New Tesla Video Shows Tesla Semi Electric Truck Charging at 1.2 MW (electrek.co)
- Reference: 0180509433
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/01/03/238257/new-tesla-video-shows-tesla-semi-electric-truck-charging-at-12-mw
- Source link: https://electrek.co/2025/12/31/tesla-semi-electric-truck-charging-impressive-1-2-mw/
> Tesla has released a new video showing a Tesla Semi truck charging at a massive 1.2 megawatts (MW), finally giving us a clear look at the charging speeds that will enable long-haul electric trucking...
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> Tesla claimed the Semi would be able to charge 70% of its range in 30 minutes. For a truck with a 500-mile range and an estimated battery pack of around 800-900 kWh, that requires an incredibly high power output, well beyond the 250 kW or even 350 kW we see on passenger EVs in North America. Today, the official Tesla Semi account on X [2]released a video showing exactly that. In the video, Tesla engineers are seen monitoring a charging session where the power output climbs to a peak of 1.2 MW (1,206 kW).
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> This is consistent with the capabilities Tesla announced for its new V4 Cabinet architecture earlier this year. The V4 cabinets are designed to support 400V-1000V vehicle architectures and can deliver up to 500 kW for cars (like the Cybertruck) and up to 1.2 MW for the Semi. There is some information missing from the video. For example, we don't see the state-of-charge of the truck, so we don't at what battery percentage Tesla Semi can achieve and maintain this charge rate. Peak speed is one thing, but sustaining that power without overheating the pack or the cable is the real challenge. The liquid-cooled charging cable and the immersion-cooled connector (part of the Megawatt Charging System or a high-power proprietary Tesla solution, though Tesla has been leaning toward MCS compatibility) seem to be doing their job....
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> This comes just as Tesla is gearing up for volume production of the Semi at its new factory expansion near Gigafactory Nevada. The automaker is targeting a start of production in the first half of 2026 and a ramp up to volume production in the second half.
[1] https://electrek.co/2025/12/31/tesla-semi-electric-truck-charging-impressive-1-2-mw/
[2] https://x.com/tesla_semi/status/2006431772360474841
Truckers hold those cigars to stay awake (Score:1)
When they burn down, they wake you up.
Just kidding. These will all be self-driving eventually, probably using another company's system.
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The Chinese EVs may be technically superior and better value, but they are not available in Musk's adopted home market for.... reasons.
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I believe our Volvo was made in China, but yeah. Good car.
Impressive (Score:2)
If 1.2 is the peak, I speculate (disclaimer, I don't know any shit about it) they would probably limit it to 1 MW due to safety factor and things like that. Even 1 MW is very cool. Now if they finalize autonomous driving (China already has [1]https://www.youtube.com/shorts... [youtube.com] ) and autonomous charging .. truck driving jobs will be like vacation.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MwHr1DhrQ4o
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It's like 1000 homes all had their air conditioner running at the same time. It's a lot, but it's not terrible if you don't need to scale the number of trucks you can charge at once.
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" it's not terrible if you don't need to scale the number of trucks you can charge at once"
if you're not scaling, you're not replacing a significant number of ICE semis
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Don't mess with my air conditioner. It's the only way this place is habitable.
Re: Impressive (Score:2)
Maybe 1000 window ACs. But my 2 central ACs consume easily 4kW each. I rarely have to run both at once, though.
Re: Impressive (Score:1)
How about insulating your home properly?
Re: Impressive (Score:2)
It is not an insulation issue. I had an insulation specialist inspect it before I bought it. He said the insulation was so good there was nothing that could be done to improve it. Honest contractors are out there.
The reason there are 2 central ACs is that it's a mansion. And I use zoning - 6 zones on one system, 4 on another, so that we only heat/cool the rooms we actually use, when we occupy them. The AC energy use is actually minuscule, relative to other things like electronics, hot tub and EV charging.
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If you assumed the typical home was 2,000 sqft with a 35,000 BTU central AC, it's closer to around 500 homes, or basically a medium-sized neighborhood.
