Electrek reported on Nov. 1 that Tesla’s Semi is “finally making their way to paying customers,” putting a $290,000 price on the electric tractor in a piece about fleet tax breaks. The number is a quoted figure for the 500-mile Long Range version, not a price Tesla has published, and no delivery count has been disclosed.
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The timing matters because buyers of heavy electric trucks are racing a changing tax landscape. A federal commercial clean vehicle credit expired on Sept. 30, and a bigger deduction has taken its place in fleet planning.
Origins of the $290,000 figure
Electrek’s Sept. 25 coverage of the Nevada plant, its report on the volume production launch, says Tesla has not confirmed pricing since the event. The outlet had earlier reported quotes of about $290,000 for the Long Range and about $260,000 for the Standard Range, roughly $145,000 below the average electric Class 8 truck.
The Autopian, writing in February, gave the same two numbers and said they appeared on an updated Tesla Semi page. That page no longer carries them. Tesla’s current Semi page lists neither price and sends fleet buyers to a contact form to learn about ordering one or more trucks, so the figure should be read as a quote reported by the press. The Autopian set the figures against an earlier Elon Musk promise of $150,000 for the Standard Range and $180,000 for the Long Range, announced in 2017.
From Sparks, Nevada to customer fleets
Tesla launched high-volume Semi production on Sept. 24 at a dedicated factory in Sparks, Nevada, beside Gigafactory Nevada. Electrek says Tesla claims the 1.8-million-square-foot plant can build 50,000 trucks a year on one line covering Standard, Long Range and a European version. The first truck had come off the line in April. Customer names shown at the launch included PepsiCo, DHL, ABF, Einride, IMC Logistics and WattEV. The ZET SCALE alliance named Tesla its primary supplier for 2,500 trucks the week before the event, and Einride ordered 500 trucks in August.
Performance and uptime numbers come from Tesla and are unaudited. The company claims fleet uptime above 98% so far in 2026 and says a Megacharger can restore up to 60% of range in 30 minutes. Electrek notes that Megachargers cluster in California, Texas and the East Coast, with gaps across the Mountain West and Plains. The February specifications listed 325 miles for the Standard Range and 500 miles for the Long Range at 82,000 pounds.
Operating cost is Tesla’s main sales argument. Per Electrek’s account of the launch chart, diesel costs about $0.80 per mile this year against $0.20 to $0.30 per mile for electricity, and the Nov. 1 article describes diesel prices as inching toward $7 a gallon. Tesla also changed the truck itself: it moved from 2170 to its own 4680 cells, uses a steel-caged rotor and bar-wound stator shared with Cybertruck, and replaced hydraulic steering with electric steering. Tesla has not disclosed a new pack size.
Section 179 and bonus depreciation for a six-figure tractor
The Nov. 1 Electrek article is mostly about Section 179, an expensing deduction that the piece says was doubled to $2.5 million by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with a phase-out beginning at $4 million of purchases. IRS Publication 946 puts the limit for tax years beginning in 2026 at $2,560,000, reduced once qualifying purchases pass $4,090,000. A tax CPA who commented under the article objected to calling Section 179 a credit, saying that description is inaccurate. Electrek’s own text calls it an expense reduction and recommends consulting a tax professional and a truck dealer. Over-the-road tractors count as three-year property, and the IRS does not distinguish between electric and diesel trucks for depreciation purposes.
Bonus depreciation of 100% was restored for property acquired after Jan. 19, 2025. IRS Notice 2026-11 says property is not treated as acquired after the date a written binding contract is entered into for it, so the order date can decide eligibility. For a truck ordered under a contract that predates the cutoff, that rule is the one to read closely.
The timing of an order matters as much as the price. Electrek lists other electric equipment that qualifies for the same treatment, including the Mack LR electric garbage truck, the Kenworth T880e vocational truck, battery-electric refrigerated trailers and the Hyundai 160B-X forklift, which means a fleet can bundle a Semi with charging infrastructure and storage in one year’s deduction. Electrek also notes that the 45W commercial credit that once offset truck prices ended on Sept. 30, leaving expensing as the main federal lever for buyers.
What nobody has published is the delivery tally. Electrek says it will track Semi deliveries over the next few quarters, and until Tesla discloses numbers, “reaching paying customers” describes a start, not a scale.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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