Sparks inaugurates the Semi plant on 24 September

24 September is the named opening of the hall. It is not the start of the truck. Tesla’s Semi account posted the first Semi off the high-volume line on 29 April. Electrek filed that the same day: volume production underway at the dedicated 158,000-square-metre factory next to Gigafactory Nevada in Sparks. That is about five months before the ceremonial date. Teslarati, writing up the August graphic, called the September event a ribbon-cutting five months into production, a break from Tesla’s usual first-vehicle-off-the-line milestone. The truck was already a truck. The hall is getting its day.

The building is about 158,000 square metres. It sits next to Gigafactory Nevada. Reuters, on 24 January 2023, reported Tesla would invest more than $3.6 billion to expand the Nevada complex with two new factories: one to mass-produce the Semi, the other to make 4680 battery cells, together employing about 3,000 people east of Reno. Electrek and Teslarati both tie the Semi hall to that expansion. The plant is designed for 50,000 Class 8 electric trucks a year. That is nameplate. It is not this year’s run rate. Electrek, filing the inauguration, called 50,000 a ceiling, not a current pace, and noted Tesla began hiring for the ramp in early 2025. The white truck in the photograph is the production nose: the LED bar, the silver T, a trailer on the hitch.

Semi program director Dan Priestley has said production “is now ramping.” Electrek and Teslarati both carry that line after the April launch. Transport Topics, at ACT Expo on 6 May, had him saying Tesla expects to build “many thousands” of the Class 8 battery-electric tractors before the end of 2026, still committed to the 50,000-a-year target. “Right now, we’re focused heavily on ironing out all the processes, balancing the lines and the stations, ensuring factory equipment is running optimally,” he said. “And then it’s ramp like hell.” Those are his words, on a trade-show floor, about a line that had been live for a week. The factory-floor photograph is the line: white cabs in a row, a yellow robot arm at left, a parts cart between the first two trucks, strip lights on a high ceiling.

Tesla’s second-quarter shareholder update, dated 22 July, put the truck at the new Nevada factory in one sentence: “Tesla Semi remains on track for production this year at our new factory in Nevada.” The Verge quoted that line the same week. Drive Tesla Canada noted the installed-capacity table still listed the Semi line as commissioning, which is a slower word than a finished ramp. Tesla wrote: the truck is at the new factory in Nevada, and the company is still talking about production this year. 29 April is when the first high-volume unit left the line. 24 September is when Tesla wants guests in the hall.

The production truck has specs Tesla put on its own Semi page in February. Electrek printed them on 9 February. Two trims. Standard Range: 523 km at a full 37,200 kg gross combination weight, curb weight under 9,100 kg. Long Range: 805 km, curb weight 10,400 kg. Both: three independent motors on the rear axles, 800 kilowatts of drive power, about 1.06 kilowatt-hours per kilometre, MCS 3.2 charging, 60 percent charge in 30 minutes, electric power take-off up to 25 kilowatts. The Long Range lists 1.2 megawatts peak charging. Tesla’s Megacharger page says the same 1.2 megawatts and the same 60 percent in 30 minutes. Class 8. That is the weight class. Electrek, in May, read a California Air Resources Board executive order dated 15 April and put usable packs at 822 kilowatt-hours for the Long Range and 548 for the Standard Range, both 4680 cells. Electrek’s 29 April filing also put prices Tesla was quoting: about $290,000 for the 805 km Long Range and about $260,000 for the Standard Range. The same piece said Tesla had spent the years after the 2022 PepsiCo hand-builts cutting roughly 450 kg from the truck and standing up the dedicated hall. Tesla first unveiled the Semi in 2017 with a 2019 production target. The 2022 trucks were the pilot. April was the high-volume line. September is the named opening.

Charging is the other half of a Class 8 electric truck. Tesla’s Megacharger page lists up to 1.2 megawatts, 60 percent of range in 30 minutes, on an MCS 3.2 connector. Electrek, on 29 April, said Tesla had opened its first Megacharger station in Ontario, California, and had mapped 66 Megacharger locations across 15 states. Not a Tesla App, filing the factory day, said Tesla opened the world’s first public Semi Megacharger site in July, with more locations under development. TeslaNorth, in August, noted Tesla’s own charging page also lists a 120-kilowatt depot Basecharger for longer stops. A factory designed for 50,000 trucks a year still needs somewhere to plug them in. That network is a separate ramp. 24 September is the hall.

Not a Tesla App, filing the factory day, said the production Semi has also changed from the early trucks: electric steering assistance in place of the old hydraulics, upgraded actuators, a 48-volt electrical architecture, 4680 cells aimed at commercial longevity, and a new front light bar. That light bar is the one on the dusk truck. The factory cabs are the ones the hall is supposed to make at volume.

PepsiCo has been running the earlier trucks since Tesla handed over the first hand-built units on 1 December 2022 at the Nevada factory. The Associated Press and Reuters both filed the delivery. PepsiCo said the trucks would work the Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, California, and the Pepsi beverages factory in Sacramento. Teslarati later put operating depots at Modesto, Sacramento, and Fresno, still on regional routes. The Semi on a Frito-Lay run in the Central Valley is not a concept. It is a few years old. 24 September does not start that story. It names the hall that is supposed to build 50,000 of the next ones.

Electrek also noted the September date sits near Tesla’s European Semi appearance at IAA Transportation in Hannover, 15 through 20 September. Teslarati said the same. That is a second stage, in Germany, a week and a half before Sparks opens the doors. This piece is the Nevada day: an invite-only factory tour, ride-alongs, RSVPs closing 2 September, guests 21 and older, IDs at the door.

24 September 2026 is the inauguration Tesla printed on the Semi Rollout graphic. Sparks, Nevada. Next to Gigafactory Nevada. 158,000 square metres. Fifty thousand Class 8 trucks a year, on paper. First high-volume Semi on 29 April. Priestley says the line is ramping. PepsiCo and Frito-Lay have been driving the earlier trucks since 2022. The factory day is the named opening of the hall. The truck already left the line.