The big Tesla Semi overview: my ride in Europe, and all I learned

Oh man, this has been a crazy ride. Literally.

I flew to Hannover, Germany earlier this month to be among the first to see Tesla Semi debut in Europe.

And just by placing myself in the right place at the right time (with some right questions?) managed to get a ride in the Semi and break quite a few semi-viral news about Tesla’s plans that I learned from the team.

Here’s what I’ll tell you about (avoid if you don’t like spoilers haha):

If you’re following me on my socials (X, LI), you’ve seen some of this when I reported live on X (went semi-viral with 2M views and whatnot), or on Teslarati and other publications. But so far I haven’t put it all together for context anywhere else, other than this article right here.

PS, all footage below is taken by myself. Except for the one where I climb in the Semi, that’s shot by a Tesla team member.

Ready to jump in?

— Jaan

So happened that I… became one of the first five people from the public to ever ride in the Tesla Semi.

Now, in case you haven’t met me yet, I’m this dude on the “back seat” of the Semi here 👇

Before the big news I learned, here’s a bit of a backstory:

Tesla brought two Semis over from the US, made some small changes, and now showed them here in Europe, on IAA Transportation show in Germany. One was on the show floor, the other one I found sitting in the far corner of the test drive garage waiting for the next day:

The Tesla Semi acceleration drive units were also showcased on the show floor:

Now, this is the biggest of the news I learned from two separate members of the Tesla team:

You might’ve noticed the trucks in Europe are… boxy, compared to the US trucks.

That actually comes from the regulation for length, and thus the truck makers need to basically “stack the people on top of the engine”, aka produce cabovers.

The length is what has been cited as #1 reason by everyone on why Tesla cannot enter the European market with their current design — regulations on length.

Two separate team members however confirmed to me when I asked:

Tesla only had to make a bunch of minor changes to details (modify wheel covers, signal lights etc) to make the truck fit for roads in Europe. And they did not need to change the cab design.

This comes as some new EU regulation change allows for more length if the cab is more aerodynamic. I haven’t been able to confirm if there were any changes in width (I believe the Semi is 2.6m, while regulation requires 2.55m), and am yet to look up the specific allowance on aerodynamic cab, although I’ve now heard the same from other sources.

The team member who drove me around in the Semi said they call this build the European Development Platform.

I learned that the team designed the Tesla Semi with international markets in mind from the start. Considering how little they had to change, it now shows.

Note that does not mean Semi will enter European markets right now!

As confirmed by the team and by Dan Priestley’s talk (below), Tesla is focusing on North America and ramping up first. So we can assume 2026+, and actual customer fleets perhaps even a bit later.

The team, again on two separate occasions (I try and verify everything), told me that they have a space “saved” for the sleeper version with a metal frame behind the cab.

Naturally, after I heard this I decided to climb up there from the outside and check it out (I asked permission, of course). The metal frame and space held for it is indeed clearly visible on my video here:

I personally would assume Tesla will launch this sleeper cab version once the new Semi factory is up and running, but you never know. It is still good to know they’re keeping it in mind with all the design already today, especially as 72% of Class 8 trucks in 2023 in the US were sleeper versions (link).

I also measured the depth of the frame, but couldn’t do the wide side before another team member decided I should get off…

On all the days that I was at the event, there was just one booth that had a constant line to it from the start. For the Tesla Semi.

I found out when they were starting the test rides so I made sure to be there as early as possible on day one, ended up being earlier than all but five people (shoutout to David and Vanessa right in front of me — true EV geeks hehe).

I had to scan a QR code off the stand to approve some test drive rules, and off we went.

Sadly no filming or audio was allowed for the ride, but I did get in and do a few laps around the hall in the so-called passenger seat. The team member from the US driving was clearly very knowledgeable on the Tesla Semi and seemed to be a part of that specific program.

He was showcasing the different features of the truck through our route, like the independent front suspension Tesla developed, and the regeneration as soon as he left his foot off the pedal – the driver said he didn’t use the brakes once through the whole ride!

The ride itself was smooth as heck and quiet (I know, not really standard units of measurement, sorry). The team confirmed the turning radius is “similar to a Model Y”, and it did seem so as well from the ride.

The visibility from the middle seat in the cabin is great. Three cameras on each mirror help, too. This and the agility and how it felt, it seemed like I could easily drive the truck myself.

Now of course I am not a truck driver, but the central seating did not really make it difficult to reach the windows as you’d expect – which open from the bottom and do not roll down by the way. Felt like you could reach potential key pads etc with ease, the whole cabin is narrow enough in the front.

Of course nowadays, isn’t every toll booth automated anyway?

I played around with the two display screens when it was in stationary, and I can see how this dual setup can be everything you need. Responsiveness and clarity of what’s what was the usual Tesla quality. By the way, the footage from the cameras in side mirrors take up the inner quarter of both screens, although I assume you can change the locations.

