Tesla Semi appears to be put in the automaker’s own operations. It was spotted on the highway with impressive artwork. It is likely that the vehicle is the same unit that was bought at Cyber Rodeo, where it was being painted by an artist during the event. The location where it was spotted was 80 near Colfax, California.
It appears that Tesla is working on using the truck for various applications, from many locations in Northern California and Gigafactory Nevada outside of Reno. Tesla Semi might be the automaker’s most disappointing program to date. When the original prototype was unveiled in 2017, it sent waves in the trucking industry for its potential to both decarbonize trucking and significantly reduce the cost of operations of trucks, on which the whole world relies for virtually everything.
But the vehicle program is so late at this point that a lot of the hype around it has died down. Tesla originally said that it was supposed to come in 2019, but it has been continuously delayed, and now it is expected to reach volume production and have customers deliveries until 2023. That’s a four-year delay. But there are a few Tesla Semi electric trucks out there, and now one of them was spotted by a Redditor on the highway in California this week.
Tesla Semi
Tesla always said that it would be its own first customer when it comes to the Tesla Semi. The automaker operates a fairly large fleet of trucks in its own operations on top of using trucking companies and integrating electric trucks in its fleet, and would obviously align with its mission while also reducing its cost of operations. The 80 between California and Nevada is an extremely busy route for Tesla since the automaker sends hundreds of thousands of powertrains from Gigafactory Nevada to the Fremont factory.
So far, most Tesla Semi news cover Pepsi’s order. Tesla already installed active Megachargers for Pepsi’s 100 Semi order at its Frito Lay facility in Modesto. The company announced that Pepsi would receive at least 15 Semi trucks by the end of January 2022.
According to the company’s website, Tesla Semi reservation orders require a $5,000 wire transfer payment. Tesla requires a $15,000 wire transfer payment for the first Semi order and $20,000 for every additional reservation. Wire transfers are due 10 days after the reservation to finalize the order. During Tesla’s Cyber Rodeo event in April, Elon Musk noted that Semi production would finally start in 2023, along with other long-awaited products. In its recent Q2 2022 Shareholders Update Letter, Tesla formally listed the Semi, Cybertruck, and Roadster as “in “development.” Even more noteworthy, the EV manufacturer formally announced the development of its Robotaxi fleet.