Google says seen trucks average 6.5 miles per gallon of diesel. Wikipedia has 10 kWh/L which converts to 37.6 kWh/gal. Wikipedia also says diesel engines can be 45% efficient. So to get kWh/mile It's 37.6/6.5×0.45=2.6 kWh/mile. That doesn't include regenerative braking, so let's just round down to 2 kWh/mile. So 400 miles would mean 800 kWh, and getting that in 30 minutes means 1.6 MW. I'd love to see how Tesla does that.megacharging: 400 miles (644 km) per 30minutes
I saw someone on Reddit make the same calculation. Supposedly it requires a Powerwall-esque setup, where that Powerwall can do the heavy lifting which is then charged slowly. I also thought battery charging is not linear...an empty battery charges faster than a slower one, so that would also aides quick charges. It still sounds nuts though. That said, the biggest freight truck corridor in terms of volume in the EU is less than 300km one-way (Rotterdam to the Ruhrzone) so there are plenty of opportunities to disrupt trucking even when limited to one charge.
I definitely agree. This has a lot of applications. Just poking around at Google Maps and starting at Houston (Gulf of Mexico port), Albuquerque is 900 miles, St. Louis 800, Nashville 800, and Atlanta 800. With a 500 mile starting range and one megacharge, a truck can reach a lot of places.