The Tesla Semi finally has a factory. Tesla opened a plant next to its Nevada Gigafactory on Thursday, September 24, that is built to turn out 50,000 electric trucks a year, or about 1,000 a week.
Heavy trucks make up about 1 percent of vehicles on the road but produce about 16 percent of emissions, TechCrunch reports. An electric truck built at that volume would be the first serious test of whether freight can switch from diesel.
Seven years late
Tesla unveiled the Semi in 2017 and promised production in 2019. The company blamed the pandemic, parts and chip shortages, and design changes based on feedback from pilot customers such as PepsiCo.
Some of those changes are small. The pop-out windows are gone, replaced by ordinary roll-down ones. "We fully admit we were wrong about the windows," said Dan Priestley, who leads the Semi program. The truck is also about 1,000 pounds lighter than the original design.
Price and range
Tesla says the Semi goes more than 500 miles on a charge fully loaded. It costs just under $300,000 before incentives, according to TechCrunch. The plant is expected to bring 3,000 jobs to the Reno area.
Elon Musk skipped the opening and appeared in a recorded video. The trucks the company promised in 2017 are now rolling off a line.
