The Tesla Semi is coming to Europe. Almost a decade after Elon Musk first showed his electric truck with its bullet-shaped cab, Tesla has confirmed it will sell the zero-emission heavy hauler on this side of the Atlantic. What does it bring that Windrose doesn’t already offer?
On paper, the Tesla Semi offers the most power, the fastest charging speed, and the most aerodynamic design. It is also a truck that still feels like a startup product entering a market where the incumbents are already shipping thousands of units.
In fact, maybe its closest competitor will be the Chinese Windrose E700, which is due to be assembled for Europe at Windrose’s new Antwerp base and promises around 670 kilometers of loaded range.
Standard Range first
Tesla is bringing the Standard Range Semi to Europe first. That means roughly 523 kilometers on a full charge, which is roughly what European electric trucks achieve these days. It is driven by three electric motors sending a combined 1,073 bhp to the rear axles.
The curb weight is listed at 9,100 kg, and energy consumption is claimed at 1.0 kWh per kilometer. In the US, Tesla also offers the Long Range, which delivers over 800 kilometers of range. That would have been a game-changer in Europe.
But all these figures are based on the American version. Full European specifications are yet to be unveiled at the IAA Transportation in Hanover next month. The same goes for the pricing. In the States, the Semi is the cheapest battery-electric tractor in its category at $260,000 (€ 226,000). Windrose is charging €195,000 in Europe for the E700.
Charging network
The charging story is where Tesla still thinks it can win. Its Megachargers push up to 1,200 kW, enough to add 60 percent of range in half an hour. In the United States, that network is expanding. In Europe, it barely exists, in contrast to the vast network of chargers for its passenger cars.
Tesla will need to build hundreds of Megacharger sites along the major freight corridors before haulers can trust the 523-kilometer figure in daily operations.
Payload is another consideration. EU rules normally allow zero-emission truck combinations additional weight to help compensate for their batteries, although exact limits vary by vehicle configuration, operation, and country.
The current EU-wide allowance generally raises a conventional 40-tonne limit to as much as 42 tonnes; a broader 44-tonne limit has been proposed but is not yet the general rule. Tesla has not published sufficient European-specification data to verify a 22-tonne cargo capacity for the Semi, so its payload competitiveness remains uncertain.
What the Semi truck also has in common with Windrose is manufacturing woes. The Chinese truck builder is struggling to secure funding to kick off and fully scale production. Rumors of bankruptcy are hard to fence off, though they are not unusual for a startup.
Tesla has also been grappling to bring production of the Semi truck up to speed at its Nevada plant. But opening up exports to Europe could signal the factory ramping up production gradually toward the annual target of 50,000 units. Production only started in April this year.
Buying reliability
However, Tesla doesn’t enjoy the same head start in the electric truck business as it did with its cars. This fleet segment is a niche business in its own right, where incumbents like Mercedes, Volvo, or MAN rely on well-established networks and already have several years of experience with their battery-powered fleets. Gaining that trust from scratch, aside from aggressive pricing, will prove a daunting task for Tesla – and Windrose, for that matter.
The Mercedes eActros, the Volvo FH Aero Electric, and the MAN eTGX don’t have the horsepower that the Tesla Semi-truck can offer. But truckers do not buy horsepower. They buy reliability, and these European OEMs all have service networks that stretch from Lisbon to Lapland.
