Tesla revealed the European specs for its Semi electric truck, and they don’t match the version already in production in the US. The truck will offer up to 550 km (342 miles) of range at 40 tonnes fully loaded.
Tesla Europe posted the numbers today, days before the company plans to formally launch the Semi in Europe at the IAA Transportation show in Hannover.
The European Semi specs
Tesla Europe laid out the figures in a post on X:
- Up to 550 km of range at 40 tonnes, fully loaded
- 1 kWh/km energy consumption
- Megacharger at up to 800 kW, recovering ~60% of range in 30 minutes
- ePTO up to 25 kW
- 40-tonne gross combination weight, 9,100 kg curb weight
The post points to Tesla’s German website for the Tesla Semi and comes ahead of Tesla’s confirmed European launch at IAA Transportation, running September 15-20 in Hannover. Tesla still hasn’t given European pricing or an on-sale date.
How Europe compares to the US
The headline number is range, and it’s lower than what Tesla advertises in the US. The American Long Range Semi is rated at 500 miles (805 km) on an 822 kWh battery. The European figure of 550 km is quoted at 40 tonnes fully loaded, a heavier gross weight than the 82,000 lb (37.2 tonnes) Tesla uses for its US rating. Europe lets zero-emission trucks run above the standard 40-tonne limit, and a heavier load eats range.
But there’s a catch in the curb weight. At 9,100 kg (~20,000 lb), the European Semi is lighter than the US Long Range truck (~23,000 lb) and lands right on the US Standard Range spec of under 20,000 lb. A lighter truck usually means a smaller battery. So the 550 km figure may reflect a standard-range pack rather than the 500-mile Long Range version, something worth pinning down when Tesla shows the truck in Hannover.
Charging is the other gap. Tesla quotes 800 kW for Europe, recovering about 60% of range in half an hour. In the US, Tesla has shown the Semi charging at 1.2 MW, pulling back ~70% in 30 minutes. The efficiency figure lines up: 1 kWh/km is roughly 1.6 kWh per mile, close to the real-world consumption US fleets have logged.
A crowded European market
Tesla isn’t early here. Mercedes-Benz, Volvo Trucks, MAN, Scania, DAF and Renault all sell battery-electric heavy trucks in Europe, with service networks already in place. Mercedes’ eActros 600 offers around 500 km of range on a 600 kWh battery, so Tesla’s 550 km at 40 tonnes is competitive on paper but not a runaway lead.
Tesla is still building the Semi only at its new high-volume factory next to Gigafactory Nevada. Whether European trucks get imported from Nevada or built locally is one of the open questions for Hannover.
CEO Elon Musk has previously said that Tesla will build the semi truck at its Berlin factory.
Electrek’s Take
The specs are solid, but the story is what Tesla left out. No price, no delivery date, and no clarity on which battery configuration Europe is actually getting. That curb weight points to a standard range or modified version for EU standards: 9,100 kg is Standard Range territory, which would explain why 550 km comes in well under the 805 km Tesla markets in the US. If that’s the case, European fleets are looking at a shorter-range truck than the spec sheet suggests.
The 800 kW charging cap is also interesting. A big part of the Semi’s pitch is turning a driver’s 30-minute break into a near-full charge, and 800 kW is a real step down from the 1.2 MW Tesla has demonstrated. That’s probably about Europe’s Megacharger rollout and the megawatt charging standard, not the truck itself, but it changes the duty-cycle math for long-haul operators.
Tesla is walking into a market where Volvo and Mercedes have been selling electric trucks for years and already have depots, financing and service sorted. If Tesla can shake up the market, I think it’s with pricing.
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