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Tesla Semi payload estimates suggest critics underestimated battery tech advancements
The Tesla Semi truck’s payload will be comparable to a Class 8 diesel truck, according to the company’s 2020 Impact report. The Semi’s payload estimates address one persistent critique about Tesla’s Class 8 truck.
Early critics of the Semi believed the truck was impossible to produce given the weight capacity limitations of heavy-duty trucks. Although total weight load capacities may differ, on average, the limit for Class 8 trucks is 80,000 pounds. The 80,000-pound capacity includes the weight of the truck and its payload.
With all-electric heavy-duty trucks, manufacturers would have to account for the weight of battery packs. The heavier the battery, the less payload an electric Class 8 truck would be able to carry.
In 2017, many analysts and other experts concluded that the Semi would need a 600 kWh to 1,000 kWh battery pack to produce the truck’s 300 and 500-mile range variants. For perspective, Tesla’s 100 kWh battery packs typically weigh 1,300 pounds. So a 600 kWh pack would weigh almost 8,000 pounds.
However, Tesla has made notable advancements in battery technology since the Semi’s unveiling, including the introduction of the 4680 battery cells. According to Tesla’s estimates, 4680 cells are lighter but have a higher energy density, which could reduce the weight of the electric Semi.
Besides better battery technology, the trucking industry has also shifted since 2017. The United States and the European Union are now mulling over regulations in a world with electric vehicles, including all-electric trucks.
In its 2020 Impact Report, Tesla noted that the US and the EU approved higher weight allowances for heavy-duty electric trucks. In the EU, electric Class 8 trucks are allowed to be ~4,400 (2 tons) pounds heavier than diesel equivalents, while in the US, they were given an allowance of 2,000 pounds (0.9 tons).
The Tesla Semi’s production has been pushed back a few times since its 2017 unveiling. Elon Musk has stated that battery cell production is one of the bottlenecks causing delays in Semi production. A year after the pandemic, supply chain constraints, like the semiconductor shortage, contributed to the challenges in Semi production.
“The pace of the respective production ramps will be influenced by the successful introduction of many new product and manufacturing technologies, ongoing supply-chain related challenges and regional permitting. To better focus on these factories, and due to the limited availability of battery cells and global supply chain challenges, we have shifted the launch of the Semi truck program to 2022,” noted Tesla in its Q2 2021 Update Letter.
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Elon Musk
The Boring Company’s Prufrock-2 emerges after completing new Vegas Loop tunnel
The new tunnel measures 2.28 miles, making it the company’s longest single Vegas Loop tunnel to date.
The Boring Company announced that its Prufrock-2 tunnel boring machine (TBM) has completed another Vegas Loop tunnel in Las Vegas. The company shared the update in a post on social media platform X.
According to The Boring Company’s post, the new tunnel measures 2.28 miles, making it the company’s longest single Vegas Loop tunnel to date.
The new tunnel marks the fourth tunnel constructed near Westgate Las Vegas as the Vegas Loop network continues expanding across the city.
The Boring Company also noted that the new tunnel surpassed its previous internal record of 2.26 miles for a single Vegas Loop segment.
Construction of the tunnel involved moving roughly 68,000 cubic yards of dirt. The excavation process also used about 4.8 miles of continuous conveyor belt, powered by six motors totaling 825 horsepower.
The Boring Company’s Prufrock-series all-electric tunnel boring machines are designed to support the rapid expansion of company’s underground transportation projects, including the growing Vegas Loop network. Prufrock machines are designed for reusability, thanks in no small part to their capability to be deployed and retrieved easily through their “porposing” feature.
The Vegas Loop, specifically the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop segment, has already been used during major events. Most recently, the LVCC Loop supported the 2026 CONEXPO-CON/AGG construction trade show, which was held from March 3-7, 2026.
As per The Boring Company, the LVCC Loop transported roughly 82,000 passengers across the convention center campus during the event’s duration.
CONEXPO-CON/AGG is one of the largest construction trade shows in North America, drawing more than 140,000 construction professionals from 128 countries this year.
The LVCC Loop forms the initial segment of the broader Vegas Loop network, which remains under active development as The Boring Company continues building new tunnels throughout the city.
News
Tesla gathers Cybercab fleet in Gigafactory Texas
Images and video of the Cybercab fleet were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.
Tesla appears to be assembling a growing number of Cybercabs at Gigafactory Texas as preparations continue for the vehicle’s mass production. Recent footage shared online has shown over 30 Cybercabs being transported by trucks or staged near testing areas at the facility.
The images and video were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer and drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.
Interestingly enough, Tegtmeyer noted that many of the Cybercabs being loaded onto transport trucks were still equipped with steering wheels. This suggests that the vehicles are likely testing units rather than the final driverless configuration expected for the company’s Robotaxi service.
The vehicles could potentially be headed to testing sites across the United States as Tesla prepares to expand its Robotaxi fleet.
Additional footage captured at Gigafactory Texas also showed the Cybercab’s side and rear camera washer system operating as vehicles were being loaded onto transport trucks.
The growing number of Cybercabs at Giga Texas comes amidst the company’s announcement that the first production Cybercab has been produced at the facility. Full Cybercab production is expected to begin in April.
The vehicle is expected to play a central role in Tesla’s Robotaxi ambitions as the company looks to expand autonomous ride-hailing operations beyond its early deployments using Model Y vehicles.
Tesla has also linked Cybercab production to its proposed Unboxed manufacturing process, which assembles large vehicle modules separately before integrating them. The approach is intended to reduce production costs and accelerate output.
Musk has also noted that the Cybercab’s ramp will likely begin slowly due to the number of new components and manufacturing steps involved. However, he stated that once the process matures, Cybercab production could scale quickly.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI, creator of Grok and Grokipedia, celebrates its third birthday
xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has marked its third anniversary. The update was shared in a post from the xAI Memphis account on social media platform X.
xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post.
As per xAI, it has built three massive data centers in the city, launched a coherent cluster of 330,000 GBs, created over 3,000 jobs, and paid over $30 million in taxes to local communities.
xAI’s Memphis operation has become a key part of the company’s infrastructure as the company works to train and deploy its Grok artificial intelligence models. Elon Musk has been quite optimistic about Grok’s potential, noting in the past that the large language model might have a shot at achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).
xAI’s Memphis’ crown jewel is its Colossus supercomputer cluster. The project was announced in 2024 and has since become the home of one of the world’s largest AI compute facilities. The first phase of Colossus reached its initial 100,000 GPU operational milestone in just 122 days, or just about four months.
Industry figures such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have praised the facility, noting that projects of similar scale typically take two to four years to complete.
xAI has cited Memphis’ central location, skilled workforce, and industrial infrastructure as key reasons for selecting the city as the home of its AI training operations. The company has also emphasized plans to expand the site further as it scales compute capacity for Grok and future AI models.