Summary
Tesla says it has launched high-volume production of its Semi at a factory designed to produce 50,000 trucks a year. The company also describes changes to the truck’s battery, drivetrain, steering and thermal systems.
Tesla announced on September 25, 2026, that it had launched high-volume production of its Semi. The company says the factory built for the truck is designed to produce 50,000 units a year, with Standard, Long Range and European-spec variants made on the same production line.
A factory built for the Semi
Tesla describes the facility as its first factory built specifically for the Semi. The company gives its size as 1.8 million square feet and says it has redesigned the truck over the past four years to make it more suitable for large-scale manufacturing, as well as more efficient and reliable.
The announced production launch is a change in manufacturing status; the factory’s stated annual capacity is a target, not a report of trucks already produced. Tesla’s post does not give an achieved production rate or a delivery timetable.
Changes to the truck’s systems
Tesla says the Semi moves from 2170 battery cells to its in-house 4680 cells. The company says this reduces battery mass and the number of kilowatt-hours needed without compromising range. It also describes a revised drivetrain, including a steel-caged rotor in place of a carbon-fibre rotor and a bar-wound stator shared with the Cybertruck. Tesla says those changes are intended to lower cost and improve efficiency and reliability.
The company says the Semi is its first heavy-duty truck with electric steering. In this arrangement, steering assistance is provided electrically rather than by a hydraulic system, which Tesla says removes hydraulic compressors and fluid from the truck. The company also says the system is designed with redundancy, meaning it has provisions intended to preserve steering function if a component fails.
For cabin heating and cooling, Tesla describes a heat-pump system called Megamanifold that manages the cabin HVAC and powertrain heating and cooling together. The company says the system can use excess heat from the powertrain to help keep the cabin comfortable. That approach is relevant to an electric truck because it can make use of available drivetrain heat rather than relying on heat from a combustion engine.
Tesla also says a Semi can regain up to 60% of its range in 30 minutes on a Megacharger, and that Megachargers are deployed along major freight routes. The announcement gives no charging conditions or route locations, so the figure is best read as the company’s stated maximum rather than a universal charging result.
The production announcement brings together a dedicated factory and a substantially revised truck design. Its practical significance will depend on how quickly production scales and how the vehicle performs in freight operations; Tesla has not yet reported output from the new facility.