Deployment
Semi at California
The Tesla Semi is a Class 8 battery-electric heavy-duty truck (325-mile and 500-mile range variants), unveiled in November 2017 with first deliveries to PepsiCo on December 1 2022. The registry records it at commercial maturity on the strength of PepsiCo's sustained, multi-site, multi-year fleet operation (Sacramento beverage and Modesto Frito-Lay), with additional independent pilots at ArcBest/ABF and DHL (first delivery December 2025). Critically, the Tesla Semi is a human-driven electric truck: every deployed unit runs with a driver, Tesla has made no Level 4 claim, and it removed Autopilot/FSD references from the Semi's marketing. Full autonomy is a roadmap claim only, so the registry does not wire the Semi to Tesla's FSD stack. Volume production at the dedicated Giga Nevada Semi factory is targeted for 2026 (a repeatedly-slipped Tesla target); production is still ramping. 2017-era pricing of $150k-$180k is a stale projection.
Semi by Tesla · Operated by ArcBest · Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verified
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /deployments/tesla-semi-arcbest-pilot.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/robots/e8016473-ddd5-4965-80ec-3bcc36c6e75a
- Data documentation: /data
A completed, time-boxed pilot, not an operating fleet. ArcBest's less-than-truckload carrier ABF Freight ran a single Tesla Semi for about three weeks, with results announced July 2025: 4,494 total miles, ~321 miles/day, 1.55 kWh/mile, over routes including Reno-to-Sacramento over-the-road service, Bay Area regional runs, and the 7,200-ft Donner Pass climb. Performance generally matched diesel counterparts with positive driver feedback; ArcBest flagged charging infrastructure as the gating constraint. ArcBest does not currently operate any Class 8 battery-electric tractors in regular service. Battery-electric truck with driver-assist, not autonomy.
Key facts
- Operator
- ArcBest / ABF Freight
- Pilot
- 1 truck, ~3 weeks, 4,494 mi, 1.55 kWh/mi; results July 2025
- Verification
- PILOT (completed one-off; no ongoing fleet)
- Trust tier
- Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verified
- Last updated
- 2026-06-03
- Model
- Semi
- Company
- Tesla
- Location
- California
- Operator
- ArcBest
- Status
- ended
- First seen
- 2025-07-01
- ID
e8016473-ddd5-4965-80ec-3bcc36c6e75a
Verifications (0)
No verifications recorded yet.
Sources (2)
Common questions
- What is the Semi deployment at California?
- Semi, built by Tesla, is recorded as a deployment at California on the DEPLOY registry. ArcBest operates the deployment.
- Who operates Semi at California?
- ArcBest operates this deployment as a customer of Tesla, the manufacturer of Semi.
- When did the Semi deployment at California go live?
- The deployment is recorded as starting July 1, 2025 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.
- Is the Semi deployment at California still active?
- As of the most recent verification on the DEPLOY registry, this deployment is no longer operating at this location.
- Have there been incidents at the Semi deployment at California?
- No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.