Tesla Nails New Contract for Their Green Electric Semi Truck
It seems there is nothing that can stop Elon Musk’s Tesla Automotive Company from cornering the global electric vehicle market. Recently it was announced that Tesla (TSLA) had scored a brand new contract with MHX Leasing, a California based leasing company, for supplying them with 10 fully electric semi-trucks on an ASAP basis. The deal also includes two of Tesla’s Megachargers. $2 million worth of a government financing subsidy is said to have helped ink the deal.
Says NASDAQ, the Tesla electric semi was first unveiled to the world as long ago as 2017, but its production has been delayed for various reasons. While it was scheduled to be introduced to the market in 2019, it remains in the final stages of development as of this writing. But while prototypes of the new green semi are said to have been recently completed, Musk has stated publicly that mass production of the electric semi is still some months away.
But this has not discouraged Tesla from confirming the lucrative order along with considerable cash deposits for the 10 electric heavy-duty trucks. At this time, semi truck financing is looking very attractive to investors due to the introduction of numerous government incentive programs engineered to promote the electrification of commercial semi trucks. This is precisely the kind of financing scheme that led directly to the MHX leasing deal. With the present presidential administration committed to reducing America’s carbon footprint considerably, you can expect more of these commercial financing opportunities to become available sooner than later.
The Cost of the Electric Semi Deal
It’s been reported that MHX Leasing, LLC, has procured $1.9 million in the acquisition of 10 Tesla Semi Class 8 trucks. They were also able to acquire $560,000, in order to purchase two overhead electric cranes from the from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC). Electric cranes are also a brand new engineering marvel. MSRC is the organization in charge for funding “clean transportation” on and around the southern coast of California.
Megachargers
The Tesla/MHX electric semi truck deal also includes the deployment of two Megachargers at the MHX distribution center in California. Much like the old fashioned, carbon emitting gas pumps, the green megachargers will be used to charge the 10 semis. Said to be Tesla’s latest solution for powering its new gasless trucks, the megachargers can provide a capacity that will go beyond 1 MW.
Tesla has been partnering with CharIN, a green industry association that promotes the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard, to standardize the Megacharger and also to construct High Power Charging for Commercial Vehicles (HPCCV).
New Electric Semi Prototypes
For the first time in three-plus years, Tesla has recently produced brand new prototypes of the electric semi truck. What this indicates, say the experts, is that production on a much larger scale should begin no later than mid to late 2021. But this remains pure speculation. That said, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is said to have dismissed the larger production news, saying that significant electric semi truck production will be difficult to achieve this year due to what he called “battery constrains.” Obviously, MHX is quite confident those constrains will be eliminated in the very near future.
King of Green Electric
Besides his interest in the ever expanding decentralized crypto market (especially Bitcoin) and his passion for his pet project, SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Group, Elon Musk’s Tesla is presently the leading name in the electric vehicle landscape. Even though all electric cars make up a small percentage of the global automotive market, Tesla has managed to gobble up a significant market share of what is still considered a niche industry. For certain, Tesla has become the leader in the electric vehicle (EV) market with the flagship Model 3 vehicle.
Today, the newly engineered Model Y is also increasing Tesla’s possibilities for the future, along with its stock price. Having left California for more tax friendly environs, the auto and semi manufacturer is said to be speeding up the Model Y manufacturing capacity at Gigafactories located in both Texas and Berlin. Deliveries of the Model Y will more than likely start later this year from both facilities. Currently, the construction for the Gigafactory 4 and Gigafactory 5 in Berlin and Austin respectively, are said to be on schedule and within budget.
Look for Tesla electric heavy-duty semis to be cruising America’s highways and byways sooner than later.
