African company is already putting a Cyber-inspired camper-trailer on the road. Edgeout won the Red Dot Design Award 2022 in the category Product Design. Red Dot jury panel said, “With its innovative construction and distinctive exterior design, the EdgeOut conveys robustness and mobility,”
Edgeout camper-trailer
Military, law enforcement and apocalypse technology
Police forces in Mexico and the United Arab Emirates placed early reservations for Cybertruck.
San Luis Potos, Mexico with its 2.8 million people may enjoy 15 Cybertrucks for local law enforcement and logistics. Cybertruck is “common sense,” – Adrian Esper Cardenas, Mayor
When Adrian Esper Cardenas announced the purchase of 15 Cybertrucks the media questioned the maintenance of the vehicles, to which the mayor pointed out that maintenance costs are “zero.” Cardenas assured the press that if an engine fails, the guarantee will be applied for replacement; If a headlight breaks, you can order it online. “It’s very easy,” he said.
Jay Leno asks Elon: "But why make it bullet proof...?"
Elon to Jay: "Do you want your Cybertruck to be bullet proof or not?"
Jay: "Yea, I guess I do want my Cybertruck to be bullet proof!"
Military applications are natural for Cybertruck. The dreamer in me imagines Giga Texas with an underground facility where apocalypse, combat ready and law enforcement Cybertrucks with accompanying drones are assembled. Tougher wheels and suspension are needed for these applications.
“… the body panels are bulletproof to a handgun so it’s probably helpful in the apocalypse. Let me tell you, the truck you want in the apocalypse is the Cybertruck. We wish to be the leader in apocalypse technology.” Elon Musk
Cybertruck Heavy Duty. Image courtesy Z AV Design
CyberMonster, safe loading and artistic expressions
Monstertruck owners make up a small but enthusiastic market. Expect to see websites that will guide you on the best ways to convert Cybertruck into CyberMonster.
Remote control monster Cybertrucks available now on amazon
Ramp for safety and practicality
Cybertruck ramp image courtesy Tesla, Inc.
Tesla makes safety a top priority and loading truck beds is difficult and dangerous. Cybertruck reduces the chance of injury with a retractable ramp and elevated front suspension. Tesla says,
“Raise and lower suspension four inches in either direction for easy access to Cybertruck or the vault, while self-leveling capabilities adapt to any occasion and assist with every job.”
“Every job” will include harp transportation,
“Harp transportation! Our daughter plays the harp. It’s big, it needs to be wrapped up and put on a hand truck every time we move it (multiple times a week for practices). When I saw that ramp off the back, and the size of the bed confirmed it would be large enough….. that’s when my pre-order went in. It will save my back.” (reddit user MotorFloating)
“Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy. Needs be able to get from Starbase to South Padre Island, which requires crossing the channel.” Elon Musk
My take is that Tesla needs to get Cybertrucks on road fast as possible by scaling production for hundreds of thousands of eager reservation holders. This will greatly accelerate Tesla’s mission. I believe people will receive a high-quality utility vehicle that will be open to many aftermarket modifications.
An ecosystem is starting in anticipation of Cybertruck and will get bigger as people take delivery. This article covered fantasy mods and practical ones that can be reserved or purchased now. If you know of an accessory or mod that I should include, please let me know!
Gail Alfar, Author, Military Veteran. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – February 12, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
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Welcome back to What’s Up Tesla. I hope you are doing great. I live in Austin, Texas and this week we are recovering from a severe ice storm. Many people are still without power as I write this article. Austin’s power relied on having a stable connection to the Texas grid and when ice layers built up on the Live Oak trees it caused banches to break and this led to downed power lines. Yes, many of our power lines are still above the ground and one solution would be for the city to install below-the-ground power lines. Another solution is for large apartment buildings and housing developments to become self-sufficient through the use of solar power backed by battery storage (Tesla Solar and Powerwalls).
Sometimes instead of talking about all these problems, I like to kick back and talk about a future with Cybertruck! This article explores why it’s so good, in fact, it’s mentally healthy to anticipate the delivery of Cybertruck.
When can we expect Cybertruck to be delivered?
Several indications point to Cybertruck deliveries later this year with rapid scaled production in 2024. I say this because Elon Musk has extraordinary talent at scaling production and he led Tesla in scaling Model Y production in the USA, China and Berlin. His investment in Cybertruck is massive and the 9000 ton Giga Press at Tesla in Austin built exclusively for Cybertruck castings is just a fraction of that investment.
