Elon Musk announced that the Tesla Semi class 8 electric truck will be available worldwide, but they need to bring it to production.
Tesla Semi is getting some momentum lately.
Many people didn’t believe a 500-mile range class 8 truck would be feasible, and some still have issues believing it as Tesla is struggling with credibility issues on the autonomy front.
However, as we reported yesterday, Tesla’s claims regarding its semi-trucks are starting to be confirmed by third-party testing, as in a recent trial with DHL.
These trials come as the much-delayed vehicle program, which was first supposed to come to production in 2019, is finally about to enter volume production.
Tesla already has a low-volume production line in a building near its Gigafactory in Nevada outside of Reno, but it is now building another plant next to the factory to produce the Tesla Semi in volume starting next year. The plan is to start ramping up production in 2025 with the goal of eventually producing as many as 50,000 trucks per year.
The Tesla Semi program has always been focused on the North American market, but CEO Elon Musk did say earlier this year that it could also be produced in Europe at Gigafactory Berlin.
Last month, Tesla brought the vehicle to Europe to give a presentation at IAA, and it showcased a slightly modified version to fit EU regulations.
Now, the Tesla Semi paid a visit to its possible future home at Gigafactory Berlin and Musk confirmed that the plan is to make the vehicle “available worldwide”:
It’s not clear what he means by that since Tesla’s current vehicle lineup is not really available worldwide, but it’s likely that he meant where Tesla currently operates.
Electrek’s Take
As I have often said, Tesla Semi is probably the program I’m most excited about at Tesla right now. Dan Priestley appears to be doing a great job with it and it’s one of the rare vehicle programs at Tesla where it doesn’t mention autonomous driving.
Even though it’s likely in the plans at some point, battery-powered semi trucks by themselves could have a major impact on reducing emissions from transportation and reducing costs even with a driver still behind the wheel.
The now-proven 1.7 kWh per mile of efficiency is great. You power that with renewable energy, and Tesla just needs to produce them in volume at a somewhat reasonable price and with a high level of reliability.
That’s far from easy, but Tesla is the leader in producing EVs in high volumes.
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