While many Tesla fans are eagerly waiting for the Semi Class 8 electric semi-truck, CEO Elon Musk has declared that higher-volume production of the zero-emissions commercial vehicle will likely not start before late 2024. The world-renowned billionaire entrepreneur said he didn’t expect the company to start higher-volume production of the Tesla Class 8 semi-truck before late next year due to battery supply constraints. However, he didn’t provide details on what higher-volume production really meant. He was speaking at a recent energy conference in Austin, Texas.

Previously, Musk announced that the company planned to increase the annual production of the Tesla Semi to 50,000 units starting in 2024. Speaking on the earnings call for third quarter of this year (Q3 2022) in October last year, the billionaire entrepreneur said that it would take around a year for the company to increase production of the commercial EV. Around a year from October 2022 would indicate late 2023 to early 2024 for the commencement of the increased production.

At the time, Musk announced, “So, we’re tentatively aiming for 50,000 units in 2024 for Tesla Semi in North America. And obviously, we'll expand beyond North America.”

Musk’s latest announcement appears to suggest a delay in the production ramp up, though he also said that the production ramp would start next year, which also means late next year. Nevertheless, it is hard to believe that the EV giant would be able to meet its goal of producing 50,000 units of the Semi in 2024 even if production is ramped up in late 2024.

The Tesla Semi was first unveiled around half a decade ago, but it took a longer than initially expected time to start production and deliveries of the commercial EV. The first batch of the Tesla Semi was delivered to pre-order holders in December 2022, years after the originally set delivery time of 2019.

According to Tesla’s claims, the Semi “is a beast,” capable of producing a total power three times higher than that of a conventional diesel truck. However, the company hasn’t revealed the exact peak/continuous power output figures for the commercial EV. The high power of the semi-truck can be gauged from the fact that the commercial vehicle’s takes just 20 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (roughly 96.5 km/h) even when it is fully loaded (82,000 lbs or 37,195 kg).