DEPLOYDatabase

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 · Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verified · Trucks

Track Semi at California

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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)

Exposure

Customer segment
logistics
Scale tier
pilot lt10
Customer
(registry company)

Each exposure value carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.

Safety record

No incidents on record for Semi at California.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Trust tier
Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated
2026-08-21
Model
Semi
Company
Tesla
Location
United States/California
Operator
Tesla
Status
ended
Operator type
customer deployed
Scale at site
2 to 10 units
Site environment
outdoor
Location precision
verified coordinates
First seen
2025-07-01
ID
e8016473-ddd5-4965-80ec-3bcc36c6e75a

Timeline

  1. Jul 2025
    First recorded
    Semi first documented operating at California.
  2. Jun 2026
    created
  3. Aug 2026
    Current status: ended, reviewed
    Latest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.

On the deployment map

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Semi operates in California. Explore the full verified map:

Sources (2)

  1. https://www.ttnews.com/articles/tesla-semi-arcbest-pilot
  2. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/arcbest-touts-results-from-ev-semi-pilot
Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-08-21

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: truck

Sources by quality tier

2
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Semi at California.

Common questions

What is the Semi deployment at California?
Semi, built by Tesla, is recorded as a deployment at California on the DEPLOY registry. Tesla operates the deployment directly.
Who operates Semi at California?
Tesla, the manufacturer of Semi, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.
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.

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