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Transportation Power

First Tesla Semi Rolls Off High-Volume Production Line (electrek.co) 27

Posted by BeauHD from the almost-one-decade-later dept.
Tesla has produced the first Semi from its new high-volume production line at Gigafactory Nevada, a milestone for the long-delayed electric Class 8 truck program after years of pilot builds and delays. Electrek reports: The Tesla Semi has had one of the longest gestation periods in Tesla's history. First unveiled in 2017, the truck was originally promised for production in 2019. That target slipped repeatedly -- to 2020, then 2021, then 2022 -- before Tesla finally delivered a handful of units to PepsiCo in late 2022. Those early trucks were essentially hand-built on a pilot line. Tesla spent the next three years refining the design, cutting roughly 1,000 lbs from the truck, and building out a dedicated factory adjacent to Gigafactory Nevada in Sparks. The company revealed the final production specs in February, confirming two trims: a Standard Range with 325 miles at full 82,000-lb gross combination weight, and a Long Range with 500 miles of range.

Tesla is quoting $290,000 for the 500-mile Long Range version and roughly $260,000 for the Standard Range -- making it the lowest-priced Class 8 battery electric tractor on the market. The shift from a pilot line to a high-volume production line is significant. Tesla's Semi factory is designed for an annual capacity of 50,000 trucks, though the company will ramp gradually. Analysts project deliveries between 5,000 and 15,000 units in 2026, but that sounds way too optimistic. [...] Both trims feature an 800-kW tri-motor drivetrain producing 1,072 hp and support 1.2-MW Megacharger speeds, restoring 60% of range in roughly 30 minutes -- conveniently timed around a driver's mandatory rest break. Tesla has opened its first Megacharger station in Ontario, California, and has mapped 66 Megacharger locations across 15 states.

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First Tesla Semi Rolls Off High-Volume Production Line

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  • Because we've had issues with semis (admittedly, for once not Teslas), being demonstrated with a little bit of gravity help...

  • Promised in 2 years, delivered in 9, that sounds about right for an Elon Musk company.
    • What do you mean? They did get delivered. People are still waiting for self driving.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ledow ( 319597 )

      Well... I think "delivered" is stretching it somewhat.

      So far only Pepsi has some hand-built models. It's gonna be years before their earliest larger orders are even close to being fulfilled.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It's too late anyway, outside of the US. Europe and China have had EV trucks for years, and they work very well. Musk will have his home market, but the rest of the world has already moved on. Plus most places prefer cab-over designs anyway.

  • https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org] "the regular versions of the 300-mile and the 500-mile trucks will cost $150,000 and $180,000 each" Me? I'm still waiting for the Roadster I ordered.
    • I really hope you're kidding on your comment. Elon is too busy playing "totally not a car manufacturer" and the shell game to hide the debt. I doubt it will be done at all by now.

  • That's not even 12 hrs of "fuel".

    • Re:500 miles? (Score:4, Informative)

      by AleRunner ( 4556245 ) on Thursday April 30, 2026 @06:43AM (#66119938)

      Maximum of 8 hours of driving before a 30 minutes break, with a maximum of a two hour extension in the case of adverse conditions according to US laws, so 10 hours would cover the worst case. You could average over 50MPH and still be fine.

    • Diesel is a major cost component in trucking, and per mile electricity is roughly 5 times cheaper when purchased commercially. With newer batteries able to charge in under 15 minutes this means with appropriately sized chargers a very large savings in fuel costs is possible while diversifying the types of raw energy needed. In the coming years it won’t be viable to use diesel anymore simply because it’s too expensive, not to mention that the costs to build an electric vehicle are already dropp
    • In the long haul logistics world, 500 miles is the rule of thumb estimate for daily driving.

      Problem to be solved now is the charging infrastructure to support these beyond regional routes.
    • For this to succeed:
      1. Needs a good range
      2. Need places to charge within 1 hour to full
      3. Easily serviceable with easily sourced parts

      Given tesla never managed to keep up logistics with the cybertrukkk, the last point will kill this. When you're dropping $200k and you have to get it towed to a tesla repair shop and the parts are still being made, it's just plain stupid to invest in these.
      It's probably being rushed as we speak, so I'm looking forward to hearing a 50% failure rate on these things.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Junta ( 36770 )

        2. Need places to charge within 1 hour to full

        I'm not going to chime in on the semi one way or the other, but I have always disliked this way of thinking of EV charging.

        Great news, this EV only takes 1 minute to full change! But it only has a range of 10 miles...

        This EV has a 10,000 mile range!! Oh that's worthless because it takes 2 hours to charge from empty to full..

        The right metric is miles per hour of charge, not percentage of capacity replenished.

  • "640 miles should be enough for anybody."

  • Trailer with battery/solar (Score:3)

    by SuperDre ( 982372 ) on Thursday April 30, 2026 @06:23AM (#66119918) Homepage
    I wonder if the range can be extended by having extra battery in the trailer (newly designed and optimized) and have lightweight solarpanels as the cover. Yeah the solar panels won't add that much, but it can be enough to run the refrigerator of the trailer or some extra power. Also, docking stations should be adjusted so these (any EV) truck can be charged while (off)loading the cargo, do extending the range a bit between each station and making it viable for longer ranges. Also adding charging pads to all highways between cities can make sure these trucks can even be charged while driving (already successfull tests have been done in some countries).
    • How about a drone hook to charge from existing power lines?

    • I wonder if the range can be extended by having extra battery in the trailer.

      Generally, simply not by any useful amount. Adding more battery always adds more weight which reduces range. At some point, you are at a flat stage where more battery adds the same amount of range as it reduces. The largest battery cars are a bit below that in normal operation but not by much so it just isn't worth it.

      • > Adding more battery always adds more weight which reduces range

        Adding more battery increases range, not reduces. Adding more battery increases weight, which reduces cargo capacity. That's the problem for trucks, which have a total weight limit and you want as much of that weight to be stuff you're getting paid to move.

        > At some point, you are at a flat stage where more battery adds the same amount of range as it reduces.

        This is literally never true in practice. To get to a point where more battery =

  • Choke point (Score:2, Insightful)

    by burtosis ( 1124179 )
    Battery capacity is increasing, and larger vehicles are being electrified but that brings us to a major charging problem. 350kW is the maximum available in the US, and vehicles like the Silverado have over 200kWh meaning fast charging isn’t possible, not because the battery and supporting systems can’t take it but because there is no such thing as a charger powerful enough. Somehow BYD in China already has 1,500 kW chargers and even supporting smaller capacity vehicles meaning the charge time

    • The only way I can express it is by borrowing a line from (I think) WWII British prime minister Winston Churchill: "The Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing, when all other options have been exhausted."

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