Class 8
Seven years late.
Finally building.
Tesla Semi entered volume production on 25 September 2026 at Sparks, Nevada, against a 50,000-truck-a-year target. Here are the specifications, the measured energy numbers, what the charging actually costs, and how long the price premium takes to pay back.
Independently compiled from public reporting and Tesla disclosures · verified 2026-09-26
Long Range, at 82,000 lb gross combined
battery pack on the Long Range
kWh per mile measured in pilot fleets
trucks a year targeted at Sparks, Nevada
Cost per mile
Cheaper to run than diesel. Here is the arithmetic.
1.64 kWh/mi at Tesla's $0.08/kWh Megacharger rate
implied by the reported per-mile saving against the Semi
as reported by operators running the trucks
Over 500,000 miles — a normal working life for a Class 8 tractor — that gap is somewhere between $250,000 and $325,000 of fuel a fleet does not buy. It is also the entire reason the purchase premium is arguable at all, which is what the next section works through.
Energy per mile
About a third of the energy.
Two trims
Standard Range
~$260,000Regional and drayage duty cycles that return to base.
Long Range
~$290,000822 kWh pack. Tesla states these are real-world miles at full weight.
- Gross combined weight
- 82,000 lb
- Curb weight
- ~23,000 lb
- Energy use, measured
- 1.64 kWh/mi
- Megacharger peak
- 1.2 MW
Specifications
822 kWh. 500 miles. 82,000 pounds.
Including the numbers that complicate the pitch. Pack weight costs payload, and charging hardware is a capital line of its own — a spec sheet that hides those is not much use to anyone actually buying.
Powertrain & range
- Range, Long Range
- 500 mi at 82,000 lb GCW
- Range, Standard Range
- 325 mi
- Battery, Long Range
- 822 kWh
- Energy use, measured
- 1.64 kWh/mi in pilot operation
- Energy use, rated
- 1.7 kWh/mi
Weight & capacity
- Gross combined weight
- 82,000 lb
- Curb weight
- ~23,000 lb
- Payload note
- Pack weight eats into payload — on dense or bulk-liquid routes already running at 80,000 lb, that can cost you load
Charging
- Megacharger peak
- 1.2 MW
- Charge rate
- Up to 60% of range in ~30 minutes
- Hardware
- $188,000 for two Megacharger posts, before tax and installation
- Energy price
- $0.08/kWh all-inclusive at revenue-generating sites
Price
- Standard Range
- ~$260,000
- Long Range
- ~$290,000
- New diesel Class 8, for reference
- ~$155,000–$220,000
The maths
When does it pay for itself?
The only question that decides a fleet purchase. The truck costs more up front and less to run, so the answer is a distance, not a date.
This compares purchase price and per-mile running cost only. It leaves out maintenance savings and incentives, which help the Semi, and charging capex, which does not — see below.
Charging
The capex nobody quotes.
A Megacharger peaks at 1.2 MW and returns up to 60% of range in about thirty minutes, which is what makes a 500-mile truck work on a real duty cycle. Two posts list at $188,000 before tax and installation, and installation at megawatt scale is rarely the small number.
Tesla prices energy at revenue sites at $0.08 per kWh all-inclusive. At 1.64 kWh per mile that is about 13 cents of energy per mile — the figure the payback chart is built on.
Where this lands for a depot
Charging capex is amortised across the fleet, not the truck, so it hurts most at low vehicle counts. Two posts across four trucks is a very different per-unit number from two posts across forty. Run the charger maths on the fleet you will have in three years, not the one you are ordering now.
Service your fleet
Electrifying changes what breaks.
No injectors, no aftertreatment, no oil service. What you get instead are drive units, high-voltage packs and power electronics — and a truck running 100,000 miles a year reaches those service intervals a great deal sooner than a passenger car does. That is the work this facility exists to do.
Drive Unit Remanufacturing
Electric motors restored to factory specification.
- Rebuild tolerance
- OEM spec
- Validation
- 100% dyno-tested
- Core recovery
- Closed-loop
Battery & Energy Refurbishment
High-voltage packs and energy products, restored and re-certified.
