Currently: Tesla begins delivering production Semi trucks to customers with an event in Nevada
Image: Tesla
Nearly nine years after its introduction and four years after the first units were delivered, Tesla handed over several production models of its Semi truck to customers on Thursday night. This was done through an event at the factory in Nevada, which was built starting in 2023 and reportedly produced the first upgraded Semi in April. According to the company, the event for invited guests marked the beginning of mass production.
"Long waitlist" for Tesla Semi
As was the case at the event to add the Tesla Cybercab to the Robotaxi fleet in Austin earlier this month, CEO Elon Musk was not present in person, but this time at least a video message from him was played at the beginning. The Semi will be a revolutionary truck, he said, citing its long range, easy refueling, and lower energy costs. He advised people to place additional orders for the Semi if they hadn’t already. The waiting list is already long, the Tesla chief explained.
Semi is here
Today, we're launching high volume production pic.twitter.com/QQjYDmcPsf
— Tesla Semi (@tesla_semi) September 25, 2026
Musk then left the actual presentation of the Semi, which had been revised in several ways compared to the 2017 prototype, to his managers Lars Moravy and Dan Priestley. For about 20 minutes, they went over the technical aspects and explained, among other things, that the optimized Tesla tractor-trailer only needed an oil change every 250,000 miles. At the end, representatives from roughly a dozen Semi customers took turns onto stage and received documents (see photo above).
Some of them, like PepsiCo, have been known as semi-customers for years and seem un deterred by waiting for the E-Truck. In recent weeks, additional large orders have come in, such as from Einride, which is already testing its own autonomous truck in Germany with Lidl. On this topic, CEO Musk said in his opening remarks that Tesla will introduce autonomous driving features for the Semi “in the very near future” to significantly improve safety and comfort while driving. He did not mention fully autonomous Semis.
The European Semi will be built in the US
The event did not yield any statements regarding the current number of orders, the current price of the Semi, or the actual production volume at the Nevada factory, which is designed for 50,000 units per year, for this or next year. The week prior, Tesla announced at the IAA Transportation that deliveries of the Semi in Europe would begin in 2027. These trucks are also set to be produced initially at the factory in the U.S. Earlier this February, Musk suggested that production at Tesla’s German factory might occur at a later stage.