J. B. Hunt was one of the first to place a Tesla Semi reservation when the Elon Musk’s company unveiled the first prototypes last year. Now Electrek reports that Tesla has driven one of the electric truck prototypes to J.B. Hunt’s headquarters in Arkansas. This signals that the new freight vehicle is close to being ready for commercial launch. While it is unknown how many of the new vehicles Tesla will provide the U.S. truck company, the order (and profile) is likely to be important to Tesla.
J.B. Hunt is one of the largest freight and trucking companies in the U.S., with annual revenues of about $7 billion. J.B. Hunt primarily operates large semi-trailer trucks, and provides transportation services throughout the continental US, Canada and Mexico. The fleet extends to 12,000 trucks and 10,000 trailers.
Tesla shares have wobbled of late and a fall was recently recorded on the stock market after Elon Musk backed out of his plan to take the Silicon Valley car maker private.
This places a great importance to Tesla’s new products. Included among these is the Tesla Semi. This is an all-electric battery-powered Class 8 semi-trailer truck prototype. Four independent motors provide power and acceleration, while requiring a relatively low energy cost. The vehicle has been designed so that it can cross the U.S. using the charging stations designed for cars.
Tesla Semi:
Acceleration 0-60 mph with 80k lb in 20 seconds
Speed up a 5% Grade to 60 miles per hour
Mile Range is 300 or 500 miles
The prototype unveiled on November 16, 2017 and it is planned for production in 2019. When the vehicle was first announced Elon Musk said: “In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport. Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year. We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport.”
Arriving at J. B. Hunt’s base, J.B. Hunt. Musk tweeted: “What’s cool is that it was driven across the country alone (no escort or any accompanying vehicles), using the existing Tesla Supercharger network and an extension cord.” Musk is hoping to sell a high number of these vehicles, playing on the fact that vehicles will cost less to operate than their diesel counterparts.
