Welcome to the Tesla Space newsletter, our 141^st issue.

Sorry for the odd timing this week.

I just got back from Hannover, Germany, where Tesla presented its new European version of the Tesla Semi at the largest commercial vehicle show in Europe, IAA Transportation.

All the insights I learned from the Semi and meeting the team (awesome people in the Semi and Charging teams, a lot of whom I know by now already) are below, straight from there.

And now, just before I was about to hit send, Top Gear dropped their Tesla Semi Factory tour video, so naturally I had to take like 20 screenshots and pull out all the highlights for you.

Here's what's on the Tesla Space menu today:

… and lots more. Enjoy!

— Jaan

First up, our latest video - give it a watch: Elon Musk Reveals Starbase LA Construction Has Begun!

And because we are a little late this week, there is a second one for you: Elon Musk Reveals New AI Warning

Done? Let's get on with the Tesla Space news this week ↓

🇪🇺 Tesla has officially unveiled the European version of the Semi, confirming 550 km (about 342 miles) of range at a full 40-tonne gross combination weight, up to 800 kW of drive power, about 60% of that range back in 30 minutes on a Megacharger, and deliveries starting in 2027.

I flew over to Hannover to see Tesla showcase the Euro Semi for the very first time and report back to you.

Three European Semis made it to Hannover, and I flew over to check them out.
Two were used for test rides, and one stood at Tesla's booth.

Fun fact: I noticed that this year, next to the Tesla Semi shown, they had put their own back rooms into this installment that looks very much like the side profile of Robovan was taken as inspiration.

Here is a walkaround video of the two Semis that I made from the event.

Funny story with this one: the organizer “guards” didn’t want to let me into the test drive area because I didn’t have a test drive booked as the first day was more for those larger influencer media instead.

But I usually do at least another approach, and what do you know, I spotted Dan Priestley (the head of the whole Semi program) chatting there. I asked him to do a little walkaround for X, and he waved me and my German Tesla content creator friend @teslawelt through the guards himself. We ended up chatting for a bit, too.

Dan is one of the better communicators of the whole Tesla team, by the way, everyone I know says that it’s a pleasure to talk to him, and he presents well, too.

You can find Dan Priestley’s whole keynote speech here (I was there in the front row for 1.5 hours early to make sure I could film this video in)

One slide showed more than 19 million km (11.8 million miles) driven by customers, with 98% uptime year to date. He also said that the pilot customers testing the trucks have covered a total of 400k km (248k mi) during those runs.

The first day had media test drives, so me being the lurking type as I am, I also, of course, had to run outside when Dan took the Semi for a spin to see it run (click to see the video)

On the other day, I also got a ride in the Tesla Semi. It was very interesting for me, as I had done the same two years ago at the exact same spot. Met the same people from the team, too, they were all there!

There’s plenty that has changed visually, and from speaking with Dan, even more has changed internally with the truck.

The driver was one of the Tesla Endurance Drivers who came from Nevada here just for the event.

He was explaining to me how Tesla does listen to the drivers’ feedback very closely and has already made several changes, like rolldown windows (now fully rolling down, accessible from the screen menu; here’s my video of that) and the giga-large sunvisors you see on top here, which now split in two and are fully movable.

The ride itself was smooth, the turning radius is still incredible, and what’s interesting is that you can’t feel the trailer behind you at all.

That must be even more so at the driver’s seat, because the team explained how they’ve played with the torque and everything to give you the exact same light feeling whether you are pulling the trailer or not (with the latter, it is also holding you back apparently, which means less burned rubber for the fleet owners).

‘Anyway, back to the truck itself:

Each camera mirror carries several lenses. Tesla's team told me the truck has 10 cameras in total, giving a full 360-degree view with no blind spots, and the feeds show up on the interior displays.

By the way, the positioning of the camera feeds is interesting while driving. I’ve seen most camera-mirror trucks put a separate screen on the pillars so you’d see the feed from there.

Tesla, however, put that side “mirror” camera feed in the innermost part of the screen next to the steering wheel on both sides. This way, the driver doesn’t even need to move their head to check the side feed, it’s just a glance right near the center. Here’s my view from the seat:

You can also spot that both of the screens are quite significantly tilted towards the driver on the outer sides, so the touchscreen is actually very reachable from the seat with zero issues.

The screen UI has also been changed for the Semi somewhat, and it goes into a lot of details around the operations, you can see everything from each tire pressure to changing the suspension level, from illuminating the deck behind you to unlatching and raising the axle. Here is a video of me going through some of the menu.

So happens that the coverage I made from the event, the official @tesla_semi account on X didn’t just repost my videos once, but four of them 💪. This one got a quote tweet with “Semi UI”.

The European cab is exactly the same length and width as the US Standard Range truck, and it looks like we only get the Standard Range right now, as the Long Range version due to the extra batteries, would mean a longer truck, and that wouldn’t fit in with the regulations (for now).

The headlights are now separate, and the two marker lights moved to the very top of the cab due to regulations.Tesla also reshaped the upper section to match European trailer heights.

Tesla also had to add an emergency escape ladder inside, in case you tip over the truck somewhere:

Since Tesla Semi only comes with the MCS charging port, it seems to have prevented some objections of fleets that have CCS2 installed (like most of Europe, very little MCS still around although growing), so they revealed a CCS2-to-MCS adapter rated at 1,000 V and 500 A (which puts it at ~500kW capability), so the truck can use existing CCS chargers.

Tesla has given Top Gear Tech an extensive look inside its Semi factory in Nevada, revealing the production line for the finished truck and several unusual decisions Tesla made to build the Semi more efficiently. Dan Priestley walks through the reasoning behind it. I’ll give you the highlights below, but I actually recommend to just watch it:

Among the most interesting details from the tour: the production Semi is powder-coated rather than painted. Tesla does not have a conventional paint shop at the Semi factory.

