Tesla is reportedly constructing a new semi-truck assembly line at a new facility near the electric vehicle maker's Gigafactory Nevada plant, and the company is looking to build five electric trucks per week, The Street reported Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk mentioned that the company could eventually manufacture 100,000 electric semi trucks per year.
The Tesla semi electric truck was first unveiled in 2017. The company already has thousands of reservations for the vehicle, according to Electrek.
Tesla recently sealed a deal to supply 10 battery-powered semi-trucks and two mega-chargers with around $2 million in U.S. government support, Electrek reported.
MHX Leasing, a logistics company based in California, is said to have secured almost $2 million to buy 10 Tesla Semi-class 8 trucks, and $560,000 to acquire two overhead battery-powered cranes form the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee, according to The Street.
Tesla's plan is still for volume manufacturing to take place at Gigafactory Austin once the company can also accelerate battery cell production there, Fred Lambert of Electrek wrote.
Shares of the Palo Alto, California company were climbing almost 4% up to $635.62 on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, as the first batch of Tesla Semi units may not be delivered before 2022, Musk in a recent tweet said scaling up production is proving to be difficult owing to supply constraints plaguing battery cells.
