[Auto] Long-Delayed Tesla Semi Truck Seemingly Breaks Down, Causing Highway Delays

[Andy アンディ]

The incident occurred just weeks before Tesla says the Semi is going into full production.
When Elon Musk announced the Tesla Semi truck back in 2017, it brought a major potential disruption to the fore of the transportation industry. Reducing dependence on diesel fuel and its fluctuating cost, along with operating trucks that are theoretically cleaner and easier and cheaper to maintain is an alluring prospect to shipping companies and independent long haulers alike. As noble as electrifying America's passenger vehicles is, diesel burning Semi trucks are blamed for a significant portion of total vehicle emissions; so wide adoption of the Tesla Semi (or EV trucks like it) could be a big boon to the environment—especially if the electricity used to recharge those trucks is sustainably sourced from wind or solar.

Things seemed promising as, shortly after the Semi's reveal, Pepsi Co. announced that it would be ordering 100 Tesla Semi trucks. At the time, Musk promised that the Semi would go into production in 2019. As you may have guessed, that didn't happen. Musk cited various reasons why the production of the Tesla Semi needed to be pushed back, including the global pandemic and parts shortages. It seemed like things were finally starting looking good when Musk announced in early October, 2022 that the Tesla Semi was finally going into production December 1 of this year. However, it looks like the truck has suffered another setback—even though it seems to be much further along than the also-oft-delayed Tesla Cybertruck.Yep, just a few weeks from the truck's latest promised production start date, a video surfaced on YouTube of a white Tesla Semi seemingly stuck on a freeway on ramp blocking traffic and forcing detours. The video was shot by a trucker passing by the blockage. As the camera zooms in, it can be seen that the Tesla Semi did not have a container trailer attached to it. A Tesla Support Ford Transit van is also on the scene, as well as another diesel semi truck. A tow truck is seen on the ramp but it's unclear if it is there to tow the Tesla Semi or the other truck.

It's difficult to know what actually happened without speaking with Tesla directly, but the automaker has no PR department, so that's a non-starter. We can't say for certain why the Tesla Semi was seemingly stalled on this ramp, or why another semi truck was on the scene. The Tesla Semi truck website claims that it has a range between 300 and 500 miles, so perhaps this could have been a range test that went wrong? All we can do is speculate. Either way, having a Ford Transit appear to come to the rescue of your new Semi truck isn't a great look for Tesla. We'll update this story if more information surfaces.

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