As with all its other models, Tesla’s Semi definitely took longer than expected. But now, it’s closer than ever to deliveries.
The US EPA has just evaluated Semi and awarded it a Certificate of Conformity for its trade flow. This actually means that it’s now legal for Tesla to start selling the Semi.
This is also good timing, as Elon Musk announced earlier this month that Tesla plans to begin deliveries of the Semi to PepsiCo on December 1. The Tesla Semi Truck was nearly two years late, so some people may have been understandably skeptical about how things would go this time around.
And yet, it looks like the real deal – finally, five years after the original announcement. Semi has a Certificate of Conformity from the EPA valid until the end of next year. This is standard procedure because they always only apply to one model year of manufacture. Tesla will have to go through the same certification process again for the 2024 Semi.
Tesla can now use the Semi on public roads in the US and deliver it to customers, the first of which will be PepsiCo. Tesla is already targeting a production of 50,000 units by 2024. Elon Musk claims that the Semi has a range of 800 km when fully loaded, and this has been tested in real life.