Tesla Semi Enters Volume Production as First Deliveries Begin

The factory, in Sparks, Nevada, can build 50,000 trucks a year, or 1,000 per week, according to Tesla. At the event, the company announced customers including PepsiCo, US Foods, DHL, WattEV, ABF, Einride, IMC, and OK Produce. The Verge reported that most of those names had leaked before the event after a YouTuber flew a drone over the company’s Sparks facility. First deliveries started this week.

Even so, Tesla left out details that could explain the length of the delay or clarify the Semi’s next steps. The Verge reported that Tesla did not reveal order numbers or update the truck’s price. The long-range version has been rumored to cost $290,000. When the Semi was first shown in 2017, Tesla advertised a starting price of $150,000 for a 300-mile version and $180,000 for a 500-mile version. Electrek reported earlier this year that Tesla was quoting customers $290,000 for the 500-mile range version.

The truck was originally supposed to enter production in 2019, but the timeline slipped for reasons including the covid pandemic and a global parts shortage. Tesla delivered a handful of trucks to PepsiCo in 2022, though those units were essentially built by hand on a pilot line. Tesla spent the last three years refining the Semi’s design, cutting nearly 1,000 pounds from its weight and building a dedicated factory next to Gigafactory in Sparks. In February 2026, Tesla revealed the final production design, confirming two trims: a Standard Range truck with 325 miles of range at a full 82,000-pound gross combination weight, and a Long Range version with 500 miles of range. In April, Tesla announced the first Semi had rolled off the line at the new facility.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not attend the event. He was in Washington, DC, attending a state dinner with President Trump and Chinese President Xi, according to The Verge. In a pre-recorded message, Musk praised the Semi as “the funnest truck to drive.” “This is really going to be a revolutionary truck,” Musk said, “that is capable of carrying the heaviest loads over very long distances. With ease of recharge, Megacharger that’s capable of a megawatt of power. This is really going to be a phenomenal truck.”

Much of the event focused on the truck’s hardware and engineering. Dan Priestley, Tesla’s director of Semi truck engineering, said the 500-mile figure comes from fully loaded trucks rather than tests with a diminishing payload. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of engineering, said a Semi carrying a lighter load of around 60,000 pounds could potentially reach about 600 miles. The lower-range truck will have less mass and be suited to a variety of applications, giving Tesla multiple Semi configurations rather than relying only on the long-range version.

Tesla claims the Semi is cheaper to run than a diesel truck because of lower energy cost and far fewer parts to maintain. The claim comes as diesel prices have hit historic record highs, surpassing $6.50 a gallon in the United States, nearly double the price a year earlier. Tesla says the fully loaded truck now consumes about 1,700 Wh per mile, compared with an original target of 2,000 Wh per mile. The efficiency gains allow Tesla to use a smaller, lighter, and cheaper battery while retaining the same range. The Semi uses Tesla’s in-house 4680 battery cells, replacing the purchased 2170 cells used in previous test versions. Tesla says that change, combined with vehicle-efficiency improvements, produces a lower-mass, lower-kWh battery without sacrificing range.

The company has also substantially redesigned the powertrain and drive axle since the Semi’s initial reveal. The truck gets a new steel-caged rotor instead of the earlier carbon-fiber-sleeved rotor, a bar-wound stator shared with Cybertruck, and a redesigned drive axle that is about 80 kilograms lighter. Tesla also eliminated the three separate oils used in the original drive axle, leaving no oil in the hub.