Bill Gates pours cold water on Musk's electric truck, Musk hits back at Gates: He knows nothing about electric trucks

Author | Liu Lin

Musk is here to criticize people again!

This time, he took on Bill Gates.

Musk and Bill Gates' feud is nothing new.

What is the reason this time?

The story begins with a blog post Gates published on August 24.

Gates said on the blog platform that pickup trucks (like the Tesla Semi) and electric jets will likely never appear.

Gates pointed out that climate change is more damaging to the environment and that it is necessary to electrify transportation to combat climate change. However, he made some controversial comments about electric vehicles.

For example, "Why are pickup trucks (such as Tesla Semi) and electric jets likely to never appear?" Gates believes that the main reason is that these means of transportation require very large power, and in order to provide such a large power, the battery must also become larger and heavier.

As a result, he thinks electric trucks may never become a practical solution for heavy-duty 18-wheelers, cargo ships and airplanes.

At the same time, Bill Gates also questioned in the article whether electric technology can enter the field of long-distance transport vehicles. He believed that bulky batteries could not be used on long-distance transport vehicles such as 18-wheel trucks. Therefore, clean energy fuels or biofuel technologies might need to be used.

Gates' statement is tantamount to a slap in the face to Tesla's new products.

In 2017, Tesla released an electric truck with a sales price of nearly $200,000, making it the most expensive car ever sold by Tesla. At that time, Tesla said that the electric truck would be mass-produced in 2019, but later the official postponed the small-scale production to the end of 2020, and the latest mass production news is that it will be released in 2021.

Musk was naturally unhappy to hear this. On September 12, Musk responded to netizens and said: Gates knew nothing about this.

The implication is that he doesn't understand and I'm too lazy to pay attention to him.

The onlookers also enjoyed the fun.

But this is not the first time Gates has expressed his views on the electric vehicle industry.

In February this year, MKBHD, a well-known foreign digital blogger, posted a video on Youtube about his interview with Gates. In this video, Gates said that the premium of the electric vehicle industry will drop to 0 in the next ten years. Currently, almost all automobile manufacturers in the world are making electric vehicles, but they all have to first solve the user's anxiety about mileage.

There is no doubt that it is almost impossible to bypass Tesla when talking about the electric vehicle industry, but Bill Gates said: "I just bought a Porsche Taycan recently. This is my first electric car. Taycan is very cool and I like it very much."

This move also made Musk unhappy, and he immediately responded on Twitter: "My conversations with Gates have never been interesting."

It is not difficult to guess that the grudge between Gates and Musk is not just one or two days old.

So, is it that Gates deliberately poured cold water on Musk because of their "personal grudge" or is the concept of electric trucks indeed immature?

Those who know cars may know that a key factor in evaluating the quality of a car is its performance.

So, what about Tesla semi?

According to previously announced information, the Tesla Semi truck is built on the Model 3 frame, and each rear wheel is equipped with a Model 3 motor, so the vehicle has a total of 4 motors with a total of more than 1,000 horsepower.

In terms of power, Tesla officially claims that the Semi can accelerate from 0 to 96 km/h in just 5 seconds when unloaded, and in 20 seconds when loaded with 36 tons. At the same time, Musk has also publicly mentioned that Tesla engineers have found a way to increase the range of the car during repeated testing, and claimed that the final mass-produced version of Tesla Semi will have a range of 966 km.

This performance is really exciting.

However, Tesla's electric truck is questionable in terms of battery life.

As Gates said, electric vehicle range is a big problem.

An automotive journalist explained to Leifeng.com (official account: Leifeng.com):

The battery pack of the Tesla Semi truck is placed directly under the cab. The long-range version can travel about 800 kilometers on a single charge, which has exceeded many people's expectations. Another data is that it can travel 644 kilometers with super fast charging in 30 minutes. However, the actual driving range of electric vehicles is usually discounted.

For heavy trucks with a load of 36 tons, which are usually used for inter-provincial long-distance transportation, a range of several hundred kilometers is far from enough.

Take FAW Jiefang trucks as an example. The FAW Jiefang J6P is a heavy truck with a load of 39 tons. It is equipped with an 800-liter fuel tank and can easily travel more than 2,000 kilometers. The J6P also has a long-range version with a fuel tank capacity of 1,300 liters. If calculated based on the most economical range, the theoretical range can reach 4,000 kilometers.

In comparison, the battery life of Tesla semi is indeed average.

In addition, the durability of electric trucks is still questionable.

Ordinary diesel heavy-duty trucks are designed to have a very long lifespan. Compared with passenger cars, heavy-duty trucks not only often travel longer mileages, but also often have to travel on harsh roads, which places very high demands on mechanical durability.

Pure electric trucks are very heavy and are not as good as traditional diesel trucks in terms of heavy work, and their durability is even more difficult to measure. On the other hand, the disadvantage of electric motors and batteries is that the greater the load, the higher the energy consumption, and high loads are exactly the working environment of heavy trucks.

Obviously, this is not very realistic for electric trucks.

As to whether electric trucks will become a new trend in trucks in the future, we will have to wait and see.

It is worth mentioning that the mass production time of Musk’s electric truck has not yet been determined, and Musk has also expressed his intention to build an electric aircraft.

There is still a week to go before Tesla Battery Day. It is reported that the theme of this event focuses on batteries, so Musk may not bring new models to the show, but from the rumors, the breakthrough new technology in the hands of Iron Man is enough to surprise everyone. In addition, Tesla may also take the opportunity to announce the expansion plan of its future energy storage business.

According to rumors, Musk has plans for electric aircraft. He said that 400 Wh/kg mass-produced batteries will appear in the next three to four years. In the past, Musk has pointed out that only when we cross 400 Wh/kg can we enter the threshold of electric aircraft.

Putting aside electric aircraft, such a high energy density does not seem realistic now. For example, the energy density of the Model 3 battery is only 260 Wh/kg. If the energy density can be increased by another 50%, it would be terrible.

Some netizens also joked: "I'm suddenly looking forward to the future world." (dog head)

After all, for Musk, it seems that there is nothing he dare not try.

References:

• https://ca.news.yahoo.com/elon-musk-blasted-fellow-billionaire-090308433.html

• https://www.gatesnotes.com/Energy/Moving-around-in-a-zero-carbon-world

• https://www.leiphone.com/news/202009/osDtEooG7YHiOhAO.html