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A Tesla Semi with structural batteries and 620 miles of range is a haymaker against trucking emissions
The Tesla Semi may be requiring a lot of patience among its reservation holders, but it appears that the all-electric Class 8 long-hauler will be well worth the wait. While speaking at the European Battery Conference organized by the Federal Ministry of Economics, Elon Musk remarked that the Tesla Semi will be equipped with a structural battery pack. This, together with other optimizations, should allow the Tesla Semi to have a range of up to 620 miles in the future.
“Getting a range of 500 km is I think, quite easy. And this is assuming a truck that is pulling a load of something in the order of 40 metric tons. So that’s a heavy truck. For long-range trucking, up to, we think, easily 800 kilometers, and we see a path over time, to get to about 1,000 kilometers of range. We think this is going to be extremely competitive and compelling to trucking companies,” Musk said.
The Tesla Semi’s initial range of 300-500 miles per charge is no joke, but it does give the impression that the Class 8 long-hauler is best used for short or medium routes. With a 620-mile range, however, things become very different. Together with its low operating costs, stellar safety systems, as well as built-in driver-assist features like Convoy Mode, the Tesla Semi could very well be a haymaker against the emissions of the trucking industry.
The trucking industry is among the biggest culprits in the transportation sector’s overall emissions. Following the unveiling of the Tesla Semi back in 2017, the Environmental Defense Fund published a post stating that the transportation sector accounts for 7% of total fine particulate matter globally. Commonly known as soot, particulate matter has been linked to several diseases such as cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. Freight trucks produce nearly half of the transportation sector’s total fine particulate matter.
There is no doubt that a shift to electric trucks would benefit the environment and humanity as a whole. Unfortunately, battery-electric trucks have been constrained by range so far. Even vehicles made by veteran truckers like the eCascadia are only able to travel a measly 250 miles per charge. That makes battery-electric trucks limited in their use, despite their environmental benefits. Even the Tesla Semi’s initial iteration, which was announced with 300-500 miles of range per charge, is not comparable to the range of diesel long-haulers, which are fitted with 200-gallon tanks and are capable of running over 1,000 miles with a full tank.
Things become very different with a battery-electric truck that is capable of traveling 620 miles between charging sessions. In the United States, semi truck drivers are mandated by law to drive no more than 11 hours per day with a 14-hour work day cap before they are required to rest. At highway speeds, this translates to drivers covering about 600-650 miles per shift. Considering Elon Musk’s recent statements about the Semi, it appears that Tesla is improving its Class 8 truck to such a degree that it would be a compelling alternative even to long-range diesel and gas semis.
The trucking market is pretty much dictated by the businesses that are dependent on it. With this in mind, there is a good chance that businesses using trucks for their operations would shift to battery-electric trucks once they offer more advantages compared to their traditional counterparts. In the Tesla Semi’s case, the low operating costs, better performance, and safety improvements are already there. And with 620 miles of range, businesses will likely find very little reason to stick with fossil fuel-powered trucks.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
