Isn’t this like a decade late?

I have no idea what their original plan was, but the concept was announced in 2017. Wikipedia claims that Musk bragged that production would've started in 2019.

Cool stuff, diesel semis suck in so many ways, especially for us Europeans with how Russia has been behaving. Hopefully they won't be the only ones doing this.

Right. So he just sat on this for a decade while running them between the panasonic plant in NV and the factory in fremont. Instead of publishing it. So he doesn’t actually give a shit about the planet.

I'm not a fan of the nazi either but he didn't "sit on them for a decade". He did his usual over promising on timelines - he was never going to get a truck off the drawing board and into production in 2 years (2017-2019). The prototypes hit the road in 2022 which is quicker than industry norms (and I'm assuming there was a COVID impact in the middle too although I can't be arse googling it). There's no info on the wikipedia about why it took 4 years to get from prototype 2022 to production 2026. Probably had design issues - iirc there was significant turnover at Telsa in that time period, and Muskrat was too busy meddling in politics to run the company.

EDIT just skimming down the wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Semi

And noticed the reason for the delay will be that it required the 4680 batteries - Tesla had a lot of problems getting those into volume production and the semi was designed around them - it's also what delayed the tonka toy pickup

There are definitely other BEV trucks on the market

Volvo
https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/trucks/electric.html

Scania
https://www.scania.com/group/en/home/products-and-services/trucks/battery-electric-truck.html

BYD
https://bydeurope.com/pdp-truck

Sany
https://www.electrive.com/2026/09/10/sany-expands-european-e-truck-portfolio/

Yeah scroll down that talk tab.

So I scrolled down it as requested, not sure what it is you want me to see ? Could you be a little more specific ?

It was announced in 2017 and the bulk of the talk tab is arguments about whether a BEV semi is even possible (first thread) and then whether musk will deliver on time (we know that rarely happens). Can't see anything about the reasons for it being slow to hit production in there, what did I miss ?

I'm still leaning on a) defects because of massive personnel turnover and b) battery production bottlenecks (because it's documented that the 4680 production rate delayed the cyber truck release and this relies on them too)

Happy to be corrected with facts.

Personnel turnover

Right.

Do you have a point you're trying to make ?

https://unanswered.io/guide/why-employees-leave-tesla-turnover-reasons

"Tesla reduced its workforce by over 14% in 2024 through layoffs and saw voluntary exits from executives and key staff.
High performers and talented staff were included in layoffs across departments.
Many employees left voluntarily due to extreme work hours and lack of work-life balance.
Shifts away from core EV innovation toward robotics and AI caused disillusionment.
Leadership's political views and demanding style contributed to some departures."

If they cared about the tech, they wouldn’t stymie it.

Tesla can fuck right off.

Cool!