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Tesla expects to begin mass production of electric Semi by year-end

Texas-based automaker misses Wall Street expectations on Q4 revenue, earnings per share

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the all-electric Class 8 Semi truck will eventually have full self-driving capabilities. (Photo: PepsiCo)

Tesla executives say the automaker will begin full production of its all-electric Class 8 Semi truck by the end of the year at its factory in Reno, Nevada.

Austin, Texas-based Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) released its fourth-quarter earnings and held a conference call with analysts after the market closed Wednesday.

Tesla is expanding its Gigafactory Nevada to accommodate full production of the Semi, company officials said.

“We just closed up the Semi factory roofing walls last week in Reno,” Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s head of investor relations, said during the call. “We’re prepping for mechanical installation of all the equipment in the coming months. The first builds of the high-volume Semi design will come late this year in 2025 and begin ramping early in 2026. When we’re at scale, it will meaningfully contribute to Tesla’s revenue. I think it’s difficult to say how much.”


Tesla introduced the Semi in November 2017 and launched pilot production of the vehicle in December 2022. It has delayed mass production of the electric tractor several times over the past two years.

During Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call in October, company officials said they had delivered about 200 Semi trucks to clients such as PepsiCo. Officials also said the Semi trucks that have been deployed have cameras and sensors that could give the vehicle full self-driving capabilities.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the Semi could help alleviate truck driver shortages across the freight industry.

“I do think Tesla Semi with autonomy is going to be incredibly valuable,” Musk said. “We actually have a shortage of truck drivers in America. That’s one of the limiting factors on transport. I have a lot of respect for truck drivers, because it’s a tough job. Because it’s a tough job, there’s not that many people that want to do it. I believe … there are fewer people entering truck driving as a profession. We’re going to have a real logistics problem as time goes by. So autonomy will be very important to meet that need.”


Tesla had revenue of $25.7 billion during the fourth quarter, a 2% year-over-year increase compared to the same year-ago period.

The company’s adjusted earnings per share increased 1% year over year to 73 cents during the quarter.

Tesla missed on Wall Street analysts’ estimates for the quarter, which predicted revenue of $27.3 billion and 77 cents per share.

The automaker delivered 495,570 vehicles in the fourth quarter, a 2% gain compared to the same quarter in 2023.

Tesla officials gave no update on plans for a factory in Monterrey, Mexico. Musk said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on July 23 that the company was pausing plans for the factory until after the U.S. presidential election.

President Donald Trump, who won the election on Nov. 5, selected Musk to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency.

TeslaQ4/24Q4/23Y/Y/ % Change
Total revenue$25.7B$25.1B2%
Automotive revenue$19.7B$20B(8%)
Number of vehicles built459,445469,796(7%)
Number of vehicles delivered495,570462,8902%
Adjusted earnings per share$0.73$0.721%
Tesla third-quarter earnings snapshot.

Noi Mahoney

Noi Mahoney is a Texas-based journalist who covers cross-border trade, logistics and supply chains for FreightWaves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 1998. Mahoney has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working for newspapers in Maryland and Texas. Contact nmahoney@freightwaves.com