Tesla (TSLA) has opened a factory to produce its new heavy-duty electric Semi truck.
The new production facility is located in Nevada and it comes online as the company pushes into big rigs and commercial vehicles.
The company first unveiled a prototype of the electric Semi in 2017 and started selling the trucks in very limited quantities to customers that include beverage giant PepsiCo (PEP).
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called the Semi truck a “breakthrough product for heavy shipping.”
The move into commercial vehicles comes as Tesla’s core business of electric vehicles for consumers faces growing competition and stagnant sales.
It also arrives amid record prices for diesel fuel that commercial trucks run on. Diesel in the U.S. is above $6 U.S. a gallon for the first time.
Tesla plans to produce 50,000 Semi trucks per year at the new manufacturing plant, or about 1,000 per week.
Musk has said that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode will eventually be available for the Semi trucks and that the driverless system will help to address a shortage of truck drivers in the U.S.
Tesla says that its Semi truck can travel an estimated 500 miles on a full battery charge, while its standard variant gets an estimated 325 miles of driving range.
The company has also said that it plans to eventually bring the electric Semi truck to Europe, where battery-powered commercial vehicles have proven popular.
TSLA stock has declined 14% this year to trade at $377.94 U.S. per share.
