Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk told employees in a note that it’s time to go “all out” and move the Tesla Semi to “volume production.”
“It’s time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production,” Musk said in the note reported by Reuters. “It’s been in limited production so far, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design.”
The automaker said in its Q1 update that deliveries of the Semi will be pushed to 2021. When the vehicle was debuted in 2017, Tesla expected to deliver the Semi in 2019, then pushed to 2020, now to 2021.
“Production of the battery and powertrain would take place at Giga Nevada, with most of the other work probably occurring in other states,” the letter said.
Texas and Oklahoma are two states that Tesla has investigated for a new factory that would likely produce the Cybertruck and Semi.
Tesla has reportedly secured thousands of orders for the Semi. Many companies with giant fleets of heavy-duty trucks are waiting on delivery, including Walmart, UPS, PepsiCo, FedEx, and Anheuser-Busch, among others.
The Semi is expected to have a range of 300-500 miles per charge and ability to tow up to 80,000 pounds.