Electric car maker Tesla Inc. will launch its first “semi-truck” in September, Chief Executive Elon Musk announced Thursday.

The announcement was made on Twitter, with Musk giving no further details of the truck other than saying that his team “has done an amazing job. Seriously next level.” In addition, Musk said in another tweet that the company would also deliver a pickup truck in 18 to 24 months.

An electric-powered semi, also known as a semi-trailer or lorry outside the United States, isn’t a new idea. Uber Inc.-owned Otto also had planned to deliver an electric self-driving truck, but how far it had progressed was never clear, even apart from Waymo Inc., the company formerly known as Google Inc.’s self-driving car unit, claiming that most of Otto’s technology was stolen from Google. Another startup, Nikola Motor Co., is building a partially electric truck that relies on compressed natural gas as a backup power source.

Tesla’s ambition in trucks was revealed in a master plan published by Musk  in 2016. He said that “we believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate.”

While nice in theory, there are some serious challenges when it comes to delivering an electric powered semi-truck, primarily one of battery storage. Not only do semis require far more horsepower to power their drive train, in an on-demand economy, truck drivers don’t have the luxury of being able to stop for significant lengths of time waiting for batteries to recharge.

The challenge comes down to proving ample battery storage capacity for long-distance trucking as well as rapid charging technology so that the trucks can be charged in a similar time frame as to what it would take to fill a truck currently with diesel fuel.

Given that many thought Telsa couldn’t get this far — becoming the most valuable car maker in the United States by market capitalization — if Musk says he can deliver, it’s a good bet he will.

Photo: Pixabay