Truck drivers will still be required (Score:2)
"truck driving jobs will be like vacation"
Not for a long time. Driving in a straight line down a highway and turning corners is the easy (for certain definitions of easy) part. The hard part comes when it gets to the yard and the driver needs to chat to the foreman about which docking ramp to park it at or whether to wait for N minutes or go to park over there for now or sorry we can't accept your load yet or there is a complete jumble of trucks with no obvious route though unless you ask someone.
Good luck
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This is one yard management system away from being fully autonomous. It's already done in parts of Europe and China.
Electric semis are not viable (Score:2, Interesting)
The only way it would have made economic sense to have electric semis is with the previous administration investing hundreds of billions of dollars in developing the infrastructure needed to keep these trucks charged and on the road and with tax incentives for buyers.
Trump has completely destroyed all renewable incentives and development for the next 3 years. Nobody is going to sell a single electric semi in that time. No new massive charging stations built. No fleets converting to electric.
Even when we wer
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Well, truckers who have driven EV trucks have preferred them - they are much easier on the body than diesel engines. The smoothness and quietness of EVs mean their backs and joints don't hurt as much after a long day of driving.
Their instant torque also make them much nicer to drive in city traffic.
Sure the incentives might no longer exist, but the quality of the experience is such that it's likely to be something in demand.
What's likely to happen is hybrid trucks with fully electric drivetrains - so they g
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I'm very interested in this. Is there a website somewhere with a forum where truckers discuss this?
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There’s interviews with Chinese semi drivers online, and there’s a guy called the Electric Trucker who talks about his experiences in Europe
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgkMaBx272k
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I can imagine that going uphill and downhill is also much easier in an electric truck.
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“problems and time delays and costs and complications and lack of resources and infrastructure.”
Can you spell this out? What problems? When you say time delays, are you talking about on the road? Or in the infra buildout?
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But for 7.5 minutes.
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Sure. Now consider your statement in terms of an oil field and tell me if it is any less insane. Besides, what other use do you have for the reactor power when the demand is low? Power variation of a nuclear plant is notoriously unpleasant.
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2000 mile range of a diesel. Probably only 200 to 300 for this POS (I doubt even that but trying to be nice). Electric motors drain batteries super fast under heavy load conditions, and long and even short haul cargo trucks are expected to carry up to 40,000 pounds of cargo. The whole truck including tractor, trailer, and cargo can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. This electric tractor might make it 500 miles on its own. Add the trailer and cargo and likely not even 200 miles. A half hour wasted every 200 miles w
just build in an grappling hook to clip on to the (Score:2)
just build in an grappling hook to clip on to the power lines.
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From the title I was fully expecting the grappling hook to clip onto a passing diesel semi.
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> just build in an grappling hook to clip on to the power lines.
[1]Bumper Trucks! [wikipedia.org] :-)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumper_cars
Tesla catching up (Score:3)
Truck charging with 1.2 MW is not exactly new: [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmwQMYJPVng
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That is the new standard for the charging system, clearly visible in the video, the Megawatt Charging System or MCS. The connector has a maximum rate of 3.75 MW. Work on it has been going on for several years and started in 2018. The first public MCS station opened in Sweden in 2025, and there are more now.
But although it is a significant development, MCS will probably not replace the old CCS standard simply because not everyone needs it, and CCS is more cost-effective. So we will likely see a choice bet
Electric grid (Score:2)
That kind of requirement is going to kill an already over burdened grid in many places.
Tesla vehicles are great! (Score:2)
They go from 0 to 100% Nazi in less than a year!
Boycott products that make Musk money.
FFS Tell Us Drain Time With Full Cargo Weight (Score:2)
It doesn't matter how fast it charges if it can't drive as far as a diesel with 40,000 pounds of cargo. The heavier the weight, the more toque required, which is the Achilles Heel of electric motors and batteries. They aren't telling us anything if they don't show how far it drive pulling a 40,000 pound cargo on a long trailer. 80,000 pounds altogether. Diesel tractor trailers can drive up to 2000 miles on a full fuel load, depending on tank size. I seriously doubt a Tesla semi can drive even 200 to 300 mil
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Back in my day you had to harness a lightning bolt to generate 1.21 JiggaWatts of power.
Elon will get there eventually. This news ain't.