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Tesla Semi battery weight criticisms are rooted in outdated ideas: EV expert
A good number of skeptics critical of battery-electric long-haulers like the Tesla Semi typically argue that the weight of the vehicles’ batteries makes them ineffective against competitors that are powered by diesel or hydrogen. As noted by an electric vehicle veteran and expert recently, however, these ideas are rooted in outdated ideas about battery weight. And if one considers more recent battery tech, electric Class 8 trucks may not only be feasible; they may actually be closer than expected.
In a recent piece on Bulk Distributor Magazine’s November/December 2020 issue, Auke Hoekstra, Senior Advisor for Electric Mobility at the Eindhoven University of Technology, noted that contrary to popular belief, long-haul trucks would not be the last vehicles to become battery-powered. This is in no small part due to the advancement of battery technology. Hoekstra noted that within five years, he believes that “electric trucks will become the logical choice for many bulk transporters” And within 10 years, vehicles like the Tesla Sei will likely dominate new sales.
The stunning progression of battery technology could be seen in just how much batteries have gotten better and cheaper over the years. Hoekstra noted that myths about electric trucks being too heavy were true 20 years ago, but not today. If electric long-haulers existed 20 years ago, they would likely be powered by lead-acid batteries, and assuming a battery size of 1 MWh, such a vehicle will require a pack that will likely weigh about 25 tons. That’s more than the entire payload of the truck. This is, of course, not the case today.
Hoekstra noted that when he wrote his first book about electric vehicles for the Dutch Ministry of Road Transport 13 years ago, lithium-ion batteries had started to emerge. Lithium-ion batteries offered reductions in weight, resulting in a 1 MWh pack weighing only about 10 tons. Today, this is even better, with modern electric cars having batteries that weigh about 5 kg per kWh or 5 tons per MWh. “I expect that with five years, that weight will be down to 3.5 tons. And it doesn’t stop there,” the EV veteran wrote.
Class 8 trucks like the Tesla Semi, which are designed from the ground up to be electric, will likely offer even better weight advantages. Hoekstra estimated that Tesla would see further weight reductions of about 2.5 to 3 tons due to the vehicle’s all-electric platform. “The electric motor is lighter, and you can get rid of the diesel tank and exhaust treatment. Then you place the electric motors between the wheels and lose the differential, driveshaft, and a host of other components,” he wrote.
What’s particularly interesting is that these estimates don’t even take into account the innovations that Tesla unveiled in its Battery Day event. Once Tesla’s 4680 tabless cells and structural battery packs enter the equation, the Semi becomes an even more compelling alternative to diesel-powered trucks. Hoekstra estimated that Tesla’s structural battery packs could save another ton to the Semi’s overall weight, seeing as the battery would practically displace the steel beams that give traditional Class 8 long-haulers their rigidity. With this in mind, the EV veteran noted that “battery weight will soon be a problem of the past.”
There are other advantages to electric trucks that were highlighted by Hoekstra in his piece, such as the cost savings that will result from the use of a fleet of electric trucks. This is something that Tesla has highlighted in the past, with CEO Elon Musk stating during the vehicle’s unveiling that the Semi will vastly undercut diesel-powered rivals when it comes to operating costs. Couple this with the low maintenance requirements of EVs, as well as the fact that batteries now last much longer, and trucks like the Tesla Semi will likely become very attractive options for operators in the very near future.
Tesla has officially launched public Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, without a Safety Monitor in the vehicle, marking the first time the company has removed anyone from the vehicle other than the rider.
The Safety Monitor has been present in Tesla Robotaxis in Austin since its launch last June, maintaining safety for passengers and other vehicles, and was placed in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla planned to remove the Safety Monitor at the end of 2025, but it was not quite ready to do so. Now, in January, riders are officially reporting that they are able to hail a ride from a Model Y Robotaxi without anyone in the vehicle:
I am in a robotaxi without safety monitor pic.twitter.com/fzHu385oIb
— TSLA99T (@Tsla99T) January 22, 2026
Tesla started testing this internally late last year and had several employees show that they were riding in the vehicle without anyone else there to intervene in case of an emergency.
Tesla has now expanded that program to the public. It is not active in the entire fleet, but there are a “few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors,” Ashok Elluswamy said:
Robotaxi rides without any safety monitors are now publicly available in Austin.
Starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader robotaxi fleet with safety monitors, and the ratio will increase over time. https://t.co/ShMpZjefwB
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) January 22, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi goes driverless as Musk confirms Safety Monitor removal testing
The Robotaxi program also operates in the California Bay Area, where the fleet is much larger, but Safety Monitors are placed in the driver’s seat and utilize Full Self-Driving, so it is essentially the same as an Uber driver using a Tesla with FSD.
In Austin, the removal of Safety Monitors marks a substantial achievement for Tesla moving forward. Now that it has enough confidence to remove Safety Monitors from Robotaxis altogether, there are nearly unlimited options for the company in terms of expansion.
