Excessive-volume manufacturing of the Tesla Semi hasn’t even began but, however a Chinese language doppelganger seems to have already emerged. A Tesla proprietor noticed the Semi lookalike on a freeway in China – the camouflaged take a look at mule lay on a trailer flatbed, apparently in transit for summer season testing.
A Twitter person shared the clip, by which the narrator mentions that the electrical semi-truck was on its approach from Hefei, a metropolis in China’s central-eastern Anhui province, to Turpan within the Xinjiang province.
It’s potential that the truck belongs to Chinese language automaker JAC Motors, which manufactures passenger vehicles, business autos, and EVs. The corporate has a number of factories in Heifei as per Google Maps.
At first look, the camouflaged truck appears practically equivalent to the Tesla Semi. However scan it carefully and also you’ll discover the absence of the signature wraparound glass and lack of wing mirrors. The Chinese language knockoff even has digital digital camera housings above the home windows.
When Tesla first showcased the Semi, it had camera-based wing mirrors, however they have been positioned on the rear of the cab, not like those we see on its knockoff. Final yr, the Austin-based model dropped the digital mirrors for conventional wing mirrors.
The Tweet means that the Chinese language truck might have vision-based superior driver help methods (ADAS). Though it might even have radar. A sq. cut-out that seems to accommodate radar sensors is seen within the video. Furthermore, it has a glass roof, not like the Semi.
The remainder of the outside design seems strikingly just like the Tesla. The cab-forward stance with a sloping entrance fascia, the wheel design, and even the decrease air consumption appears equivalent. The driving force-focused inside seems closely impressed by the Semi as effectively. It will get a central driving place, two large screens on both aspect and a passenger seat on the rear proper aspect.
Within the second Tweet embedded above, an identical JAC truck is seen, albeit with completely different visible parts. Its mirrors, wipers, and entrance part are visibly completely different from the camouflaged prototype. Its location interprets to “Heavy Car Department of Anhui Jianghuai Vehicle Group Co., Ltd, Hefei.”
It’s not the primary time that we’re seeing a Tesla Semi-double. In 2019, California-startup Neuron EV showcased two electrical automobile ideas with Tesla design cues.
Design similarities typically invite authorized troubles, as was the case between Tesla and Nikola – the latter alleged that the Elon Musk-led model was concerned in patent infringement with respect to the Semi’s design. However Nikola dropped the $2 billion lawsuit final yr.
Deliveries for the Tesla Semi began in December 2022, with preliminary batches going to Pepsico and its subsidiary Frito-lay. Mass manufacturing is unlikely to start till late 2024.