Elon Musk to unveil electric truck later than expected

Tesla's chief executive delays unveiling a new electric truck by a month

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk delays the public unveiling of a heavy-duty electric vehicle (Getty Images)

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said 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 October 26th in Hawthorne,” Mr 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 1,000 miles 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 Mr 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 and Alphabet’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.

Tesla’s electric big-rig truck could have a working range of 200 to 300 miles to compete with more conventional diesels, Reuters reported later in August.

Reuters