“Eat Your Own Dog Food” is an aphorism referring to the Microsoft tradition of using its own software products, but it applies equally well to the first production cargo trip of Tesla’s all-electric truck — which carried battery packs from Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada to its car assembly plant in Fremont, Calif.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk spotlighted the start of the 260-mile journey on Instagram:
Actually, Tesla’s Semis have been riding the roads for a while. Highway sightings of the trucks going about their business started popping up last month, just a little more than three months after Musk unveiled the prototype at a glitzy Southern California shindig.
The Semi’s maximum range for recharging is listed as 500 miles with an 80,000-pound load, which doesn’t quite match the requirements for a round trip between the Gigafactory and Fremont. But Tesla will surely take the opportunity to test its Megacharger system, which is meant to provide enough juice for 400 miles in just 30 minutes.
“By the time you are done with your break, the truck is ready to go,” Musk said back in November.
The $200,000 Semi is due to go into mass production next year, and several big-name freight operators — including UPS, Walmart and Sysco — have already put in pre-orders. The data acquired during Tesla’s trips will probably be used not only to fine-tune the Semi’s electric-drive and autonomous-driving systems, but to beef up Tesla’s sales pitch as well.
