Elon Musk on the Tesla Electric Pickup Truck: How About a "Mini Semi?"

Khodrocar - The monstrosity in question stems from the vehicle's very high torque output, with the CEO insisting the electric truck would be able to win a tug-of-war competition with any diesel counterpart while going uphill. That's a pretty powerful image and, considering torque deployment of the electric motors and the very good traction management that Tesla proved is capable of with the Model S P100D, we wouldn't bet against it.

Talking about the Semi event a while back, Musk said it would be worth showing up for the unveiling hinting there could be more in store for us than the electric truck. It was just a teaser meant to leave everyone's imagination to run rampant, but there aren't that many options.

In terms of new products, Tesla is known to work on three other apart from the Semi, which is the company's priority right now: the Model Y crossover, a pickup truck, and a new generation of the Roadster. The former and the latter are just too important to squeeze into a different presentation, plus it's way too early for anything surrounding the Roadster.

That just leaves the pickup, even though Musk could have been talking about a non-vehicle product as well. Now, though, during another Twitter exchange, the Tesla CEO might have provided a new hint - albeit one that's pretty vague and open to interpretation.

When Jason Cruickshank asked whether we could get a light duty pickup next, Elon Musk replied with a question of his own: "What if we just made a mini version of the Tesla Semi?" Well, it would have to be an extremely mini one to qualify as a light duty pickup truck, plus it would need a full cabin with four doors and five seats, something the Semi probably won't have.

If anything, this points toward the Tesla pickup being a utility vehicle above anything else. We've talked about the choice the company has to make between building a lifestyle vehicle or a true workhorse on another occasion, and we were split between the two. If Musk is indeed talking about the electric pickup, then it sounds like they might have made their mind up, and it's good news for those who use their flatbed-equipped vehicles for their true purpose.

But what exactly does a "mini Semi" mean? Well, since we don't know too much about the big rig, we can't speculate on this either. What we do know is that the Semi uses several Model 3 motors to gain that beastly torque output, which suggests the mini version, whatever it is, would do the same. 

Whether one on each axle would be enough or Tesla would have to go for individual motors for each wheel (at least on one axle), that remains to be seen. A balance between power and range has to be struck, and Tesla has proven it's good at it so far. Hopefully, we'll know more of Elon Musk's plans come October 26.