On June 14th, Tesla Semi, an electric heavy-duty freight vehicle designed to reduce transportation costs and carbon emissions, is a product of Tesla. The model was first unveiled in 2017 and was originally scheduled to begin production in 2019, but production plans have been repeatedly postponed due to battery supply shortages and other reasons. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, recently announced that the production of Tesla Semi will be delayed until at least the end of 2024.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk said on Tuesday at the 2023 Edison Electric Institute conference that due to limited battery supply, mass production of Tesla’s semi-truck will not be achieved until the end of 2024.
Currently, Tesla’s semi-truck uses the 2170 battery cell, but Tesla has not disclosed the capacity of this model’s battery. Based on data released by Tesla, we can estimate the battery capacity of this model. The energy consumption of Tesla’s semi-truck is 1.7 kWh per mile, and its range is 500 miles (approximately 804.67 km) when fully loaded with 81,000 pounds. Based on this data, we can calculate the battery capacity of this model to be about 850 kWh to 900 kWh, equivalent to more than ten long-range Model Y SUVs.
In November of last year, PepsiCo received its first Tesla electric semi-truck, which was manufactured at a new factory near the Nevada Gigafactory. A few months later, Tesla announced plans to expand the Nevada Gigafactory with a new “high-volume” production area dedicated to producing Tesla semi-trucks, but no timetable has been provided for when the factory will begin operations. According to Musk, it seems that Tesla will continue to produce the semi-truck at low volumes in nearby factories until the end of next year.
