https://electrek.co/2019/01/11/tesla-semi-order-electric-trucks-europe/
[And now we are set to electrify the heavy trucking industry in Europe
and North America. Not just Tesla, but others are now showing
prototypes and preparing to move to production. The safe niches for
fossil fuels are disappearing as plug-in vehicles continue to appear as
'drop-in' replacements able to use the existing road infrastructure
without modification. The rate of installation of charging stations is
increasing, most with local battery storage to help smooth demand on the
local utility grid.]
Tesla Semi receives another order, electric trucks will move goods in Europe
Fred Lambert
- Jan. 11th 2019 9:08 am ET
Tesla Semi, the automaker’s electric truck division, has received
another order ahead of the start of production, which is planned for
later this year.
The electric trucks will be used to move goods from Europe to Norway.
Travel Retail Norway, which operates the duty-free stores at Norway’s
five largest airports, announced that it has ordered two Tesla Semi
electric trucks in a press release today.
Haakon Dagestad, Head of Communications at Travel Retail Norway,
commented on the announcement:
“In many areas, we will help to make tax-free sustainable. That’s
why we work with different solutions to transport goods from all over
the world to Norway in the most environmentally friendly way. Tesla Semi
is one of the measures.”
The company says that it wants to be “the first to transport goods from
Europe to Norway with electric trailers.”
Dagestad said that trucks will be powered by renewable energy:
“Our warehouse is already electrified with a solar panel, so now
the road from the warehouse to the shops will be electrified too. If we
charged the trucks with renewable energy, it will have a very positive
effect, both on climate and local pollution.”
Travel Retail Norway said that they don’t know exactly when to expect
the Tesla Semi trucks even though they placed a deposit.
Tesla says that it aims to bring its electric truck to production this
year, but that’s in North America. It would have to make a different
version for the European market, which requires different specifications.
During a presentation about Tesla Semi in the Netherlands after the
global debut, Jerome Guillen, Tesla’s Vice-President of Trucks and now
also President of Automotive, said that the company is currently
undergoing development to adapt the Tesla Semi design to European
trucking regulations.
Travel Retail Norway is actually not the first Tesla Semi order from
Norway. Norway’s Asko announced that they reserved 10 Tesla Semi
electric trucks a few weeks after the launch.
Tesla is believed to have received around 2,000 reservations for its
electric truck.
After demand started to pick up, Tesla changed the listed deposit price
to $20,000 for a “base reservation” of the production version and the
full $200,000 for the “Founders Series” truck.
After Tesla revealed the pricing of its electric semi trucks, we learned
that the regular production versions for the 300-mile and 500-mile range
versions will be $150,000 and $180,000 respectively.
But Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that he expects that the production version
could be even more efficient with a range closer to 600 miles.