Tesla typically likes to be secretive about some of the more crucial specs on its vehicles, to the extent that we often have to guess what batteries it’s sticking under the bonnets, but thankfully the California Air Resources Board has done some of the work for us by inadvertently revealing the size of the new Tesla Semi HGV’s battery.
And it's even bigger than the massive battery 780kWh we heard about on the Volvo FH Aero Electric Extended Range last month.
According to a CARB executive order certifying the powertrain of the 2026 Semi, the Long Range version of the electric lorry has a massive 822kWh battery, while the Standard Range version features a more petite 548kWh battery.
The 1,088hp Semi Long Range is said to have a range of ‘around’ 500 miles, which would give it an efficiency of 0.6 miles/kWh. The 714hp Standard Range version manages around 325 miles of range.
The BMW iX3 electric SUV is rated at 500 miles of WLTP range, and you can fit its 108.7kWh battery capacity 7.6 times in the Tesla Semi, though the BMW’s two tonne towing capacity leaves it trailing (pun intended) behind the e-HGV.
The document also reveals that the class of the Semi is ‘under 15 tonnes’, which is the second highest class (Heavy Duty) for trucks in the US for tractor units between around 12 and 15 tonnes. With a full load behind it, the Semi can weigh around 35 tonnes.
The Tesla Semi was lightly upgraded back in March with a 450kg weight loss and some aero tweaks up front. The truck has been with some big corporate clients since the end of 2022 – PepsiCo was a big initial delivery – in a testing phase, but is apparently ready to go into full production this year.
Another big moment for Tesla this week has seen the end of production for its Model S and Model X cars in California. The Model S had developed into a stalwart part of the Tesla range, its first serious production model went on sale in 2012.
Tesla announced back in January that it was stopping production of the cars in order to shift the factory’s focus to making humanoid robots.
