Tesla has taken hundreds of orders for a new all-electric semi truck that, according to the automaker, it will have in production by 2019. With everything else Tesla’s focusing on right now, that’s surely a tall order to fill – but for now, there’s at least this brief sighting in California.
The 7-second clip was uploaded on YouTube last week, and it shows a matte black prototype cruising around the city of Santa Clara.
When Tesla revealed the truck a few months back, the two prototypes it showed off lacked side mirrors – but as you can tell, some have since been installed, almost certainly to make the vehicle legal for testing.
A fun point here is the whoosh of the tractor as it drives past the camera. It really is quiet.
Tesla specced the base trim of the truck to have a 483km range, while a costlier version could handle 805km. The vehicle has a carbon fibre cab, a centrally-mounted driving position, a 0-60 mph time of five seconds, and comes equipped with Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot suite.
To date, Tesla has taken orders from massive corporations like Walmart and PepsiCo. Optimistic as ever, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk promised a 2019 delivery date for the trucks.