Tesla Electric Heavy-Duty Truck to Debut in September; Pickup Slated for 2019
All eyes might be on the upcoming Model 3 right now, but Tesla is looking ahead with the introduction of two more electric vehicles — a semi-truck and a pickup. The American automaker's CEO, Elon Musk, recently confirmed that the former will be unveiled later this year while the latter will break cover in the next two years.
Last week, Musk announced on Twitter: "Tesla Semi truck unveil set for September. Team has done an amazing job. Seriously next level."
In response to a user's query, Musk also revealed that the Tesla pickup truck will be unveiled in "18 to 24 months."
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Tesla announced its intention to expand its electric and autonomous technology into the trucking industry back in July 2016.
As part of his "Master Plan, Part Deux," Musk expressed the need for two types of electric vehicles — heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport — both of which were already in development at that time.
"We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate. With the advent of autonomy, it will probably make sense to shrink the size of buses and transition the role of bus driver to that of fleet manager," he said.
However, with all the focus on the Model 3's launch lately, most people were surprised when Musk revealed that the semi-truck would be introduced as early as this September.
At this time, not much is known about the specs of Tesla's upcoming semi-truck and pickup.
According to Electrek, development of the semi-truck is being led by Jerome Guillen, former Model S program director and vice president of vehicle engineering. Prior to working for Tesla, Guillen was an executive at Daimler and was responsible for the development of the Cascadia truck program.
Though the Tesla semi-truck will be introduced later this year, it isn't expected to enter production until 2019 or 2020.
In other news, Musk also confirmed that the Model 3 will be launched in July and that their next-generation Roadster will be a convertible.
