At the end of September 2026, Tesla officially launched series production of its electric truck Semi at a specialized plant in Sparks, Nevada, next to Gigafactory Nevada. At an evening event on 24 September, the company ceremoniously handed over the first keys to the vehicles to the fleets of PepsiCo, DHL and US Foods, symbolizing the transition from experimental prototypes to full-scale output. This milestone comes almost nine years after the 2017 presentation and seven years after the original plan to start production in 2019.
The plant, with an area of 1,8 million square feet, is capable of producing up to 50 thousand trucks a year, or roughly a thousand a week. All versions are assembled on a single line — the standard (325 miles), the long-range (500 miles) and the European one. The company emphasizes the degree of vertical integration: metal is stamped here, plastic parts, batteries, powertrains and even seats are produced, which makes it possible to control quality and reduce costs. According to the head of the Semi program, Dan Priestley, this is "a process as close as possible to the raw material and the finished product."
Tesla's pilot fleet by that time included about 180–200 trucks that had covered 17,5 million miles with an impressive reliability of 98 percent of operating time without failures. The first series-produced Semi rolled off the high-performance line in April 2026. Besides PepsiCo, DHL and US Foods, the customers include WattEV, ABF Freight, Einride, IMC Logistics and OK Produce. Against this backdrop, Tesla has just secured its largest order to date: a coalition of major freight owners, including Microsoft and PepsiCo, ordered 2,5 thousand vehicles, which will roughly double the current fleet of electric Class 8 trucks in the United States.
The launch coincided with a record surge in diesel fuel prices in the United States — the week of 21 September recorded an average price of $6,529 per gallon, which became a historic high and was $2,78 above the figure a year earlier. This strengthens the economic appeal of electric trucks for fleets: if an ordinary diesel truck at 6,9 miles per gallon burns about $0,95 of fuel per mile, the Semi consumes roughly $0,25 of electricity. Over a hundred thousand miles, the difference is about $70 thousand in favor of electric power.
The batteries are supplied from Gigafactory Texas, where Tesla produces its own 4680 cells — a decision that makes it possible to avoid the supply-chain bottlenecks that had previously frozen the Semi program for years. For 2027, entry into the European market is planned, where competitors from Daimler (Freightliner), Volvo and Paccar are already active. Volvo is ahead of Tesla in this regard: the company began volume production of VNR Electric electric trucks back in 2019 and now has more than 750 vehicles in operation. However, Tesla claims that its Semi uses 25 percent less energy than originally assumed, and guarantees the drivetrain for a million miles — figures that put competitors before a serious challenge.
For buyers, this means a gradual reduction in emissions from freight transport and a potential reduction in the cost of delivering goods in the coming years. The question of how quickly the infrastructure of megawatt charging stations will expand remains critically important — Tesla plans to open more than 30 stations with more than 200 megawatt posts by the end of 2026, which makes it possible to restore 60 percent of the battery in 30 minutes.
Analysts note that success depends both on the actual pace of production (Tesla has not disclosed its output plans for the coming months) and on the readiness of the logistics industry to make the transition to electricity at scale. Nevertheless, the signal is clear: the largest fleet operators are already betting on this truck. Elon Musk, although he did not attend the event in person, in a recorded video address recommended placing orders as soon as possible, hinting that "the waiting list is already quite impressive."
In the long term, the launch of the Nevada plant strengthens Tesla's position in the commercial transport segment, rewrites the rules of the game in the industry of vertically integrated production of heavy electric vehicles and signals the beginning of a serious electrification of American freight transport — an industry that has traditionally been considered unruly for battery power.
