Story by: Linda Baker, Staff Writer at FreightWaves

Tesla (TSLA)  plans to put “limited volumes” of its heavy-duty truck on the road in 2020, CEO Elon Musk said during the company’s earnings call last week, but faster production requires a massive ramping up in battery power.

“That’s part of the reason why we have not, for example, really accelerated production of the Semi,” Musk said. “[It] means making fewer Model 3 or Model Y cars. It uses a lot of cells.”

Walmart (WMT), UPS (UPS) and Anheuser-Busch are among the customers that collectively ordered thousands of the all-electric Semis when the heavy-duty vehicle was announced with much fanfare in 2017.

At that point, Tesla said production would start in 2019, only to retract that statement in later guidance announcements.

The trucks are expected to cost around $150,000 with a 300-mile range; at $180,000, the trucks are expected to travel 600 miles.

Story continues HERE at freightwaves.com

Source and credits: freightwaves.com / Linda Baker /  iTrucker  / Mario Pawlowski