Elon Musk unveils Tesla's new electric truck of the future which can travel 500 miles on one charge

Elon Musk has unveiled Tesla’s new electric vehicle, a truck which can travel for 500 miles on one charge.

He rode the ‘Tesla Semi’ himself into an airport hangar in California before delivery a flashy presentation on Thursday night, complete with red lighting and guitar music.

The billionaire entrepreneur said the truck can go at 65mph when fully loaded, and claimed it could do zero to 60mph in five seconds.

It is the latest step in Musk’s bid to revolutionise transport with environmentally-friendly vehicles, with trucks accounting for nearly a quarter of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions in the US.

The truck is scheduled for production in May 2019, he announced.

Musk also unveiled a prototype of a new roadster sports car during the presentation, which has a range of 1,000km – double that of the truck.

He claimed the car can do zero to 60mph in just 1.9 seconds, climbing from zero to 100mph in 4.2 seconds.

He added that its top speed is 250mph.

“The point of doing this is to give a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars,” he said, describing the roadster as "just ridiculous".

Musk has previously said Tesla is working on a pickup truck and a lower-cost SUV, as well as negotiating a new factory in China.