Tesla’s newest innovation is in the field of cargo transportation, with Elon Musk announcing today their first foray into the lorry market, Angela Ansari reports

Tesla, the US firm known for producing luxury electric vehicles, held a major press conference today to launch two new flagship cars. In addition to launching a new sports car, the Roadster, the event saw the unveiling of the Semi. It is the first electric-powered lorry in the world, and will allegedly be capable of travelling 500 miles on a single charge.

Tesla claim that transporting goods via their electric Semi will be cheaper than doing so by rail, and allegedly safer than any truck-based-transportation has ever been before. It remains to be seen whether this new electric design is likely to win the hearts of America’s transportation industry.

The trucking industry in the US accounted for $13 trillion of economic activity in 2002, according to Treasury estimates, so winning them over would be a coup for a fledgling motor company which has previously struggled to meet demand. The staff at Tesla have been working hard to win over truckers, however, and in so doing have decided to include enhanced autopilot, automatic braking, automatic lane keeping, and lane departure warnings as standard.

The Roadster, meanwhile, is said to be the fastest production vehicle ever released. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has claimed that the smoothness of electric engines will soon make driving cars powered by combustion seem like “steam power with a side of quiche”. Musk claimed that the Roadster will be capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in under two seconds.