Tesla’s 9000 ton Cybertruck Giga Press (shown here being assembled) rests in Austin at Gigafactory Texas. Photo courtesy Joe Tegtmeyer.
“Giga Texas is a $10B+ investment over time, generating at least 20k direct & 100k indirect jobs” – Elon Musk on Twitter
Why anticipating delivery of Cybertruck is good for us
In a statement from the National Institute of Health,
“Anticipation, paying attention to the upcoming stimulus predicted by a contextual cue (Bermpohl et al., 2006), has important implications in human well-being and mental health. Anticipation confers important evolutionary benefits to human beings. Specifically, expecting the forthcoming events allow active preparations in cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies (Grupe et al., 2013), which ensure survival in the changing and potential challenging environment (Gilbert and Wilson, 2007). Furthermore, the deficits of anticipation of future experience have been associated with extreme low levels of well-being, such as depression (MacLeod and Byrne, 1996; Abler et al., 2007) and anxiety (Nitschke et al., 2009; Boehme et al., 2014; Heitmann et al., 2014)” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5767250/#sec-1title
In short, anticipation is often as valuable as the actual end experience. For example, there are tens of thousands of people who are excited by the prospect of humans one day going to Mars. It is truly important to be able to wake up in the morning and be excited about the future. SpaceX’s Starship mission to Mars accomplishes this for many people. Likewise so does the excitement of Cybertruck. Elon Musk said,
“You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great – and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.” -Elon Musk
What Will You Do with Your Cybertruck?
Every so often I see somebody ask on Twitter how many Cybertrucks they have on order or what they plan to do with their Cybertruck(s). Here are some of the comments seen on Twitter,
“Work on the farm and hauling cattle.” – Justin Owens
“Stare at it parked in my driveway, sitting in a camping chair drinking a home brew.” – Rich
“Use as an everyday car and haul garden things.” – Richard
“I will definitely have to up my clothes game to drive that f*cker. The Crocs are right out. Black tee shirt in.” – Todd Gunter
“Showed my wife a pic of the Cybertruck… her reply “buy one” looks like we’ll be adding another Tesla to the garage” – Kobayashi Maru
“I can’t bear the wait, it is painful. This product is so sick, even more than Model X. Happy to be one of the first to get this masterpiece. All variations are secured (with FSD): TM, DM, RWD.” – Green Power
When Cybertruck sightings occur, hundreds of people begin to analyze the changes they notice. Everybody is excited about what the final product will look like. In the most recent sighting there were changes noted in the rearview mirrors and lighting. Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter that Cybertruck will have a solid red lightbar in the rear. Owners can remove the new triangular shaped rearview mirrors after purchase.
There is a period of time when different styles of windshield wipers were spotted. This led to extensive speculation and a lot of outspoken views on why people did or did not like the large solo windshield wiper.
My thought is that as we get closer to Cybertruck deliveries this year there will be many Cybertruck sightings which will fill people with more anticipation and excitement. My other take is that Cybertruck will continue to evolve and improve over time so it’s exciting to think that the longer somebody waits to take delivery, the more refined the product will be!
In addition to Cyber anticipation, Tesla investors day is on March 1, and there’s a possibility that a new product will be announced which will lead to more anticipation!
Cybertruck on Mars, Unknown Artist
CONCLUSION
Research shows that it is beneficial to anticipate things like an upcoming wedding, birth, vacation, job change or major life shift.
It is important to our well being and survival, “Specifically, expecting the forthcoming events allow active preparations in cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies (Grupe et al., 2013), which ensure survival in the changing and potential challenging environment (Gilbert and Wilson, 2007). Furthermore, the deficits of anticipation of future experience have been associated with extreme low levels of well-being, such as depression (MacLeod and Byrne, 1996; Abler et al., 2007) and anxiety (Nitschke et al., 2009; Boehme et al., 2014; Heitmann et al., 2014)”
If you are anticipating Cybertruck with excitement, this is a very good thing. I think Cybertruck will be a major life shift for many people. There are plans set in motion that people have for where they will park their Cybertruck, what they will do with their Cybertruck(s), how they will use Cybertrucks for their business and how they will travel and have adventures off-road in the vehicle.
