It’s likely that you have already seen the Tesla Semi Truck and the Roadster 2.0. Tesla’s Elon Musk threw out another idea during the presentation. What if a Tesla pickup truck was a class 6 version of the class 8 “18-wheeler” semi? What if it had two axles (instead of three), was lifted for a tough 4×4 off-road look and function, and rode on massive off-road tires? Doesn’t this rendering look very much like a GMC Topkick as Transformers Ironhide?
Tesla only said that the pickup truck concept would be a truck that could carry another truck as payload, and it would not require a commercial driver’s license for private use. These two pieces of information hint at the truck being a class 6 vehicle (similar to a current Ford F650) with a gross vehicle weight (GVWR) of 26,000 lbs or less.
Surely, a truck like this would be able to carry at least 5,000 lbs of payload (similar to a weight of a current Ford F-150).
Will Tesla build and sell such a truck? The company did not say. The commercial semi truck is planned to start production in 2019. Tesla is currently very busy with production of the Model 3 and (soon) the upcoming Roadster 2.0 for 2020. It’s hard to imagine that a truck like this could see the light of day before 2021.
What do you think? Is Tesla on the right track with a class 6 medium duty semi pickup truck concept?