When I toured the truck itself on the showroom, I found that the two Tesla Semi storage compartments on both sides are actually rather large, and they pop wide open when pushing a button on the respective door, or on the touchscreen.

The other button on the door opens the hood, but one of the team members did confirm there isn’t a storage space also known as frunk there. They didn’t open the hood, because last time there was a bit too much snooping around from the competition.

Talking of which, the IAA Transportation show where Tesla Semi was presented, is a trade show full of Tesla Semi’s competitors, from MAN and Volvo trucks to Daimler and the new Chinese entries.

There were quite a lot of employees of these companies trying to learn every single detail they could, with more than one group even bringing tape measurers. Some were exploring the chassis and drivetrain while others, like this group, exploring details around the wheel and tires.

As one of our newsletter readers put it – let’s hope the Tesla team added some red herrings to confuse ‘em, just for fun.

Also, check this little fella out. It’s the emergency handle inside the door, which is for when Semi doors don’t open for whatever reason.

For those unaware, Dan Priestley is the lead of Tesla Semi Program. After one of his talks (which I’ll cover below), we took a chance to chat with Dan on the sidelines and ask all bunch of questions about Tesla’s plans.

I’m really grateful that Dan, Graham Carroll (Head of Business Development, Semi) and Emily Conway (Business Development Manager, Semi) took their time to chat with us and were actually open about a lot of their approaches.

I asked Dan Priestley whether the Tesla Semi will incorporate both MCS - or Megawatt Charging Standard and CCS2 that is currently widespread in Europe also for trucks until MCS is standardized. Both Dan and Graham next to him said specifically:

That’s quite a bold statement, but they seemed sure and didn’t hesitate. They also said of course that interoperability is key, and they will work together with customers to find what best suits their needs.

Dan also seemed to give a preliminary answer a big question of ours – whether Tesla will come to Europe with the 6-by-4 configuration or 4-by-2, as is common in Europe: he said that they want to challenge the norm of the 4-by-2, but ultimately it all depends on specific needs of the customers. He also confirmed that more Semi customers will be announced this year. 

On the different variants of the Semi truck, Dan said they have “a few” of what he called the standard range assets in the US already – which should have around 310 miles (500 km) of range, but the ones brought to Europe were the 500-mile (800-kilometer) versions.

Dan also seemed to confirm my assumption that they will likely first start operations of the Semi in their Giga Berlin facility before launching actual pilots.

I told Dan Priestley during our chat that Tesla should really consider doing such test drive – or test ride – events in the US. Dan did say that it is just so hard to create a space for using trucks like this – all the trucks they produce are in operation and they don’t have so-called “show trucks” like other manufacturers, instead they try and maximize utilization of each unit.

So, instead of press conferences or big uncovering of trucks common for trade shows, Tesla instead kept their showroom clean with no merch, just the Semi and a few team members, and had Dan Priestley give two speeches on the conference stage.

The first one was a keynote speech on the opening day. I filmed the whole thing for you (on X here, or on YouTube):

This speech didn’t give us too many new details, but we did learn some higher level numbers:

Dan said on the speech that the Pilot Tesla Semi fleet has driven over 7.5 million kilometers to date, which is about 4.66 million miles. For context, that’s up from 3.5 million they reported back in May.

Tesla also has an all-electric Tesla Semi truck in their fleet that has operated for less than 18 months and it already has driven over 250,000 miles in that timeframe, and those miles have all been done at around North American gross vehicle weight limits, “to enable 15 million ton-kilometers of work.”

It was also great to learn the actual weights of the trucks:

Dan confirmed on his speech, that “Tesla Semi will be street legal in Europe and be compatible with European trailers.”

Elon Musk himself actually quoted a clip from this speech that I filmed and wrote “Not bad for something some people said was impossible.”

The appearance on the second day was a discussion between Dan Priestley and Dejan Antunović, the Electrification Program Manager at PepsiCo. Their topic was all about PepsiCo’s experience with the Tesla Semis, the first large pilot program testing Tesla Semis

Here it is with timestamps and my notes on X, or on YT (find timestamps in the first comment):

This one was a lot more insightful discussion for us, learning the actual real-life lessons from deploying the fully electric (Tesla) Semi fleet across PepsiCo’s operations.

Dejan confirmed that PepsiCo has about 3.8 million kilometers (2.36M miles) driven on these trucks. Which says to us, that 50.7% of all Tesla Semi’s 4.66M miles have been driven by PepsiCo so far.

PepsiCo is already seeing using electric trucks providing lower cost solutions over time, and Dan says TCO [Total cost of Ownership] is the baseline of every decision that Tesla Semi team makes — a bit of a different view from their passenger vehicles.

They go over the tiniest details to drive the cost out of the product, including using the same components (like screens, and powertrain pieces) from other Tesla products, to use the scale to make the costs lower.

