The Tesla Semi Truck goes into production. In a memo to the employees, Elon Musk announced this week that it was time to bring the production line of electric trucks into serial production.
Presentation of the Semi Truck 2017 (Source: Tesla)
This step was also motivated by Tesla’s competitor, Nikola, who presented their own eLKW a few days ago. In his mail, Musk said that he wants to go all in with this step in order to further improve the product through the field test.
“Production of the battery and powertrain would take place at Giga Nevada, with most of the other work probably occurring in other states.”
Which of the previous two prototypes of the Tesla Semi Truck will now go into production is currently still unclear, but Musk has decided that production should start now.
The Tesla Semi Truck is a three-axle tractor whose four rear wheels are each driven by an electric motor. The driver sits in the middle and far in front and thus has the best possible view over the road. The special feature of the Semi Truck is that two flat screens are used to display vehicle, navigation and fleet management data in order to guarantee the best possible operation.
By December 19, 2017, Tesla reported a total of 381 orders, including 125 vehicles for UPS, 100 for PepsiCo, 50 for food manufacturer Sysco and 40 for brewery group Anheuser-Busch.
Post picture: Tesla
