# Tesla delivers its first electric Semi after nine years > Tesla hands over its long-delayed all-electric Semi truck to customers, claiming 500 miles per charge and lower operating costs than diesel. - Title: Tesla delivers its first electric Semi after nine years - Summary: Tesla hands over its long-delayed all-electric Semi truck to customers, claiming 500 miles per charge and lower operating costs than diesel. Tesla delivered… - Keywords: tesla, tesla semi, electric trucks, elon musk, reno nevada, trucking, emissions, battery technology, technology, startups, delivers, first - Source: TechCrunch — https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/25/tesla-finally-moves-to-electrify-trucking-after-a-decade-of-work-and-delays - Author: Sean O'Kane - Published: 2026-09-25T15:24:50+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: tesla, tesla semi, electric trucks, elon musk, reno nevada, trucking, emissions, battery technology, technology, startups ## Tesla delivers first Semi trucks Tesla handed over its first all-electric Semi trucks to customers on Thursday night at an event in Reno, Nevada, nearly a decade after revealing the vehicle in two thousand seventeen. ## Musk absent from launch event Company executives walked customers and employees through truck details, but CEO Elon Musk was absent, attending President Trump's state dinner with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping. ## Charging infrastructure remains a hurdle Customers can take delivery whenever ready, though charging infrastructure remains a hurdle, according to a person familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity. ## Five hundred mile range, nearly three hundred thousand dollars The most capable version travels five hundred miles or more on one charge depending on load size and costs just shy of three hundred thousand dollars before incentives. Shorter-range variants will also be available. ## New factory to produce fifty thousand trucks yearly Tesla built a new factory dedicated to the Semi adjacent to its first Gigafactory in Reno. The plant plans to build as many as fifty thousand trucks a year, roughly one thousand per week, creating three thousand jobs. ## Heavy trucks drive sixteen percent of emissions Dan Priestley, head of Tesla's Semi program, noted that heavy trucks produce sixteen percent of emissions despite making up just one percent of vehicles on the road. ## Nine years of delays and refinements Originally slated for two thousand nineteen production, the Semi was delayed by the pandemic, global parts shortages, semiconductor scarcity, and changes made in response to pilot customer feedback. ## Tesla shaved one thousand pounds from design Tesla reduced the vehicle's weight by roughly one thousand pounds compared to its original version. Engineers also simplified the drive axle from using three different oils to just one. ## Pop-out windows replaced with roll-down Tesla admitted its original pop-out window design was insufficient. The new Semi now has standard roll-down windows to interface with toll booths, badge readers, and call boxes at window height. > We fully admit we were wrong about the windows. ## Bill Gates doubted electric big rigs Bill Gates wrote in a two thousand twenty blog post that electric big rigs would probably never be practical because batteries are big and heavy. Tesla executives poked fun at unnamed naysayers during Thursday's event. ## Efficiency compounds battery savings Priestley explained that making the vehicle more efficient means less battery is needed for the same work, allowing Tesla to remove battery weight and lower costs through compounding gains. ## Musk promises automation features coming soon In a pre-taped segment, Musk called the Semi the funnest truck to drive and promised Tesla's partial automation features will be added in the near future, despite years of delays. ## Electricity cheaper than diesel, Musk argues Musk pitched the truck as economically sensible because the cost of electricity per mile is much less than the cost of diesel, especially in current times. ## Key takeaway Tesla delivered its first all-electric Semi trucks to customers on September twenty-fifth after nearly a decade of delays since the vehicle's twenty seventeen reveal.