Teslas Semi factory is now open, and plans to produce 50,000 a year.

Tesla opened its Semi factory in Sparks, Nevada, on Thursday night.

So basically: Almost nine years after the Semi was unveiled, it finally has its own high-volume plant. Tesla says the factory is built for 50,000 trucks a year and that deliveries to a first group of customers started this week. What Tesla didn’t say is how many it’s building right now, or what one costs.

What happened

Tesla held a ribbon-cutting at the plant near Reno on Sept. 24 and streamed it. The Tesla Semi account on X posted “Semi is here. Today, we’re launching high volume production” at 9:04 p.m. ET.

Elon Musk wasn’t there. He sent a recorded video and called the Semi a “breakthrough product for heavy shipping.”

Dan Priestley, who runs Semi engineering, said the plant is set up for 50,000 trucks a year (about 1,000 a week) and will bring “more than 3,000 jobs” during the ramp. PepsiCo, DHL, and US Foods were brought on stage, with trucks wearing their logos parked outside.

The numbers Tesla gave

• Range: 500 miles loaded for the long-range version, 325 miles for the standard one. Priestley said customers have validated the 500-mile number.
• Uptime: Priestley said Semis in fleet use have shown 98% uptime.
• Service: Tesla is setting up a separate Semi service network, with mobile techs when possible.

The numbers Tesla didn’t give

No price. No current production rate. No delivery target for this year. No date for hitting 50,000 a year. CNBC cites the International Council on Clean Transportation reporting the higher-end long-range trucks at around $290,000. That’s not a Tesla number.

The orders

On Sept. 22, the ZET SCALE alliance (run by Catalyst Mobility and the Smart Freight Centre, with Microsoft and PepsiCo as founding shippers) announced an order for 2,500 battery-electric Class 8 trucks and picked Tesla as its primary truck maker. Kenworth, RIDE, and Volvo are listed as secondary options for carriers, so not all 2,500 are guaranteed to be Semis. Catalyst Mobility says the order nearly doubles the US electric Class 8 fleet.

Einride also said last month it would add 500 Semis.

How late this is

The Semi was unveiled in November 2017, with production expected in 2019. PepsiCo got its first trucks in late 2022, in small numbers. The first truck came off the new high-volume line in April.

What about self-driving

On Tesla’s July earnings call, Musk said he expects self-driving on the Semi “probably around the end of this year or early next year.” That’s a target. Nothing at this event showed it ready.

My take

The factory is real and the orders are real. The number that matters now is deliveries, and Tesla didn’t give one. Until Tesla reports actual Semi delivery counts, 50,000 a year is just the size of the building.