Tesla continues to be a topic of conversation. “What is Elon’s next move?” “Is Tesla even making any money?” “Why are they so slow to produce?” A multitude of questions continue to soar in from consumers and business professionals when wondering if they should make a purchase or investment in the infamous sustainable luxury vehicle.

After Tesla’s start in 2003, it’s been slow to hit the ground running and make money. Tesla’s stock continues to have highs and lows — starting at $19 a share and going up and down between $100-$300 dollars. According to Wired, “2017, however, is the formative year to see whether Tesla becomes the unbeatable car company, or just another company that tried to beat the competition but failed.” With excitement surrounding the release of Tesla’s truck in 2019, it could turn out to be a make year rather than a break year after all. Tesla’s stock went up following the announcement of the truck and is up nearly 50% so far this year.

On top of that, Musk is already seeing pre orders roll in from WalMart, Meijer, and J.B. Hunt to name a few. The first issue that comes to mind, though, is how are these trucks going to be of much use beyond small routes? As an electric car, especially a self driving car, it will run out of energy after a couple hundred miles. That means that on long truck hauls a lot of time ends up being added to the commute. Essentially, the truck will only be able to add  value to routes that are local. While this does still reduce emissions, it still doesn’t fix the issue of long commuter hauls unless Musk has a new idea on charging station efficiency and productivity — this could take even more money and more time. Considering the lack of charging stations on these commutes and the slow history of Tesla production, will Elon Musk even be able to roll out this truck by 2019? In the past, Musk has fallen short on lots of promises and production has been late up to two years past the publicly announced date of release. There is a lot of pressure on Tesla Motors and especially Elon to perform. So many people are rooting for Tesla, especially the sustainability behind it, but at the end of the day its hard to know if the sustainability model behind Tesla is worth fighting for, or profitable. The headlines are saying one thing, yet the sales of Tesla are saying another. They are reaching record high’s with profit margins equivalent to that of Apple (25% margins) — this is huge for the auto industry when it usually sees a break even number or a loss in profit.

So, what’s the big idea behind this truck? In order to understand and predict the future of yet another Tesla hyped release, one must know what makes this truck so amazing. Tech Crunch says that the Tesla Semi, “will go 0 to 60 mph in just 5 seconds, which is incredibly fast compared to a diesel truck. It can go 0 to 60 mph towing 80,000 lbs, its max tow load, in just 20 seconds. It can go 65 mph up a 5 percent grade, which is way better than the 45 mph max that a diesel competitor can do. And for range, it can go 500 miles at highway speed, and less than 80 percent trips are at 250 miles. It also has a better drag coefficient than a super car thanks to its extremely aerodynamic design.” Now, I am sure that all of that sounded like a bunch of numbers and words that made no sense, to me too. The most important thing to note, however, behind all these facts is that it truly is bigger, better, faster, stronger. The Tesla Semi will get the job done, according to Musk, because of it’s aerodynamic design. The features of the truck are like nothing we have seen before and its deemed safer than any other normal diesel truck we see on the highway. It’s capabilities are endless and all outlined in the TechCrunch article here.

While consumers and investors continue to feel good and bad about Tesla, it is still being talked about and stirring up controversy and at the end of the day, that means you’re doing something right. The innovation and ability behind Elon Musk is unprecedented and has the ability to truly change the world. If accomplished right, we could be looking at a game changer for our economy and the longevity of our planet. It’s time to continue to sit back, relax, and see what these automatic driving cars can achieve.

https://www.wired.com/2016/12/2017-will-year-tesla-reigns-supreme-finally-flops/

http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/17/investing/tesla-semi-orders/index.html

This is Tesla’s big new all-electric truck – the Tesla Semi

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-tesla-is-doing-right-2017-11