Tesla Semi Truck: TSLA Shares Go Up After Walmart Preorders Tesla's Tractor Trailer

Earlier this week, Tesla was at the center of the tech news cycle for the wrong reasons: Former employees accused Elon Musk’s electric car manufacturer of fostering a toxic, racist work environment in a new lawsuit. Thanks to the unveiling of Tesla’s new, bizarre looking semi-trucks, the company has managed to shine the spotlight on itself for more positive reasons.

American retail giant Walmart announced its plan to test the new electric tractor trailer Friday, preordering 15 for its large truck fleet. According to CNBC, five of those trailers will be in the United States Walmart fleet, while 10 of them will go to the Canadian fleet. The total size of the fleet is 6,000 trucks, so these trailers will make up only a tiny fraction of the total fleet.

The news was met with applause from investors. After Walmart’s announcement, Tesla shares rose 1.95 percent to $318.59 per share.

"We believe we can learn how this technology performs within our supply chain, as well as how it could help us meet some of our long-term sustainability goals, such as lowering emissions,” Walmart told CNBC.

Tesla unveiled the electric semi plan at an event Thursday, which Business Insider broke down. It is certainly more sleek and futuristic in appearance than your average semi truck trailer, but the guts inside are the real story. Instead of relying on diesel fuel, it uses Tesla’s usual electric car technology to theoretically transport goods in a more environmentally friendly and efficient manner.

The company claims the trucks will get 500 miles out of a charge, and can get 400 miles worth of charge in half an hour using new, powered up chargers. It will supposedly be able to go 0 to 60 miles per hour in five seconds without a trailer and in 20 seconds with cargo.

Fascinatingly, the interior of the cabin is unlike any normal semi truck. The driver has enough room to stand and, when sitting, has two touch screen interfaces surrounding the steering wheel. It almost looks like an airplane cockpit. The screens will help with navigation and other such features. Modern autopilot features aim to help the trucks navigate turns and avoid collisions, as well.

Lastly, Musk said one driver can lead a convoy of trucks using autonomous driving features. Whether this is the future of trucking or the next step on the path to humanity’s eradication at the hands of robots remains to be seen.