Elon Musk announced on Saturday that mass production of the Tesla Semi electric truck will begin in 2026, capable of traveling up to 500 miles on a single charge.
The Class 8 vehicle will be produced at a dedicated factory near Tesla’s Gigafactory Nevada facility, designed to have an annual capacity of up to 50,000 units once at full production. This announcement follows months of construction at the site, marking a significant milestone in the production of Tesla’s electric truck.
The Tesla Semi was first revealed in November 2017, with Elon Musk initially promising that production would start in 2019. However, the project faced delays due to battery supply constraints and Tesla’s focus on passenger vehicles. In December 2022, Tesla unveiled a “production version” of the Semi and delivered the initial units to PepsiCo, although volume production did not follow immediately. Instead, Tesla operated a low-volume pilot program, delivering a few dozen trucks to partners for testing. According to Freightwaves, about 200 Semi trucks have been delivered to clients, including PepsiCo, since the soft launch.
During the Q3 2025 earnings call, Tesla stated that production of the Semi would slip to 2026, with initial builds expected in the first half of the year and volume production ramping up in the second half. Musk had previously announced on X that the Tesla Semi would be in volume production the following year, as seen in a post dated August 11, 2025.
In conjunction with the production of the Tesla Semi, the company is also expanding its charging networks to support electric trucking. In January 2025, Pilot Company partnered with Tesla to install Semi Megachargers at approximately 20 locations across California, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. These sites utilize V4 charging technology, providing up to 1.2 megawatts per stall, which enables the recovery of up to 70 percent of the truck’s range in just 30 minutes. DHL Supply Chain received its first Tesla Semi after participating in a California pilot program, where the truck averaged 1.72 kWh per mile while hauling 75,000 pounds over a 390-mile route. DHL plans to expand its Semi fleet as production increases.
The Tesla Semi is part of Tesla’s broader investments in AI, robotics, and energy. The company anticipates that capital expenditures will exceed $20 billion in 2026 to support various projects, including an advanced lithium refinery in Texas, LFP battery factories, Optimus humanoid robot production, and AI computing infrastructure. During a recent earnings call, CFO Vaibhav Taneja mentioned that Tesla would be investing in six factories, namely the lithium refinery, LFP factories, Cybercab, Semi, a new Megafactory, and the Optimus factory. Tesla’s energy division achieved a record by shipping 46.7 GWh of energy storage in 2025, although the company anticipates margin compression in 2026 due to competition and tariffs.
