Tesla Semi Production Update: Elon Musk Confirms Readiness

During Tesla’s fourth-quarter 2020 earnings conference, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk announced that the complete engineering phase for the Tesla Semi, the all-electric semi-truck currently under development, has been finalized. According to the company’s Q4 earnings report, Tesla anticipates initiating deliveries of the Tesla Semi within the current year. Musk clarified that the primary factor currently restricting production volume is the limited supply of battery cells.

Musk explained, “The principal obstacle preventing us from accelerating the introduction of new products – such as the Tesla Semi, for instance – is simply a lack of sufficient cell availability.” He further stated that while the company possesses the capability to commence Semi production immediately, cell supply would be inadequate to support it. “We could easily begin production of the Semi at this time, but we wouldn’t have enough cells to do so.”

Musk also indicated that the company anticipates resolving cell supply issues once production commences on its 4680 battery pack – a newly designed, custom cell featuring a unique ‘tables’ structure intended to enhance energy density and, consequently, vehicle range.

“A Tesla Semi typically requires five times the number of cells used in a passenger car, but its selling price would not be five times higher,” Musk noted. “Therefore, initiating Semi production at this moment would not be a logical business decision.” He affirmed, however, that production will become viable as soon as the cell production limitations are overcome.

Musk added that this same constraint applies to the potential development of an electric van by Tesla. He stated that addressing the cell supply issue will also enable the company to move forward with the development of this vehicle category.

Tesla is planning a substantial increase in cell production, aiming to establish infrastructure capable of producing a total of 200 gigawatt-hours annually by 2022. The company’s initial target is to achieve actual production of approximately 40% of this capacity by that year, with ongoing process enhancements expected to yield further increases in cell production capacity over time.