Correct. Tesla is at least a year behind the competition.
While Tesla initially aimed for mass production of its Semi truck in 2019, it's currently behind schedule and has been delayed multiple times. Other companies like Volvo and Daimler have also entered the electric truck market, and Tesla's production ramp-up is expected to begin in 2026, according to FreightWaves.
The Emperor’s New Truck: Tesla’s Electric Mirage Seven Years, Zero Progress, and the Cult of Elon
Elon Musk produces illusions, not trucks — and you’re paying for the show. For eight years, the Tesla Semi has existed primarily as slideware, a digital chimera that materialises on earnings calls and vanishes when production deadlines arrive. Now we’re told — yet again — that 2025 will finally deliver what 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 couldn’t. Ask yourself: why do we (well, not me but many) keep believing?
The Timeline of Deception The Semi wasn’t supposed to be vapourware. Unveiled in 2017, Musk promised production would begin in 2019. Those familiar with Tesla’s habits knew better. 2019 passed without a single production model. So did 2020. And 2021. He must have been distracted.
By December 2022, Tesla hosted a “delivery event” where PepsiCo received a handful of trucks. The faithful rejoiced, proclaiming the Semi had finally arrived. But look at the numbers: years later, perhaps a few dozen Semis exist. That’s just a science fair project.
Now Tesla claims the factory in Nevada will produce 50,000 trucks annually. The walls are up! The roof is closed! Equipment installation begins soon! Production starts late 2025! Ramping in 2026!
Have you noticed the pattern? The promised land always lies just beyond the next hill. Always visible, never reached. From the litany of articles I have now had to put together this year about Tesla, from OdometerGate, the record recall levels, to CyberStuck, the fiddling of the books, the terrible sales and deliverynumbers, the toxic CEO, and their likely death in China, and what has become super clear through all of this is that this tech bro just cannot be trusted.