Tesla Semi’s entry on the Australian market may be blocked, at least if the traffic laws won’t get adjusted. If the laws remain as they are, Australia won’t see the Tesla Semi trucks on its local roads. However, Tesla has something to say on that matter, and it gave its own comments during the regulatory review process, launched by the country’s National Transportation Commission. In the document, dated December, 3rd, 2020, Tesla has advocated for a change in local rules, so that its electric semi-trailer would be able to roam the roads of Australia.
At the current moment, any vehicle wider than 2,5 meters (approximately 8,2 feet) cannot move on the local roads. The Tesla Semi is 2 inches wider than the current regulations allow, and here lies the problem.
“Currently, because of this, Australia will possibly miss out on the first generation of heavy-duty electric vehicles, such as the Tesla Semi”, – wrote the car manufacturer in its submission to the public report. Tesla also noted that Semi is fully compliant with traffic regulations of the USA, which requires trucks to be 2,6 meters wide or less, or the European Union, where the limitation is 2,55 meters.
“A small size of Australia, compared to global markets and such inconsistencies between Australian rules and bigger markets will slow down or prevent the launch of vehicles on local platforms”, – Tesla stated. Company has also spent a lot of time to draw attention to the unfavorable climate change and local consequences, which has caused in Australia in particular, catastrophic forest fires at the beginning of 2020. In that regard Tesla describes itself as a way to help the country “decarbonize” the transport sector, while emphasizing that the arrival of the Semi truck may encourage the competitors to start selling heavy-duty electric vehicles. The period of public discussion of proposed changes, allowing the use of wider vehicles on local roads, was closed in May of the previous year, and the NTC is planning to release its final recommendations in May of this year.
It is interesting that not only Tesla demands changes to truck width limits in the country. Austroads, the chief authority, which represents the country’s state and federal transport agencies, sent a report to the government in September 2019, that the maximum allowed width of trucks should be increased by 50 millimeters, up to 2,55 meters. The research was widely supported, although from the moment of publication of the report, no changes were made to the rules.
Even the position of the Australian Trucking Association is consistent with Tesla’s request. As noted in The Driven’s report, the representative of ATA stated that the preservation of already existing rules will slow down the integration of trucks with zero emissions in Australia.
The CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, presented his fully electric semi-trailer in November 2017 for the first time. Semi should have been ready by now, but Tesla’s usual deadline delays get in the way. The latest information at the moment is an email from Elon Musk, in which he noted that Semi is ready for mass production. The production of the Semi should be launched at the new Tesla facility in Austin, Texas, but for now, as it seems, we can only expect the pre-productions prototypes.
