Elon Musk has just revealed the biggest news update on Cybertruck and Semi in good long while. During a recent event at its Texas Gigafactory, Musk delivered the exciting news that the world’s first battery-electric semi truck is finally heading its way to customers, the first recipient being Pepsi-Cola. Alongside the Semi’s senior engineer, Musk provided new insights into how impressive these things will really be. We were already promised 500 miles of range years ago, but now we know that will be enabled by a 1,000-volt powertrain architecture, the first in the world. Musk said that this system will also make its way into other Teslas in the future, essentially future-proofing them for the foreseeable future.
New technology is also coming to Tesla Superchargers – 1 megawatt DC fast-charging. With the help of immersion liquid-cooling technology, these new V4 chargers will be able to fill the Semi and future Teslas at unprecedented speeds. “It’s liquid-cooled, so you don’t need a gigantic elephant trunk of a cable…You can actually have a small cable and that cable delivers a megawatt…” This is excellent news, as Tesla’s current charging standards have been encroached upon by newer vehicles and chargers in the non-Tesla space. Speaking of, with new electric trucks from Ford, GM and Rivian putting the Cybertruck on notice, it was about time we received some updates on that front.
Good news for those holing out for a production Cybertruck next year, it is apparently still on track for that timeline. It will also officially be the first Tesla to work with the new V4 Superchargers. That should help it leapfrog the competition in charging speeds.
More Tesla Semi and Cybertruck updates here.