Priestley explained that Tesla already has experience with powder coating through products such as the Megapack. Apart from the environmental side, powder coating takes less capital and less floor space than a liquid-paint operation, while still giving the truck a smooth, painted finish.

The Semi launches in white paint powder only. Brands can get their own colours later.

I guess the best paint shop is no paint shop?

Tesla designed the Semi and its factory together, which let the manufacturing process shape the truck's design.

A good example: one machine installs all 10 wheel lug nuts at once, and this kind of efficiency you’ll find all around the floor.

The rear of the cab stays open late into assembly, so the seat, the instrument panel and other large parts go in from behind.

Workers can walk straight into the cab and get at anything. A 6-foot-6 adult stands up in there without hitting their head. Here is the dashboard before it goes in.

Here is a closer look at the Semi's 4680 cells. The white belt running through the middle is a cooling belt that holds the pack at temperature.

And this is the housing for the battery modules. The Standard Range truck has two of them, the Long Range has three, which is why the Long Range is the longer truck, and likely why it is not the one coming to Europe first.

Heating and cooling inside the seat cuts how hard the cabin climate has to work, which is more efficiency. The seatbelt apparently has a light infrared coating, to increase the chance of truckers wearing it.

The production Semi is 3% more aerodynamic than the prototype, and its drag coefficient is lower than a Bugatti Chiron's, without a trailer.

There is a small air vent in the front bumper now to move air around the wheels, and the bumper splits into three sections so one corner can be repaired on its own.

The Standard Range Semi uses a 548 kWh battery, and the Long Range adds a third pack. The three-motor system runs two motors for the heavy work and one tuned for efficient cruising.

The factory covers 1.7 million square feet (157,935 square metres) and is designed for up to 1,000 trucks a week at full production.

The thinking behind it comes back to the economics of running the truck: on the California electricity and diesel prices Priestley used as an example, the Semi costs about $0.34 a mile against roughly $1 a mile for a diesel.

“This is not an emotional purchase. You're not buying a car. You're buying a tool for a business. And so as soon as the numbers click and the customers realize those numbers are superior to what they've been operating today, the demand and market penetration will be very fast.” — Dan Priestley, Tesla

But… where do you charge all these Semis?

We’ve had quite a bit of updates on this, too 👇

Tesla has launched its Semi Charging for Business program across five European markets, giving fleet operators in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the UK the ability to purchase Tesla's dedicated Semi charging hardware.

When talking to the head of the Megacharging in the US, I also got the impression they are ramping up big.

A setup with one Megacharger cabinet and two posts, plus two Basechargers, service, and shipment, comes to €197,000 before taxes and installation on the German order page. Deliveries of both chargers are expected to start mid-2027.

At the IAA event in Germany, Dan also delivered us the planned European Megacharger network for Europe:

“These are not single stations with single stalls. This represents more than 100 MCS-equipped charging stalls in our initial rollout starting next year, each of which is capable of 1.2 megawatts.” — Dan Priestley, Semi Program Lead at Tesla

He closed on the factory near Giga Nevada, which is already building trucks and has a designed capacity of 1,000 Semis a week, or 50,000 a year.

This news was also just in: Forum Mobility is breaking ground on four new heavy-duty EV charging depots in California, adding 30 MW of charging capacity to its network. The new sites will use Megawatt Charging System (MCS) technology alongside CCS chargers and are backed by commitments from commercial fleets, including reservations for more than 330 Tesla Semis.

Tesla will operate public Megachargers at three of the sites.

We also just found that IMC Logistics, the largest marine drayage provider in the US, is putting 50 Tesla Semis into California drayage and long-haul routes.

Tesla Charging has announced that its first pre-assembled Megachargers are now being deployed, giving the company a faster way to build out its Semi charging network.

The official Tesla Charging account on X shared photos of the Megachargers being installed. As per the company, the pre-assembled setup uses a V4 cabinet with two charging posts. The system is capable of delivering up to 1.2 MW (1,200 kW) of DC power per post.

Okay, looks like I fit in most of the Semi talk for today… the Rollout event is next week (24th) so we’ll certainly have some more for you then!

Tesla appears to have hidden a Back to the Future reference in its new Roadster teaser, with the words “WHERE WE’RE GOING…” tucked into the image. That's an especially curious message for a car whose most outrageous promised feature is a SpaceX-inspired cold-gas thruster system.

The company's Roadster webpage now carries a countdown to October 1. Invitations sent to reservation holders list Waco, Texas, as the location, and Elon Musk's reply to the announcement was short: “Excitement guaranteed.”

Also, if you look at the top image there… I’m pretty sure it’s actually turned upside down.

“Great question there. With all this collaboration, on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take when there's so much close collaboration in so many areas.”
— Elon Musk, All-In Summit

That was his answer at the All-In Summit when asked why the two are still separate. On the Roadster event, he added that they need an audience in the room “to vouch that this is not AI”.

As always, our goal is to become the most value-packed and concise Tesla-related newsletter out there. How did we do today?

94.59% thumbs up on the Cybercab special, counting the email and the online version together. Thank you! 🙏

Here are a few of your comments:

Frans said:

"Keep them coming!!"

— That's the plan. 🤜 ⚡ 🤛

Mark said:

"Love the built-in video feature, and appreciate the cheeky-humourous tone of the writer/s."

— I’m glad that the video logic worked out well on the Cybercab roundup. And thanks on the comment on the voice. It’s how we differentiate ourselves from the gazillion other writers out there.

See you next week for more,
— Jaan, Ted, and Sean.