Additionally, it is exciting to talk about the science-fiction attributes of the vehicle. I love discussing the possibility of the vehicle being on Mars or used in a zombie apocalypse or in fantastical military situations. If I tallied up all the hours that I thought about these things or talked about these things, it would be in the hundreds of hours. It’s provided me and my family with endless conversation and laughter.
Austin Ice Storm, February 1, 2023. Photo courtesy Shane Ware.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – February 5, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
Elon Musk talks at Tesla Semi Event. Image Courtesy Teslavangelist.
On December 1, Tesla held an event in Sparks, near Gigafactory Nevada. The event was attended by Semi customers (industry professionals) and Tesla shareholders by invite only. Attendees were treated to a tour of the Semi production line and could speak with engineers who built the Semi. They were invited to walk into the cabin of a Semi and meet Elon Musk onstage. Elon handed over keys personally to Ramon Laguarta, CEO of Pepsi and Steven Williams, CEO PepsiCo Foods, and the crowd went wild! In this article, I’ll highlight Elon’s vision for the Semi, share some exclusive photos of the event with you, and answer,
What will a Semi cost?
How far will the Semi go and how much can it carry?
Where do you charge it and how long does it take?
Tesla Semi Event: People tour production line and speak to engineers. Image Courtesy Arash Malek.
Elon Musk’s Vision for the Tesla Semi
Elon explained that although combination trucks account for only 1% of US vehicles sold, they account for 20% of US vehicle emissions, and an astonishing 36% of US vehicle particulate emissions. This is because these trucks are huge vehicles, which are being driven all the time,
“People might wonder, Why build a semi-truck? Because if you look at the actual unit volume, it’s small compared to passenger vehicles, so for passenger vehicles, it’s on the order of almost 100,000,000 that are sold every year. whereas for semi trucks, it’s four or 500,000 (globally).
In the USA there are probably like 15 million passenger vehicles and a couple 100,000 semi trucks, so it seems like a small percentage, but, it’s actually 20% of US vehicle emissions because you’ve got a huge vehicle and it’s being driven all the time.
So when you factor in the number of hours driven, and the weight that is carried, it’s actually, although it’s only 1% of vehicle production, it’s 20% of vehicle emissions. and it’s over 1/3 of all particulate emissions. From a sort of health standpoint, particularly in cities, this is a huge impact, like, it’s gigantic. So, that’s why we’re doing it!
In addition to climate change, and global warming matters it’s also quiet and it’s going to improve the quality of your air and it will actually just fundamentally improve the health of people living near freeways which is obviously sort of a big deal.
We’re aiming to cover all major forms of transport, it’s consistent with the Tesla mission because sometimes we get asked, shouldn’t Tesla just produce fast cars or premium cars or whatever? But what’s our actual mission? The actual mission is to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. That’s why we’re making this wide range of cars that don’t really make sense from a brand standpoint I guess, traditionally. But they make total sense when you consider what’s the mission of the company.
The mission of the company is to accelerate sustainable energy. So it’s super consistent with that goal and really a crucial piece of the puzzle, and that’s why we’re doing it.”
Elon continued, “It looks sick, I mean you want to drive that, I mean that thing looks like it came from the future. I mean it drives like a, it’s like driving a Tesla, literally! And it’s fun, it looks awesome, and you know there’s actually a big shortage of drivers, and so if you are a truck driver and you want the most badass rig on the road, this is it! It’s a beast!”
Flashback to December 14, 2017. Elon Musk steps out of Semi after driving it onstage. Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc.
What will a Semi cost?
In 2017, Tesla offered the Semi (with a 500-mile range) for $180,000 and currently, Tesla offers a link to get updates on the Semi and does not take new reservations at this time. The cost, when the Semi becomes widely available, should be expected to be higher than the price offered in 2017. What do you think it will cost?
How far will the Semi go and how much can it carry?
In a test run video, the Tesla Semi was shown carrying 82,000 pounds and driving up an incline while passing a struggling traditional diesel semi. According to Tesla, the Class 8 Semi’s range per charge is between 300 and 500 miles when fully loaded at 82,000 lbs. Federal limits are 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, and battery-electric trucks are granted an extra ton through the Consolidated Appropriations Act (2019) by the Federal Highway Administration. Tesla built the Semi in an aerodynamic bullet shape in order to decrease the drag coefficient. The is .36 which is about half of a conventional diesel truck. The Semi’s energy consumption is stunning at less than 2 kWh/mile.
