Tesla starts volume production of Semi trucks at 50,000-unit Nevada plant

Tesla began volume production of its Semi electric truck and delivered the first units to customers from a new factory in Sparks, Nevada, on 25 September 2026. The plant, adjacent to Gigafactory Nevada, is designed to build as many as 50,000 trucks a year, roughly 1,000 per week, and to create 3,000 local jobs. The launch comes about nine years after chief executive Elon Musk first announced plans for the electric big rig and nearly a decade after the Semi was revealed in 2017.techspot.com+1

The milestone moves Tesla from a pilot programme to commercial-scale production of a heavy truck aimed at fleet operators. The first Semis were delivered to customers including PepsiCo in late 2022, but those vehicles were built on a lower-volume pilot line. The first truck from the high-volume line rolled off in April. Tesla has not released current prices or total reservation figures, and executives did not disclose pricing at the event, though the company reiterated its 50,000-unit annual target.

A plant built for 50,000 trucks

The Long Range version of the Semi is rated for 500 miles on a single charge, which Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of Vehicle Engineering, said is around the average number of miles travelled by US long-haul truckers each day. The Standard Range version is rated for 325 miles when hauling a full 82,000-pound gross combination weight trailer. Competitor electric trucks advertise ranges of 155 to 430 miles. Tesla executives said the Long Range truck could reach about 600 miles with a lighter load of roughly 60,000 pounds.

Tesla achieved the range target by cutting the truck's energy consumption to about 1,700 watt-hours per mile when fully loaded, down from an original target of 2,000 watt-hours per mile. Lower consumption lets Tesla fit a lighter battery pack while holding the same range. The production Semi uses Tesla's 4680 battery cells rather than the 2170 cells in earlier test vehicles, and the battery pack has 822 kilowatt-hours of capacity. Tesla also cut nearly 1,000 pounds from the truck during development.

The drivetrain was reworked as well. The earlier design used a carbon-fibre-sleeved rotor; the production version uses a steel-caged rotor and a bar-wound stator that Tesla also uses in the Cybertruck, making the redesigned drive axle about 80 kilograms lighter. The lubrication system was simplified so the hub no longer uses oil and the motor and gearbox share a single oil supply, which Tesla says should last more than 250,000 miles. The Semi now has redundant electric power steering instead of hydraulic steering, tightening its turning radius close to that of a Model Y.

How Tesla hit the range target

Charging infrastructure remains the largest practical hurdle. A Semi's 822-kilowatt-hour pack requires far more power to charge than a passenger car, so Tesla is building Megacharger stations that deliver as much as 1.2 megawatts per stall. At the event, Tesla showed a truck charging from 3% to 60% in about 30 minutes. Tesla plans more than 30 Semi charging locations with over 200 megawatt-capable posts by the end of the year; Tesla's website showed two public megawatt chargers operating in the Los Angeles area.

Demand signals are substantial. An alliance of shippers including Microsoft and PepsiCo placed an order for 2,500 Tesla Semis, to be delivered starting this year and through the next 18 months; if fulfilled, the order would nearly double the number of heavy-duty electric trucks on US roads today. Swedish freight technology company Einride announced a 500-truck deal in August, and IMC Logistics said it plans to buy 50 Semis for California drayage work. Named customers include PepsiCo, US Foods, DHL, WattEV, ABF Freight, Einride, IMC Logistics, and OK Produce.

Electric semis still face headwinds in the US market. Electric trucks can cost two to three times more upfront than diesel equivalents, and the Trump administration and congressional Republicans cut billions in federal support for electric vehicles last year while working to lower fuel economy standards for truck engines. Heavy trucks account for some 7% of US greenhouse gas emissions, according to figures cited at the event, while Dan Priestley, who leads Tesla's Semi programme, noted heavy trucks produce 16% of emissions despite making up just 1% of vehicles on the road.

Orders and charging remain open

Full Self-Driving (Supervised), Tesla's driver assistance feature, will not be available on the Semi at launch, though Musk said in a pre-taped address it would debut in the very near future; the predecessor technology, Enhanced Autopilot, was promised during the initial 2017 rollout. Musk was absent from the event, attending a White House state dinner with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. Tesla says its current Semi fleet has recorded more than 98% uptime.

Tesla has not released current prices for the Semi. When the company introduced the truck in 2017, it set starting prices at $150,000 for a 300-mile version and $180,000 for a 500-mile version; a trade publication reported earlier this year that Tesla was quoting some customers about $290,000 for the 500-mile truck. The most capable version is expected to cost just shy of $300,000 before incentives, with shorter-range variants also planned.

The next dated milestone on Tesla's own schedule is the charging build-out: more than 30 Semi charging locations with over 200 megawatt-capable charging posts by the end of the year. The 2,500-truck shipper order is scheduled for delivery starting this year and running through the next 18 months, and Musk said partial automation features would arrive in the near future.