By: Jag Dhatt
In November of 2017 in Hawthorne, California, Elon Musk was all smiles as he introduced his class 8 all-electric semitruck. The Tesla boss, brimming with confidence, promised people that the Tesla Semi would begin delivering in 2019, and buyers had to reserve with a $20K deposit.
At that time, companies like Pepsi and Walmart had placed orders for the Semi, giving confidence to Tesla, who has dominated the electric vehicle market for years.
2019 came and due to delays in production, the Tesla Semi was projected to be delivered in 2020. In January of 2020, Musk announced the company needed to lower battery costs while improving efficiency of the Semi.
However, last week, it was made public that Semi production and deliveries are being pushed back to 2021.
“There needs to be an availability of battery cells for all of Tesla vehicles,” said Musk. “Thus, if we start putting fuel cells in the Semi, we need to ensure that enough fuel cells are available for the Model 3. Production of vehicles must match fuel cell availability.”
Tesla admits that the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t helped the situation. However, the company promises that by 2021, production and delivery of the Tesla Semi will happen. And if that doesn’t happen, competitors like Daimler and Volvo will be forerunners in the class 8 electric truck race.