- Diagnostics
- Cell-level
- Output
- Re-certified
- Material recovery
- Maximized
Power Electronics & Chargers
Onboard chargers and power conversion hardware remanufactured.
- Testing
- Bench-validated
- Repair depth
- Component-level
- Warranty
- Full functional
Warranty Component Repair
Warranty-returned components triaged, repaired, and returned.
- Intake
- Warranty returns
- Analysis
- Root-cause
- Loop
- Quality feedback
Service Parts Logistics
Remanufactured parts distributed across the service network.
- Hub
- Global Parts DC
- Reach
- Nationwide
- Fulfillment
- Service network
Running electric Class 8?
Drive units rebuilt to factory tolerance and dyno-validated, packs diagnosed at cell level and re-certified, power electronics repaired at component level.
See the full listHow it got here
From a 2019 promise to a 2026 factory.
The delay is part of the story and worth stating plainly. What changed in 2026 is that the plant is real and the trucks are going out to named fleets.
Unveiled, with a 2019 production date
Tesla shows the Semi and commits to volume production in 2019. That date does not hold, and the slip becomes the defining fact of the programme.
First deliveries, at pilot scale
A small fleet goes to PepsiCo. Useful proof the truck works; nowhere near the volumes promised five years earlier.
First truck off the high-volume line
The purpose-built Nevada plant at Sparks completes its first unit — the first hard evidence the factory is real.
Charging gets a price list
Tesla publishes Megacharger and Basecharger pricing: $188,000 for two Megacharger posts before tax and installation, and $0.08 per kWh all-in at revenue sites.
Volume production and customer deliveries
Deliveries begin against a 50,000-truck-a-year target at Sparks. Seven years after the date originally promised — but running, at scale, with named fleets behind it.
In service
It is already hauling freight.
Fleets named at the production launch. Separately, the ZET SCALE alliance picked Tesla as primary supplier for 2,500 trucks — an order large enough to roughly double the electric Class 8 fleet on US roads.
Common questions
Is the Tesla Semi in production?
Yes. Volume production and customer deliveries began on 25 September 2026 at Tesla's purpose-built plant in Sparks, Nevada. The site targets 50,000 trucks a year, roughly 1,000 a week at full rate. That is seven years later than the 2019 date given when the truck was unveiled in 2017.
How much does a Tesla Semi cost?
Roughly $260,000 for the Standard Range and $290,000 for the Long Range. A new diesel Class 8 runs about $155,000 to $220,000 depending on specification, so the Semi carries a purchase premium of roughly $70,000 to $135,000 depending on what you compare it against.
What is the real range of the Tesla Semi?
500 miles for the Long Range at 82,000 lb gross combined weight, and 325 miles for the Standard Range. Tesla states the 500-mile figure is real-world and validated by customers at full weight rather than a laboratory number.
How long does it take for a Tesla Semi to pay for itself?
On energy costs alone, roughly 170,000 to 220,000 miles. Operators report savings of $0.50 to $0.65 per mile against diesel, which clears a $110,000 purchase premium inside two years for a truck covering 100,000 miles annually. That figure excludes maintenance savings and incentives, which shorten it, and depot charging capex, which lengthens it.
How much does Megacharger installation cost?
Tesla lists $188,000 for two Megacharger posts, excluding tax and installation. Energy at revenue-generating sites is priced at $0.08 per kWh all-inclusive. Charging hardware is a separate capital line from the trucks and is usually amortised across a depot's whole fleet rather than a single vehicle.
Who is actually running Tesla Semis?
Named customers at the production launch included PepsiCo, DHL, US Foods, ABF, Einride, IMC Logistics and WattEV. Separately, the ZET SCALE alliance selected Tesla as primary supplier for 2,500 electric trucks — an order that would roughly double the number of electric Class 8 trucks on US roads.
How efficient is the Semi compared with a diesel truck?
Tesla reports 1.64 kWh per mile from pilot fleets. A diesel Class 8 consumes roughly 5.5 kWh per mile in energy-equivalent terms, so the Semi uses about a third of the energy for the same mile. That efficiency gap, not the fuel price alone, is what drives the per-mile saving.