Leading American automaker Tesla teased two sheet-covered models as part of the presentation of its upcoming commercial vehicle and small-car category. Now, the automotive community speculates that one of those vehicles is Tesla’s highly awaited small car, and the other is the long-speculated van.
2024 Tesla ‘Robovan’
In retrospect, speculations about a Tesla van emerged in July 2022 following CEO Elon Musk‘s comments on Twitter. He hinted about a Tesla “Robovan,” implying that the automaker plans to pursue that path.
Apart from that, Tesla van production is reportedly scheduled to start at the Gigafactory in Texas in 2024, per an unverified project plan obtained by Drive in late 2022.
As mentioned, Tesla presented two intriguing models of different sizes during Investor Day, which shows the potential worldwide expansion of Tesla EVs.
At the same time, Tesla also presented a global market forecast of 300 million electric light commercial cars over the next few years. The mix would include commercial vans and utes, apart from the additional 20 million heavy commercial trucks.
Another indicator that Tesla may be planning to launch an electric van is CEO Musk’s statement in his Master Plan Part Deux back in 2016. He indicated the need for “high passenger-density urban transport.”
Furthermore, CEO Musk posted another hint on Twitter that further fueled the speculations.
“…probably makes sense to build [a van] off the pick-up truck chassis.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk via Twitter
Indeed, past developments have seen an upsurge in interest in the idea of deploying electric vans and utes as “last-mile” delivery vehicles. The coronavirus pandemic, which caused many couriers to be assigned to a specific location across a short distance, accelerated it even more. Apart from that, governments worldwide have also been advocating for sustainable solutions, particularly in mobility and logistics.
That said, it would not be surprising if the American EV giant actually pursued the long-speculated electric van.
