Amid new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that are expected to give the Tesla Semi-electric vehicle program a boost, a Tesla engineer has provided a rare update on the program.
At this time, Tesla Semi is only being manufactured in low-volume quantities at a location located outside of Gigafactory Nevada.
The enormous expansion of Gigafactory Nevada was announced by Tesla in January 2023. The purpose of this expansion was to eventually bring the factory up to the capacity that was initially envisioned for it, as well as to increase production of Tesla Semi trucks and 4680 battery cells.
On the other hand, the plant expansion was not accomplished for a period of one year. Tesla was finally able to begin construction on the project in January of 2024; however, it is currently unknown when the automaker will be able to begin production of the electric semi-truck.
Since Tesla introduced the “production version” of the vehicle program in December 2022, we have not received a lot of information regarding the program. Pepsi is the sole company that is using the electric truck, and it is only being utilized as part of a fleet that is operating in California. Tesla is also using the truck in its own fleet, primarily between its factories located outside of Reno, Nevada, and Fremont, California.
Dan Priestley, the lead engineer of Tesla Semi, provided a brief update regarding the program to the public this past weekend:
