Tesla would not anticipate to start out higher-volume manufacturing of the Semi Class 8 electrical semi-truck earlier than late 2024, CEO Elon Musk mentioned yesterday citing battery provide constraints.

Talking at an power convention in Austin, Texas, Musk didn’t present particulars on what higher-volume manufacturing means for the Semi, the Wall Road Journal reported.

Nevertheless, Musk beforehand mentioned the Tesla Semi would attain an annual manufacturing of fifty,000 items beginning in 2024. Talking on the Q3 2022 earnings name in October 2022, the billionaire mentioned it could take a couple of yr to ramp up Semi manufacturing. A couple of yr from October 2022 would point out late 2023-early 2024 as the beginning of the manufacturing ramp.

“So, we’re tentatively aiming for 50,000 items in 2024 for Tesla Semi in North America. And clearly, we’ll broaden past North America,” Musk mentioned.

Thoughts you, the most recent announcement seems to counsel a delay, although to be truthful, Musk did say the Semi manufacturing ramp would start in 2024, which may additionally imply late 2024. That being mentioned, it is laborious to consider Tesla would have the ability to meet the purpose of constructing 50,000 Semis in 2024 if it begins to ramp manufacturing in late 2024.

The Tesla Semi was first revealed 5 years in the past and began deliveries in December 2022. Initially due out in 2019, the Tesla Semi is the primary new mannequin Tesla has handed over to clients since early 2020 when it started deliveries of the Mannequin Y.

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Whereas a distinct segment product for the EV maker, the Semi is deemed essential by Elon Musk to accelerating Tesla’s transition to extra sustainable power, seeing as heavy vans account for an outsize share of auto emissions.

Tesla at the moment builds the Semi on a pilot manufacturing line at Gigafactory Nevada. In mid-November 2022, the EV maker mentioned it was concentrating on a manufacturing of 100 Semis for 2022, which might work out at round 16 vans per week.

In January, the EV maker introduced plans to construct the Semi at a brand new devoted manufacturing unit positioned on the premises of Gigafactory Nevada. The corporate mentioned it could make investments $3.6 billion to broaden the location with a high-volume Tesla Semi plant and a 4680 cell manufacturing unit with annual capability of 100 GWh. He estimated the latter would cowl an annual manufacturing of 1.5 million light-duty electrical automobiles.

In the long run, Musk mentioned Gigafactory Nevada’s 4680 battery cell line may obtain manufacturing as excessive as 500 GWh a yr. He didn’t clarify what he meant by long run.

On a associated word, Musk additionally advised the room full of utility executives at yesterday’s power convention that the nation’s largest power suppliers ought to spend money on extra energy technology, forecasting electrical energy demand would triple by round 2045 as extra drivers flip to EVs.

“The longer term isn’t just like the previous. The longer term is a large improve in electrical energy demand, and it may take the whole lot that we have got to only sustain with it,” Musk mentioned.