Tesla Semi Truck Spotted At Pixar HQ: Will It Be Made Into A Cartoon?

The much-hyped Tesla Semi truck made a rare appearance recently at The Tesla Pixar headquarters. The prototype was part of the many several electric vehicles lined up and made a good spectacle.

It seems the Pixar office invited a range of “alternative fuel” vehicles for an EV parade of sorts.

Many commonplace vehicles such as the Tesla Model S and the BMW i3 were also there at the lineup.

Also present was a brand new Drako GTE all-electric supercar at the event plus some electric conversions and more. The interesting ensemble of electric trucks could have made a good cartoon, if not a short film.

According to Tesla news, it was the same red Tesla Semi prototype that had a range of tests with a full load of 75,000 lbs in August.

Tesla Semi will reach markets in 2020

Tesla Semi was unveiled in 2017. Tesla semi hogged more attention because its market launch was expected in 2019 but it has been deferred to next year.

The release of Tesla Semi has been delayed as Tesla wanted to promote Model Y first. Tesla Semi launch is expected to happen at the end of next year.

Tesla had promised many versions of the semi-truck. The Tesla Semi is a class 8 truck with an average 80,000- pound capacity and options range from 300-mile to 500-mile. The pricing is estimated between $150,000 and $180,000 respectively.

In 2018, CEO Elon Musk said it saw more opportunities to expand the range during testing and the production version will have an average 600 miles of range.

In 2018, Tesla ran a testing program for two Tesla semi-truck prototypes and spotted many long-distance travel tests.

However, in much of 2019, Tesla Semi prototype was less visible barring a stop at a California Highway Patrol Inspection Center in August. No other Tesla Semi prototype has been visible until now.

That is why Tesla's electric semi-truck prototype at the Pixar headquarters in California elicited so much of interest.

Tesla stock was down 0.87 percent on Sept 20. Friday’s after-hours trading.

Meanwhile, Tesla Semi competitor Rivian truck received a big order from Amazon as delivery vehicles, mainly using the Rivian R1t truck.

Electric pickup trucks have become a hot market dotted by brands like Rivian R1T, Tesla Truck, Atlis XT, Ford F-150 and Fisker pickup as active names.

Truck market changing with new products

Meanwhile, reports suggest that the dominance of Ford’s F-150 Raptor in full-size off-road pickup truck market is under challenge.

The segment has brands like Rebel, Power Wagon, Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Chevrolet’s Colorado ZR2, Colorado ZR2 Bison, etc. Among them, Raptor reigns as a predator in the pickup market.

According to reports, Chevrolet is developing a new truck as a version of the Silverado for a bigger slice of the truck market. The likely name of the all-terrain truck may be Chevrolet Silverado ZRX.