After nearly 10 years of delays, the Tesla Semi is finally going into mass production!

Tesla's Semi, a heavy-duty electric truck nearly a decade in the making, has officially entered mass production and began delivering its first batch of customers this week. Amid declining sales and pressure on its brand image, whether this product can deliver on its initial promises is of great significance to Tesla.

On Thursday evening local time, Tesla held a delivery event at its Semi factory in Sparks, Nevada, announcing that a number of new and existing customers, including PepsiCo, DHL, US Foods, WattEV, ABF, Einride, IMC, and OK Produce, had joined the order list.

Musk stated that the Semi's "waitlist is quite substantial" and encouraged more customers to place orders, adding, "We are very excited."

Tesla claims the factory has an annual production capacity of 50,000 vehicles, or 1,000 vehicles per week. Technically, Tesla provided several figures exceeding its original targets: a range of 500 miles under full load and up to 600 miles under lighter load; and energy consumption reduced by approximately 15% compared to the original design target, to approximately 1,700 watt-hours per mile.

On Friday, Tesla opened higher but closed lower, down 1.54%.

After a ten-year delay, Semi officially entered mass production.

The Tesla Semi first debuted as a concept car in 2017, and after several delays, it finally entered mass production in April 2026. This event was held at the Semi's dedicated manufacturing facility, located adjacent to the Nevada Gigafactory, which Tesla states has an annual production capacity of 50,000 vehicles.

On the eve of the event, a YouTuber used a drone to fly over the factory, leaking the names of several customers in advance. At the official event, Tesla confirmed that PepsiCo, DHL, US Foods, WattEV, ABF, Einride, IMC, and OK Produce were all on the customer list.

Among them, autonomous truck startup Einride announced an order for 500 trucks last August; logistics company IMC said earlier this week that it would purchase 50 trucks for port short-haul operations in California; and on Monday, Tesla was also selected to provide 2,500 trucks for the "world's largest consortium of shippers" to serve California's zero-emission freight operations.

Tesla has not disclosed total order volume or starting price, but Musk's remarks suggest that demand is not lacking.

Engineering Upgrades: Higher Efficiency, Lighter Battery

The event devoted a significant portion to the technical details of Semi.

Tesla's Semi-Truck Engineering Director, Dan Priestley, emphasized that the 500-mile range figure comes from full-load testing, not from light-load testing where the load decreases, thus differentiating it from the industry's usual calibration method. Tesla's Vice President of Engineering, Lars Moravy, stated that when the load is reduced to approximately 60,000 pounds, the range can be further extended to approximately 600 miles.

Regarding battery technology, the Semi has abandoned the 2170 cells previously used in the test version and switched to Tesla's self-developed 4680 cells. Tesla stated that, combined with improvements in overall vehicle efficiency, this adjustment achieves a reduction in both battery pack weight and capacity without sacrificing range, thus helping to control costs.

The vehicle's energy consumption has been reduced from the initially set 2,000 Wh/mile to approximately 1,700 Wh/mile, a decrease of about 15%. Tesla has also introduced a variety of range configurations to meet the needs of different operating scenarios, rather than relying solely on a single long-range version.

Promote the construction of charging networks to mitigate the risks of diesel price fluctuations.

The Semi is equipped with a giant battery pack with a capacity of 822 kWh, which requires higher-power charging infrastructure.

Tesla is advancing the construction of its Megacharger network, with each charging station capable of outputting up to 1.2 megawatts of power. At the event, Dan Priestley and Lars Moravy demonstrated in real time how a Semi could charge from 3% to 60% on the new megawatt-class charging station in just about 30 minutes.

Tesla stated that it will build over 30 Semi Charge stations by the end of the year, totaling more than 200 megawatt-class charging piles, while also supporting customer-built nighttime charging solutions. The speed at which the charging network is deployed will directly impact the actual operational feasibility for freight customers.

In terms of cost logic, Tesla positions the Semi as a low total cost of ownership product, with core arguments including: lower electricity costs, fewer maintenance parts, and exposure to the risk of diesel price fluctuations. Lars Moravy stated at the event:

"Oil and diesel prices have historically fluctuated. But electricity prices have remained relatively stable over the past 20 years. Wouldn't it be even better if transportation costs could be kept at a stable level?"

In addition, Tesla has introduced features such as driver profile synchronization across vehicles and dynamic load range prediction to improve fleet management efficiency.

Reputation repair and execution capabilities remain the biggest challenges.

Despite relatively positive demand signals, Tesla's core challenge lies in execution. Some freight customers have been waiting for years, and any further delivery delays will exacerbate doubts about the company's ability to deliver on its promises.

Tesla claims that its existing Semi fleet has an uptime of over 98%, better than the industry average of 90% to 95% for diesel heavy-duty trucks, and has built a dedicated service system around the Semi that covers mobility services, remote diagnostics, and OTA software updates.

However, the above data comes from a limited number of early fleets, and whether it can be maintained after large-scale mass production remains to be seen.

In the broader market context, Tesla is currently under pressure from both its brand image and sales figures. As the company's first mass-produced product in the heavy commercial vehicle sector, the Semi's market performance is not only crucial for expanding this segment but will also serve as an important benchmark for investors to assess Tesla's execution capabilities and product innovation potential.

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