A few years ago, seeing a Tesla drive past you on your commute was a rarity. Today, you may pass a few and think nothing of it.
But this is something you don’t see every day: a Tesla semi-truck hauling Teslas. Recently, folks took to Twitter to show off what they had witnessed in Fremont, California.
Telsa has always been looking for a better way to haul its products. In a 2018 SEC filing, the company articulated why it wanted to get into the car-hauling business by acquiring Central Valley Auto Transport Inc.
“As part of Tesla’s ongoing logistics strategy to increase its vehicle transport capacity, reduce vehicle transportation time, and improve the timeliness of scheduled deliveries, Tesla agreed to issue shares of Tesla’s common stock in connection with its acquisition of certain car-hauling trucks and trailers from Central Valley Auto Transport, Inc. …, an automotive transport provider. We are registering these Tesla shares pursuant to registration rights granted to the selling stockholder in connection with the acquisition.”
The news of Tesla acquiring the California-based trucking company came in Q3 of 2018, a time when Elon Musk was ramping up production of the Model 3.
According to Business Insider, in March of this year, Tesla still hadn’t figured out an efficient way to haul. An internal memo obtained by Business Insider revealed that the company was looking for employees to help deliver Teslas on their off days and that they would receive overtime as compensation.
Fast forward to today and Tesla is still having trouble delivering. This time the company’s founder and CEO took to Twitter to personally apologize for the late delivery of his cars.
It is not yet known how vast the Tesla hauling production is. But on June 10, FreightWaves reported on a leaked internal memo in which Musk said, “It’s time to go all out and bring the Tesla Semi to volume production.” Read more here: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/musk-time-for-tesla-semi-to-get-on-the-road
Nationwide United
Wow! Tesla semis 🙂 Will they offer door to door service like most car shipping companies or will it be more like large fleet of Teslas to dealerships?