Tesla Semi Tractor Serial Production Still on Schedule
Factory Building Finished, Equipment Installation Ongoing
Key Takeaways:
- Tesla said serial production of its Class 8 Semi electric truck remains on track to start by late 2025 at its newly completed Reno, Nev., factory.
- The plant can produce up to 50,000 trucks annually as Tesla refines the Semi’s design and explores integrating autonomous driving technology.
- Executives said initial production will ramp through 2026 as Tesla partners with Uber Freight to expand EV truck adoption despite past launch delays.
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The start of serial production of Tesla’s battery-electric Class 8 Semi tractor remains on schedule, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said Oct. 22.
Construction of the factory building in Reno, Nevada, is complete, and the production line is being installed, Moravy told investors and analysts during Tesla’s third-quarter 2025 earnings call.
“The factory is going on schedule. We’ve completed the building and are installing the equipment now. We’ve got our fleet of validation trucks driving on the road,” the executive said.
For the past 18 months or so, Tesla said manufacturing would start by the end of 2025 and ramp up to capacity through 2026. The company has a history of blowing through deadlines, including with the Semi.
“We’ll have larger builds toward the end of this year and then our first online builds in the first part of next year, ramping into the Q2 timing with real volume coming in the back half of the year. That’s going quite well,” Moravy said during the latest earnings call.
The Reno factory can produce as many as 50,000 trucks a year.
Comments on the Semi in Tesla’s earnings over the past few quarters have been sparse as CEO Elon Musk’s empire now includes social media, spacecraft, satellite internet access, solar panels, robotics and artificial intelligence divisions.
Autonomous Semis Coming
During Tesla’s first-quarter 2025 earnings call, Musk hinted at autonomous Semis in the future, and Moravy added some perspective in the latest call.
Getting more Semis on the road was the first step, Moravy said, before the tractors joined passenger vehicles and taxis in adopting Tesla’s self-driving technology.
“That last mile, the load-unload can be better served for shorter distances with autonomous semis, and that would be great. We do expect that to probably shift in as we, as Elon said, change the way transportation is considered. We’re looking forward to that timeline,” he said.
Tesla Vice President of Autopilot/AI Software Ashok Elluswamy added further context.
“Currently, the team is super focused on solving passenger vehicles autonomy. That said, the same technology will apply quite easily to the Semi truck once we have a little bit of data from the Semi trucks,” Elluswamy said.
Construction of the manufacturing plant began in 2023 at the site of Tesla’s existing Gigafactory Nevada.
Tesla’s previous public progress update on the Semi came at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo and Conference in late April.
There, Dan Priestley, senior manager of Semis, confirmed Tesla committed to producing the Semi electric truck to full scale in 2026.
Priestley also said improvements were being made based on customer feedback, including a new mirror design and a more efficient high-voltage battery that maintains the same range while cutting cost and weight.
Many Delays Since 2017
Still, the company is carrying out the groundwork for the official start of serial production of a truck unveiled as long ago as 2017 with a slated production launch of 2019.
Alongside Uber Freight, Tesla launched a program intended to jump-start sales after what has been a rough few quarters for manufacturers of battery-electric trucks.
Carriers will receive Semi electric trucks, charging infrastructure and guaranteed freight as part of the partners’ “Dedicated EV Fleet Accelerator Program.”
Uber Freight, which ranks No. 14 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America and No. 10 among brokerages, said it hopes to solve what it sees as the biggest obstacles facing battery-electric truck adoption: upfront cost, predictability and return on investment.
Carriers also received a number of insights into what to expect as 2025 progressed, including the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s “Messy Middle” demonstration and ArcBest publishing a glowing report in July.
ArcBest said the vehicle performed “well” on a cross section of routes — including the 7,200-foot climb over Donner Pass — and generally matched the performance of its diesel counterparts. ArcBest ranks No. 13 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 8 among less-than-truckload carriers.
EV Sales Reach Record Mark
Tesla’s Q3 profit fell short of Wall Street expectations, but the company posted record electric vehicle sales.
Adjusted earnings came in at 50 cents per share in the most recent quarter, Tesla said Oct. 22. Consensus analyst expectations were 54 cents.
Tesla’s operating costs jumped 50% to $3.43 billion in Q3 from $2.28 billion in the same period 12 months earlier. Electric vehicle sales rose 7% year over year to 497,099 from 462,890 vehicles in the year-ago period.
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