Semi is built like a bullet, not a barn wall—optimized for efficiency. Image Courtesy Tesla, Inc.
Where do you charge it and how long does it take?
The Semi will charge at 1 Megawatt chargers (V4), supported by Megapacks in some cases, (V3 chargers, for Tesla’s other vehicles are ~324 kW). Dan Priestley, Lead Semi Engineer, explained these V4 chargers will be coming to Tesla Superchargers next year. Cybertrucks will also be capable of charging at V4s. Charging time will be fast due to Tesla’s new V4 charging cable, created exclusively for Semi and Cybertruck.
Tesla’s new V4 Charging cable. Courtesy Tesla, Inc.
My take is V4 megachargers may be installed next year at Superchargers that are already located where diesel trucks fill up. Tesla has already built Superchargers at Buc-ee’s in over 26 stores in 7 states. I also estimate that charging will take around the same time it takes for a driver to take a break, eat, use the restroom, etc. (around 30 minutes).
Tesla Semi Test Run graphic, Courtesy Tesla, Inc. see Tesla Semi Delivery Event
Looking at the above graphic, notice how regenerative braking is almost able to nullify the presence of hills. The efficiency of the entire 500-mile run is almost the same as the efficiency over the flat part of the journey.
Regen braking will add to safety and eliminate crashes like the one that happened in the 2019 Lakewood semi truck crash near Denver and led to the horrifying death of 4 people (and 10 injuries). If you are not familiar, here’s the link to a video of a man who was near the runaway diesel semi when it happened.
Dan Priestley explained, “So any highway grade you come across, you can tackle at speed, there’s no compromise, and the other beauty is you’ve got all this power coming up but you also have it going down and what that means, is, you’ve got regenerative braking so, rather than using a jig brake or an engine brake like a diesel truck does, you don’t have to worry about hitting your shifts. If you miss a gear, you’re onto your brakes and a potential runaway situation. You don’t have to worry about any of that. There’s no shifting, no nothing, and so the regen recaptures all that energy as you’re going down these grades, but on top of it, it’s also a safer system for not just the driver, but also everybody on the road because there’s no gear to miss.”
Another safety asset exclusive to the Semi are a collection of three cameras on each rear view mirror. See a closeup photo by Brandonee916 of this below taken at the event.
Close up of a Tesla Semi rear view mirror. Three cameras mounted in various positions. Image Courtesy Brandonee916.
CONCLUSION
Elon Musk stated, “The mission of the company is to accelerate sustainable energy. So it’s (the Semi) super consistent with that goal and really a crucial piece of the puzzle, and that’s why we’re doing it.”
Building a Semi is crucial because although combination trucks account for only 1% of US vehicles sold, they account for 20% of US vehicle emissions, and an astonishing 36% of US vehicle particulate emissions.
The cost for the Semi in 2017 was $180,000 for the 500-mile range version. Tesla has not posted the cost for future orders and is not taking reservations on the website at this time for this high-demand tractor.
Semi will travel from 300 to 500 miles on a full charge and be capable of carrying the maximum load allowed by law, which is 82,000 pounds. Tesla built the Semi in an aerodynamic bullet shape in order to significantly decrease the drag coefficient. The Semi’s energy consumption is stunning at less than 2 kWh/mile.
Tesla Semi will charge at 1 Megawatt chargers (V4) which will come to Superchargers next year. My take is they will be built at locations like Buc-ee’s where trucks fill for diesel. In addition, the battery regains energy on declines through regenerative braking, and, in the words of Dan Priestley, “There’s no shifting, no nothing, and so the regen recaptures all that energy as you’re going down these grades.”
5 Takeaways from Tesla’s 2022 Shareholder Meeting: Step into Tesla’s Cyber Roundup event at Giga Texas! It was held in August, 2022 and features exclusive pictures. I was able to attend the event and report on it firsthand!
Guests at Tesla Semi Event were treated to a S 3 X Y vehicle lineup! Image Courtesy Teslavangelist.
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – December 4, 2022. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. Thank you to Drive Tesla Canada for their reporting on V3 Supercharging and to Arash Malek for his insight on the Tesla Semi Delivery Event, you can view his video here.
Come along for 3.45 minutes to the Tesla Semi Event. Video Courtesy of Arash Malek, founder of Scentwedge.
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is .36 which is about half of a conventional diesel truck. The Semi’s energy consumption is stunning at 
whatsuptesla.com 