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The first Tesla electric car docked at Mumbai Port last month. But in all that excitement – there was a news that was probably missed by most of us. Elon Musk has also delivered yet another blow to fuel-based transportation. Tesla’s latest introduction of the electric semi-truck is here to change logistics industry dynamics, or so claims Musk. And yet, Tesla is not the only one to “change the world”. There are others leading & following him. Tesla Semi Tesla’s fully electric trucks “are designed like a bullet,” Musk said. They can go from zero to 60 within five seconds (or even 20 seconds if fully loaded), climb a very steep hill at 65 mph, and carefully pull off the road to call for help if the driver’s hands leave the wheel, he said. The driver’s seat is in the center , like a race car, and there are two touch-screen displays. The class 8 beast can load 80,000 pounds of cargo and itself weighs 33,000 pounds. At full capacity, the Semi can take a range of 500 miles. A 20-minute mega-charge can push the truck to gain 400 miles of range. With an operating cost per mile 20% lesser than diesel trucks, it makes for an economical option for logistics, cutting down expenses while improving efficiency. For every $1.51 you pay for a mile on diesel trucks, a Tesla will demand just $1.26. Autopilot mode will be a standard across all trucks and a self-driving mechanism will also enable to reduce manpower cost. The brake pads regenerate and never need to be replaced, there’s no transmission to maintain, and the windshield won’t ever crack because it’s made of “thermo-nuclear explosion-proof glass”. DHL and PepsiCo have already lined up to order Tesla’s first attempt at something beyond passenger cars, which are likely to start production in 2019 but with no date of delivery in sight yet. Navistar As Musk started accepting bookings for the Semi, Troy Clarke, CEO of Navistar – had a message for Musk. He has claimed that he will bring more electric trucks on the road by 2025 from Navistar than the semi-tractors created by Musk’s Tesla Inc. Navistar’s International brand already holds 11 per cent for trucks of the market in the heaviest Class 8 weight segment, according to Statista (research firm). Navistar is currently developing an electric truck with the support of its much larger partner, Volkswagen Truck & Bus. The alliance is also looking to develop one set of global platforms for “digitization and hardware so that we can bring innovations to the market much faster.” The two companies are expecting their new connectivity platform – created by merging Navistar’s suite of hardware and software called “OnCommand Connection” with Volkswagen Truck & Bus’s RIO digital brand – to start by adopting a common in-cab hardware that will be launched on a Volkswagen Truck & Bus global connected vehicle platform by the end of the year. The cloud-based platform is the first step toward building a connected network of around 650,000 vehicles around the world, making it the world’s largest global ecosystem for commercial vehicles . Nikola One Also as Musk spoke, there was Trevor Milton watching keenly. The company which has taken the first half of Nikola Tesla’s name has unveiled a truck that runs on hydrogen. The startup has been working on the development of a hydrogen fuel cell electric Class 8 semi — the Nikola One — since 2016. And Nikola has on board some serious investors like Wabco, leading supplier of truck braking & stability control systems. Truck Components Company Fitzgerald Gliders have confirmed that they will build the first 5,000 production models of both the Nikola One and Nikola Two by 2021. The initial response to the Nikola One was positive. They logged more than 8,000 reservations, including one from US Xpress. Thor And as Musk was unveiling The Semi, Dakota Semler, CEO of Thor, watched and then hopped into the ET1 – a matte black, curvaceous Electric Truck. The ET1 has a 22-inch touchscreen as a dashboard and a winged black logo splashed across its grille, uses an electric motor the size of a beach ball and a couple of large battery packs to carry as much as 80,000 pounds of cargo, the industry standard for the highest class of truck. When they start shipping in 2019, the ET1 will have start at $150,000 and a 300-mile range, meaning it’ll compete with medium-duty delivery trucks. For the moment, the startup is more of a vehicle customizer than a true manufacturer. It rips the diesel motor among other things out of an existing vehicle and replaces them with an electric motor and batteries. Thor has focused on doing its own battery-pack research and manufacturing to cram hundred small lithium ion batteries into a tight, safe container, and its software engineers write applications that maximize the packs’ charging abilities and life spans. Look around the Thor warehouse and you will see a UPS-style truck and extended-body pickups awaiting modification. The goal is to work on a one-off basis, customizing clients’ fleets per their specifications. Other players include Toyota, which is testing a Class 8 fuel – cell electric drayage truck in Southern California; Chinese-backed BYD, which is building electric buses and Class 6 through Class 8 electric trucks in Southern California; and Kenworth, which is developing a Class 8 hydrogen fuel-cell electric truck prototype it plans to launch early next year. It will be interesting to watch this Race. Watch this space for more news on this and other disruptions that bring you the future – now !!!