The Boring Company introduces new Liner Truck 3 built from Tesla Model 3 parts

The Boring Company has unveiled Liner Truck 3, its newest fully electric tunnel vehicle. Built using Tesla Model 3 parts, this remote-controlled truck hauls massive concrete segments to tunnel boring machines without a human driver inside the tunnel.

The company listed key specs for the truck, pointing out that it runs on a Model 3 battery and drive unit. This approach allows the tunneling company to reuse hardware originally designed for passenger cars in heavy industrial work.

Reusing Tesla hardware for tunnel work

Liner Truck 3 is designed for a simple, demanding job. It repeatedly hauls precast concrete tunnel segments from a surface staging area directly to the cutting face of a Prufrock tunnel boring machine. The Boring Company noted that each load of concrete segments weighs more than 22,000 pounds. This is about the same weight as a fully loaded cement mixer.

Instead of building a custom powertrain, the company relied on familiar parts. The truck uses a Tesla Model 3 battery pack and electric drive units for propulsion. A recent factory tour showed that the latest version actually uses two Model 3 batteries and a rear drive unit to power hydraulic pumps and wheel motors.

By using Tesla parts, The Boring Company takes advantage of existing supply chains and proven technology. Other vehicles in the Vegas Loop also use Model 3 drive units, showing a continued pattern of cross-company hardware sharing.

Keeping people out of the tunnel

The most important feature of Liner Truck 3 is its remote operation. The Boring Company controls the truck from its Global Operations Control Center in Texas. Each pilot at the center can monitor and control more than eight trucks operating in the field at the same time.

This system is part of a larger strategy The Boring Company calls “Zero-People-In-Tunnel,” or ZPIT, to run tunnel boring machines and supply trucks without any workers underground. This setup improves safety and allows for continuous mining, since the boring machine doesn’t have to wait for human-driven supply trains.

The previous version of the liner truck was tested at the company’s research tunnels in Bastrop, Texas. In a July factory tour, an employee demonstrated how a fully loaded truck could be steered using a PlayStation controller, and operators can sometimes use a single button to auto-drive the truck through a tunnel. Liner Truck 3 represents the production-ready version of this system.

Range, speed, and other specs

Because the truck operates in a closed environment, its performance specs look different from a street-legal EV. The Boring Company stated that Liner Truck 3 has a range of 28 miles and a maximum operating speed of 12 mph.

The 28-mile range is a major upgrade. During the factory tour, an engineer mentioned the older Liner Truck 2 had a best range of about 8 miles. The newer version adds a second battery and hydraulic efficiency improvements to reach 28 miles, giving it enough endurance to drive down a four-mile tunnel and back multiple times without recharging.

The company also shared a surprising detail. The same Liner Truck chassis can carry standard freight containers through the tunnel. So, the vehicle could eventually be used to transport commercial cargo, not just construction materials.

Supporting new tunnel projects

The release of Liner Truck 3 comes at a busy time for The Boring Company. The company currently has multiple Prufrock machines active or arriving soon in Nashville for the Music City Loop project. At the same time, the Vegas Loop network continues to expand, with a new station recently opening at Sahara Las Vegas.

Each of these tunneling projects needs a steady supply of concrete segments to keep the boring machines moving. The Boring Company designed Liner Truck 3 to prevent bottlenecks in this process, ensuring that the Prufrock machines never sit idle waiting for materials. And as The Boring Company keeps digging, Liner Truck 3 will be the vehicle moving the heavy loads, guided by pilots sitting safely above ground.