Tesla van teased during Investor Day presentation
The long-rumoured electric van from Tesla could be just around the corner, with the car-maker teasing a long-roof vehicle during a presentation.
Tesla has teased an image of what appears to be a van during a presentation to investors this morning, Australian time.
The 2024 Tesla 'Robovan' has been hinted at since July 2022 after a comment from CEO Elon Musk on social media platform Twitter.
In late 2022, unconfirmed planning documents from a car-industry analyst firm sighted by Drive claimed production of a Tesla van is due to begin at the company's Texas factory in 2024 – assuming the information is accurate, and there are no delays.
During the presentation this morning – as part of Tesla's 'Investor Day' – a slide demonstrated the potential global reach of electric vehicles, with two models covered with sheets used to illustrate future commercial vehicles and the small-car segment.
One vehicle is thought to be the future Tesla small car, while the second vehicle appears to have a long box-shaped body.
In the presentation, Tesla estimates a potential 300 million electric light commercial vehicles globally in the coming years, which includes a combination of commercial vans and utes, along with a further 20 million electric heavy commercial trucks.
According to global logistics consulting firm SCMO, there were approximately 335 million total commercial vehicles in the world in 2015 "dedicated to road transportation".
While a future van wasn't mentioned by the company during the presentation, Mr Musk has written about the possibility of commercial vehicles and a people mover in the past.
"In addition to consumer vehicles, there are two other types of electric vehicle [sic] needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport," he wrote in his Master Plan Part Deux back in 2016.
The company has already revealed the Tesla Semi prime mover truck and the Cybertruck pick-up.
In 2016, Mr Musk also wrote on Twitter it “probably makes sense to build [a van] off the pick-up truck chassis”.
While the name remains unconfirmed, in July 2022 he tweeted about a "highly configurable Robovan for people & cargo".
Digital artist Theottle has imagined what a people-mover and a commercial van could look like (above and top).
The concept of using electric vans and utes as 'last-mile' delivery vehicles has increased in popularity in recent years – accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic – with many couriers allocated to and driving within a certain area over a limited distance, well suited to electric power.
Tesla rival Rivian has build an electric commercial van for online retail giant Amazon, while Volkswagen, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz have all shown off forthcoming electric vans.
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