Here's Another Competitor to the Tesla Semi Truck
New startup Thor Trucks is throwing its hat into the ring with a new all-electric semi truck.
Called the ET-One, the all-electric semi comes from Los Angeles-based startup Thor Trucks. The company plans to begin deliveries in 2019, promising a range of up to 300 miles while towing up to 80,000 pounds of cargo. It’s similar to what Tesla is promising with its semi truck, although Tesla has plans for a 500-mile range model, while the 300-mile version is the base model.
Thor Trucks however, will offer a 100-mile range version for around $150,000 while the 300-mile variant will be priced around $250,000. That’s a bit more than what Tesla is asking for, with the American automaker expecting the 300-mile Semi to start around $150,000 and the 500-mile model costing around $180,000.
SEE ALSO: Tesla Semi Debuts With 500 Miles of Range, 80,000 lb Towing Capacity
According to Trucks.com, the ET-One uses a Navistar chassis and Dana heavy-duty axles, and a motor from supplier TM4. The battery packs come from Thor Trucks, but they are filled with cells from LG. Bloomberg reports there’s a 22-inch touchscreen on the dash of the semi, while some engineers for Thor Trucks has been hired from Faraday Future.
“We wanted to show the world that you don’t have to be a big original equipment manufacturer, like a Ford or GM, or a tech mogul with deep pockets to start making progress in this space,” wrote company founder Dakota Semler in a blog post on Thor Trucks’ website. “With no outside funding, we assembled a team of experienced, gutsy, and passionate engineers and went to work researching and designing the ET-One in-house. This meant rearranging and retrofitting old chassis, experimenting with new battery design, and constantly iterating on our learnings. It was scrappy, it was challenging, but it was also fun. And now we have an electric semi that is on the road and is on its way to being cost-competitive with (and much simpler and more stable from an engineering perspective than) the diesel guzzlers that currently dominate the heavy-duty fleet space.”
[Source: Trucks.com]
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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Where is the single axle day cab for LTL trucking?
How uglier can these trucks get, the Tesla Truck was ugly but this is UGLY. I can also see that they used an International cab and Kenworth T660/T700 headlights.