Tesla delays electric semi-truck reveal

Electric car maker Tesla says it will unveil its new electric semi-truck in October, not September as earlier planned.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors

Electric car maker Tesla says it will unveil its new electric semi-truck in October. (AAP)

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk says the electric carmaker is tentatively scheduled to unveil its planned semi-truck in late October, about a month later than the billionaire had earlier estimated.

"Tesla Semi truck unveil & test ride tentatively scheduled for Oct 26th in Hawthorne," Musk said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The entrepreneur has tantalised the trucking industry with the prospect of a battery-powered heavy-duty vehicle that can compete with conventional diesels, which can travel up to 1,600 kilometres on a single tank of fuel.

Tesla's plans for new electric vehicles including a commercial truck called the Tesla Semi were announced last year and in April Musk said the release of the semi-truck was set for September.

Tesla has been making strides in self-driving technology and implementing it in an electric truck could potentially move it forward in a highly competitive area of commercial transport also being pursued by Uber Technologies Inc and Alphabet Inc's Waymo.

Reuters reported in August that Tesla was developing a long-haul, electric semi-truck that could drive itself and move in "platoons" that followed a lead vehicle, according to an email discussion of potential road tests between the car company and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.


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Published 14 September 2017 2:10pm
Source: AAP


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