Efficiency is the biggest lever in driving down the Total Cost of Ownership, winning on both energy needed and being able to remove battery capacity from the vehicle, greatly reducing upfront cost. 

Other ways Tesla reduces TCO is by supply chain efficiencies, and also with service and maintenance, leveraging their software and vertical integration there, along with the in-house service learnings they take from the passenger cars, to reduce service costs and keep parts costs low.

"We try to make it fun" says Dan as Tesla wants for the drivers to actually want to drive it, so it works for retention of the workforce. This means good trucks also possibly lower the recruiting costs for the company… talk about add-on value for customers, huh?

PepsiCo's highest mileage trucks are actually in the beverage business! Meaning on the heavier and longer routes.

Dejan gives an overview of the three different uses of the PepsiCo fleets:

1. Pepsi Beverages, drive both locally, regional long-haul. Local trucks go 150mi or less per day. Dejan says Tesla Semis have been a great use case, because of the ease of use for drivers for driving in urban settings, in city streets thanks to the great turning radius.

2. Regional long-haul for Pepsi (?) runs on “slip-seat” operations: does 800km (500mi) in a shift, then returns to depot for 30-40min, and then the same truck with a new driver goes on the same route. All this is on heavy payload, averaging at 35 tons (~70k lbs).

3. Frito-Lay, lighter since hauling chips, doing regional long haul. They've demonstrated well that heavy-duty EVs should and can replicate diesel operations.

As for the overall fleet, the Tesla Semi units — soon to reach 86 deployed — are divided over the operations like this:

On the Frito Lay side they've seen consistent 0.8 kWh per kilometre (1.29kWh per mile) efficiency over the two years.
Sorry… I was the one letting out a whistle at 12:00 when I heard that 🤭

Heavy-duty Pepsi side Semis are at 1kWh/km (1.609kWh/mi) efficiency. This checks out, as Elon also just recently posted "Looks like we can get kWh/mile down around 1.2 with the median semi load” (link)

Dejan says they’ve got a driver driving a diesel truck for 30-40 years and his feedback has been very positive, similar to what drivers mostly tell them: “I never want to go back to diesel”.

Dan admits they had early problems they had to overcome, especially on deploying the charging infrastructure. Interestingly, he also later on says “we’re working through some interesting things on the charging front there, so we’ll be unlocking more utilization”.

All three PepsiCo sites use depot charging, and Dejan says they expected being able to deploy faster and learned 1.5 years has been the bare minimum it takes and more like three years for them.

I was rather surprised to learn that the development of the site and installing of PepsiCo’s Megawatt-level charging has come from PepsiCo’s side, not specifically from Tesla (but surely with their know-how).

Dejan confirms that they’ve been able to bring the Semis into operations in a similar or same duty cycle as their diesel and other trucks. PepsiCo has also deployed solar and battery storage to complement the charging. All three sites are actually under different utilities (= more hassle).

Dan says that unlike current US operations relying on depot charging, with European operations, he thinks we’ll see a bit more prevalence and reliance on the publicly available charging, so they might “tweak the ratios of how we do behind the fence or depot charging versus public charging.”

Dan mentions that Europe has a lot more of different utilities — like Germany with over several hundred different utilities — so working with different utilities can occasionally be challenging with unique rules and individual pieces.

Dejan brings out that two large savings come from fuel and maintenance, and while diesel costs in California are high, for electricity they’re able to access some EV dedicated rates, that in combination with peak shaving “with the integration of Megapack that we have at each of our depots”, driving costs down, in some cases by 25-30%.

Dan also comments a large part of getting trucks back to the road fast after any service is a robust parts distribution network, which they’ve really leveraged from the rest of Tesla’s business.

Tesla is setting up a Service Center nearby to take care of the Semis deployed, and they are working on transitioning some of their service responsibilities actually over to PepsiCo, training PepsiCo’s technicians for more and more service jobs. Dan sees some companies wanting to take more on and some less, it’s going to be a mix.

We’re done with this overview! If you read all that, you’re a frunking rockstar. 👏

Share: Feel free to share this article online (link), or my posts about the Semi on X or LinkedIn with your thoughts.

I want to recognize the awesome Tesla team here for being so open and friendly through all of my (rather nosy) questions. Also, a big shoutout to old and new EV geek friends I met on the event, including David (from Teslawelt, check out his videos if you speak Deutsch), Vanessa, Dennis, Sven, Marco, Florian, and Kees. Y’all rock.

Comment Below: Do leave your thoughts on the Tesla Semi and this writeup in the comment section below.

Upcoming: Windrose Semi deep dive. In our next EV Universe issue, I’ll give you an overview of the Windrose Semi. The team allowed me the unique chance to ride in one and answered all my questions, including why it looks so similar to the Tesla Semi. There are lots of interesting takeaways there.

Back to reading the newsletter: You probably arrived here from our weekly newsletter that has another 2,500 words on the EV industry, keep reading here: EV Universe #142.