Tesla said it is launching high-volume production of its Semi electric truck at a dedicated factory in Sparks, Nevada, nearly nine years after unveiling the model.
“Semi is here. Today, we’re launching high volume production,” Tesla’s Semi account wrote on X on Thursday, alongside a video posted as the company livestreamed its Semi rollout event from the plant.
Tesla first unveiled the Semi in November 2017, when production was expected to start in 2019.
The company delivered its first hand-built units to PepsiCo in December 2022, and the first truck came off the new high-volume line in April.
‘A Sports Car in Truck Form’
Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk did not appear on stage but addressed the event in a pre-recorded video.
“We’re super excited to start production with the Tesla Semi truck and this is really going to be a revolutionary truck that is capable of carrying the heaviest loads over very long distances,” Musk said.
“Drivers are going to love driving this truck because it just has so much acceleration. It’s almost like a sports car in truck form,” he said.
Musk said Tesla would add self-driving features to the truck “in the very near future.”
“If somebody’s on a long truck journey, they can engage the Tesla self-driving and greatly improve safety and comfort of driving so that the driver arrives at the destination and still feels refreshed,” he said.
He also pitched the truck’s running costs.
“It’s going to make a ton of sense economically because the cost of electricity per mile is much less than the cost of diesel, especially in these crazy times,” Musk said.
“I’d recommend placing more orders if you haven’t already. The waiting list is already pretty significant,” he added.
50,000 Trucks a Year
The Sparks plant, next to Tesla’s Gigafactory Nevada, is designed to build 50,000 Semis a year.
Tesla sells the truck in Standard Range and Long Range versions, rated at up to 325 miles and 500 miles respectively, both with an 800-kilowatt three-motor powertrain.
The company has quoted prospective buyers $250,000 for the Standard Range and $290,000 for the Long Range before taxes and destination fees, Electrek reported in February.
That compares with the $150,000 to $180,000 Tesla listed for the two versions at the 2017 unveiling.
In a summary thread on X after the event, Tesla said it had switched the Semi from 2170 battery cells to its in-house 4680 cells, cutting battery mass, according to Runtimewire.
Tesla also described the Semi as the first heavy-duty truck with electric steering, and said its uptime so far in 2026 was above 98%.
The company said its Megacharger can add up to 60% of range in 30 minutes, and that it would use Semis to haul its own freight.
Fleets Line Up
Eleven customer-branded Semis were lined up at the factory ahead of the event, drone footage showed.
They included PepsiCo, DHL, Einride, ABF Freight, WattEV and IMC Logistics, alongside previously unannounced customers US Foods, OK Produce, Nevoya, HMD Trucking and Lincoln Transportation.
On Tuesday, Tesla was picked as the primary manufacturer for a 2,500-truck order from ZET SCALE, a shipper-carrier alliance whose publicly named founding members are Microsoft and PepsiCo.
“With 2,500 Semis on order, this will double the entire US electric Class 8 fleet,” Tesla’s Semi account wrote on X.
Kenworth, Volvo and RIDE were named as secondary suppliers for the order.
Tesla closed the night with a teaser video on its main X account captioned “See you next week.”
Musk quoted the post with “10.01”, pointing to October 1, the date Tesla has set to reveal its next-generation Roadster.
