Tesla’s Semi truck program won’t launch until 2022 because of an insufficient supply of battery cells and other important components, the company said in a shareholder presentation.
The Tesla Semi was announced in 2017 with the claim that it would be able to haul 80,000 pounds of cargo up to 500 miles on a single charge while simultaneously offering better acceleration than diesel-powered trucks carrying a similar load on the same road.
Tesla also claimed the Semi is “the safest, most comfortable truck ever” on its website. The company estimated the truck’s base cost at $150,000 and has accepted reservations for the vehicle with a $5,000 deposit since it was announced roughly 3.5 years ago.
The Tesla Semi was supposed to debut in 2019, but earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said there weren’t enough battery cells to support the program. Musk claimed Tesla could start production on the truck anyway, but that wouldn’t make sense without those battery cells.
Now it’s official. Tesla told investors that, due to its focus on the Berlin and Austin factories devoted to making the Model Y and “the limited availability of battery cells and global supply chain challenges, we have shifted the launch of the Semi truck program to 2022.”
The company also said it was “making progress on the industrialization of Cybertruck, which is currently planned for Austin production subsequent to Model Y.” Put differently: Model Y production will also be prioritized over Tesla’s vision for the future of electric vehicle design.
Tesla said in its Semi Reservation Agreement that reservations can be refunded at any time until their holders enter into a purchase agreement. Now that the truck is set to debut three years after it was supposed to, it wouldn’t be a surprise if more of those reservations were canceled.
