The Tesla Semi has remained a secretive project despite a limited rollout to Pepsi in December, but new videos posted on social media purport to show the EV blowing the doors off diesel trucks on one of the most challenging stretches of road in America, Donner Pass in California.
When Tesla's Elon Musk announced the Semi's delivery to Pepsi, he called it "the most badass rig on the road" citing the Semi's unheard-of 20 second 0-60 mph times. Overdrive readers got a kick out of that, expressed some measured criticisms (and some not so measured), but mostly said they'd be open to trying it out.
The video below, posted by Hinrichs Zane, a "Tesla Semi stalker," shows the Semi making quick work of the steep grade.
Zane declined to be interviewed for this article, but insists on Twitter that he knows the Semi is loaded in the video, calling attention to the trailer tires and asking "why would engineering run these trucks empty? They wouldn’t."
Tesla itself has released video of the Semi running up Donner Pass hauling concrete dividers, which Musk said put the vehicle weight at 82,000 pounds, using every bit of the 2,000 pound allowance for EVs.