While it is hoping to launch the ride-hailing service in more cities across the U.S. this year, this is a much larger development than expansion, at least for now, as it is the first time it is performing driverless rides in Robotaxi anywhere in the world for the public to enjoy.
Tesla has scheduled its Earnings Call for Q4 and Full Year 2025 for next Wednesday, January 28, at 5:30 p.m. EST, and investors are already preparing to get some answers from executives regarding a wide variety of topics.
The company accepts several questions from retail investors through the platform Say, which then allows shareholders to vote on the best questions.
Tesla does not answer anything regarding future product releases, but they are willing to shed light on current timelines, progress of certain projects, and other plans.
There are five questions that range over a variety of topics, including SpaceX, Full Self-Driving, Robotaxi, and Optimus, which are currently in the lead to be asked and potentially answered by Elon Musk and other Tesla executives:
- You once said: Loyalty deserves loyalty. Will long-term Tesla shareholders still be prioritized if SpaceX does an IPO?
- Our Take – With a lot of speculation regarding an incoming SpaceX IPO, Tesla investors, especially long-term ones, should be able to benefit from an early opportunity to purchase shares. This has been discussed endlessly over the past year, and we must be getting close to it.
- When is FSD going to be 100% unsupervised?
- Our Take – Musk said today that this is essentially a solved problem, and it could be available in the U.S. by the end of this year.
- What is the current bottleneck to increase Robotaxi deployment & personal use unsupervised FSD? The safety/performance of the most recent models or people to monitor robots, robotaxis, in-car, or remotely? Or something else?
- Our Take – The bottleneck seems to be based on data, which Musk said Tesla needs 10 billion miles of data to achieve unsupervised FSD. Once that happens, regulatory issues will be what hold things up from moving forward.
- Regarding Optimus, could you share the current number of units deployed in Tesla factories and actively performing production tasks? What specific roles or operations are they handling, and how has their integration impacted factory efficiency or output?
- Our Take – Optimus is going to have a larger role in factories moving forward, and later this year, they will have larger responsibilities.
- Can you please tie purchased FSD to our owner accounts vs. locked to the car? This will help us enjoy it in any Tesla we drive/buy and reward us for hanging in so long, some of us since 2017.
- Our Take – This is a good one and should get us some additional information on the FSD transfer plans and Subscription-only model that Tesla will adopt soon.
Tesla will have its Earnings Call on Wednesday, January 28.
Elon Musk shared an incredible detail about Tesla Cybercab’s potential efficiency, as the company has hinted in the past that it could be one of the most affordable vehicles to operate from a per-mile basis.
ARK Invest released a report recently that shed some light on the potential incremental cost per mile of various Robotaxis that will be available on the market in the coming years.
The Cybercab, which is detailed for the year 2030, has an exceptionally low cost of operation, which is something Tesla revealed when it unveiled the vehicle a year and a half ago at the “We, Robot” event in Los Angeles.
Musk said on numerous occasions that Tesla plans to hit the $0.20 cents per mile mark with the Cybercab, describing a “clear path” to achieving that figure and emphasizing it is the “full considered” cost, which would include energy, maintenance, cleaning, depreciation, and insurance.
Probably true
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2026
ARK’s report showed that the Cybercab would be roughly half the cost of the Waymo 6th Gen Robotaxi in 2030, as that would come in at around $0.40 per mile all in. Cybercab, at scale, would be at $0.20.
Credit: ARK Invest
This would be a dramatic decrease in the cost of operation for Tesla, and the savings would then be passed on to customers who choose to utilize the ride-sharing service for their own transportation needs.
The U.S. average cost of new vehicle ownership is about $0.77 per mile, according to AAA. Meanwhile, Uber and Lyft rideshares often cost between $1 and $4 per mile, while Waymo can cost between $0.60 and $1 or more per mile, according to some estimates.
Tesla’s engineering has been the true driver of these cost efficiencies, and its focus on creating a vehicle that is as cost-effective to operate as possible is truly going to pay off as the vehicle begins to scale. Tesla wants to get the Cybercab to about 5.5-6 miles per kWh, which has been discussed with prototypes.
Additionally, fewer parts due to the umboxed manufacturing process, a lower initial cost, and eliminating the need to pay humans for their labor would also contribute to a cheaper operational cost overall. While aspirational, all of the ingredients for this to be a real goal are there.
It may take some time as Tesla needs to hammer the manufacturing processes, and Musk has said there will be growing pains early. This week, he said regarding the early production efforts:
“…initial production is always very slow and follows an S-curve. The speed of production ramp is inversely proportionate to how many new parts and steps there are. For Cybercab and Optimus, almost everything is new, so the early production rate will be agonizingly slow, but eventually end up being insanely fast.”
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Tesla Earnings Call: Top 5 questions investors are asking
