Regardless of whether that leaked email is legit or not, I personally couldn’t be happier if they go all-in with the Semi production! I was disappointed when they mentioned (in the Q1 letter, I think) that the Semi program gets pushed to next year.
And here’s why: the Semi would be one of the best ambassadors for Tesla, maybe more so than the 3 and the Y! At the moment, Tesla is still seen by a significant segment of the public (and, implicitly, by some in the investment community) as a “toy for the rich” or at a minimum as a purchase that only makes sense to the crazy Tesla fanboys and/or eco virtue signallers. As in, people who need a “proper” car won’t buy that overpriced, impractical, poorly-manufactured EV that one has to wait hours for to recharge. The Semi would go a long way to change that perception. Because large businesses don’t make CapEx decisions based on what’s “cool” or “trendy”, but rather on what makes business (TCO) sense! So once we start seeing CEOs of Fortune500 companies but also SME owners extol the cost benefits of the Tesla Semi, and truck drivers bragging about driving one of the new “electrics” that allow them to sit back and relax while on highways, and grinning ear to ear when mentioning how they merge from on-ramps and overtake with a fully loaded trailer like it’s nothing, we might witness a massive shift in perception towards what Tesla actually managed to accomplish.