Tesla confirmed that it plans to make use of a brand new immersive cooling technique for its Supercharger V4 charging cable, able to dealing with as much as 1 megawatt.
“It’s going for use for Cybertruck, too,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated on Thursday night time. The tech improve is coming to Superchargers subsequent yr, he added.
Tesla didn’t verify that both the Semi or the Cybertruck will have the ability to cost at 1 megawatt from the outset, however the announcement does successfully dismiss the chances of both a separate Megacharger ecosystem or Tesla’s early adoption of the Megawatt Charging Normal, or MCS.
As Tesla outlined final month, its charging connector, now known as NACS, is nice for as much as 1 megawatt with a brand new configuration of the identical connector. Musk didn’t present any demonstration of how a lot heavier or extra cumbersome V4 shall be to deal with at stops on the Tesla Supercharger community.
Tesla Supercharger V4 cable, for as much as 1 megawatt
The announcement leaves a number of room for elaboration concerning how Tesla really plans to include charging choices for its Semi, which wouldn’t match at many present Supercharger stations. Tesla’s senior charging coverage supervisor Francesca Wahl stated in October, on the CharIn North America Convention in Portland, that Supercharger websites seemingly wouldn’t be used as heavy-duty (Semi) websites anytime quickly. The corporate has prompt over time that it was trying to deploy supporting infrastructure for the Semi with different events.
The aim of the Thursday night time occasion was to mark the primary supply of the massive electrical hauler to Pepsi. Though Tesla omitted many key particulars just like the battery pack measurement, pricing, or how the manufacturing price will ramp up, it did embody a bit extra concerning the propulsion tech the Semi makes use of to realize its mixture of energy and vary.
Tesla Semi aero
The Semi is constructed on a brand new 1000-volt system, but it makes use of Tesla’s warmth pump, local weather system, and inverter tech already made at quantity. Aerodynamics play a key position in optimizing effectivity and vary.
Tesla additionally confirmed in its latest 500-mile run from Fremont to San Diego, totally loaded at greater than 80,000 kilos, that it didn’t cost alongside the best way or recreation the run.
As Musk underscored, it’s basically utilizing the tri-motor Plaid Mannequin S and Mannequin X powertrain, with two of the three drive items completely disconnected besides when accelerating. All of the work with integration, traction techniques, software program and management was accomplished in-house.
Tesla tri-motor Semi powertrain
The Semi “has loopy energy in comparison with a diesel truck,” stated Musk, who additionally stated seeing the Semi go unloaded is “like an elephant shifting like a cheetah.”
Tesla claims that the Semi could make a big impact for the surroundings and well being—notably in cities. Within the U.S., there are 15 million passenger car gross sales and roughly 200,000 huge business vehicles offered per yr, however the vehicles represent 20% of auto emissions and greater than a 3rd of particulate emissions.
That features the corporate’s personal logistics. It confirmed that it’s going to deploy extra Semis to make use of for its personal passenger car supply—which at its current charges should require a fantastic many inner combustion vehicles.
