The Tesla Semi is an all-electric battery-powered Class 8 semi-truck by Tesla, Inc. Two concept vehicles were unveiled in November 2017. Production was originally planned to begin as early as 2019,[2] with Tesla projecting manufacture of as many as 100,000 trucks per year by 2022.[3] Production began in October 2022,[4] and initial deliveries were made to PepsiCo on December 1, 2022.[5]
The company initially announced that the truck would have a range of 500 miles (800 km) on a full charge and, with its new batteries, would be able to run for 400 miles (650 km) after an 80% charge in 30 minutes using a solar-powered “Tesla Megacharger” charging station. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the Semi would come standard with Tesla Autopilot that allows semi-autonomous driving on highways. The production trucks in 2022 did achieve the 500-mile loaded range previously stated by the company,[5] despite several trucking industry experts questioning Tesla’s ability to achieve such a long range with an electric Class 8 heavy duty truck.[6
