Elon Musk updates Tesla Semi production

Elon Musk gave an update on Tesla’s plan to bring Tesla Semi to volume production. It looks like it won’t happen for another year.

Tesla unveiled the production version of its Tesla Semi class 8 electric truck and delivered the first units to customers in December 2022.

It came after years of delays in the program.

Now that deliveries have finally started, the biggest question is the volume.

Before deliveries started last year, Elon Musk said that Tesla is aiming to ramp up Tesla Semi production to 50,000 units per year in 2024.

The goal always seemed to be ambitious as Tesla only had a low volume production line for Tesla Semi in Nevada, and sure enough, Musk is now revising it. The CEO says that Tesla Semi volume production shouldn’t be expected until the end of 2024.

He made the comment during a conference in Austin this week (via Wall Street Journal):

Chief Executive Elon Musk said the company doesn’t expect to begin producing its new electric semitrailer truck in larger volumes until the end of next year, citing battery-supply constraints.

As Electrek previously revealed, Tesla has built a low-volume production line capable of producing about five trucks per week in a building next to Gigafactory Nevada.

Earlier this year, Tesla announced that volume production of Tesla Semi will be established in an expansion of Gigafactory Nevada.

Electrek’s Take

This shouldn’t be surprising, considering that the expansion of Giga Nevada has yet to materialize.

Unless things start moving at lightning speed at the factory, I would be surprised if Tesla delivered more than a few thousand Tesla Semi trucks in 2024.

That’s not a good look for Musk or Tesla to be so far off of a production target. It’s almost like Musk had no idea about the state of the Tesla Semi program when he gave his estimate.