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How much does a Tesla Semi truck cost?

Work out what a Tesla Semi actually costs to put on the road, and then what it costs per mile of capital across the life you are buying. Put in the truck as Tesla quotes it, the depot charging you install to run it, the plates and title, and your sales tax, and see the out-the-door total, what the sticker leaves out, and the total divided by the miles you plan to run. The electricity to move it is a separate running cost, set by your own utility rate, and this page is careful not to invent one for you.

§ 01 Your numbers

Change anything. The answer updates as you type.

The headline figure for the tractor unit. The $150,000 default is ours and a round placeholder, not Tesla's price: Tesla sets and moves that, so put in your own quote.
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Pin down what is inside this number before you compare it with anything else. Tesla has offered the Semi in more than one range, and the longer-range truck and the shorter-range one are different prices for different work. A reservation is a deposit rather than the purchase, and incentives, which vary by state and by year, can move the out-the-door figure a long way from the sticker. Get the range, the deposit and any incentive written down beside the price, because two configurations a long way apart are two different purchases.
The charger, the electrical work and the utility connection to power the truck at your yard. The $40,000 default is ours and a placeholder: yours turns on your site and your utility.
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This is the line the page argues hardest for, because it is the one a fuel pump never charged you for. A diesel truck fills at a truck stop and the fuel is a running cost. An electric truck of this size needs real power delivered to where it parks, and that is a capital project: the charger itself, the panel and conductors to feed it, trenching and a pad, permits, and frequently a utility upgrade that is quoted separately and can dwarf the charger. Some operators charge on the road and put a smaller figure here; some build a depot and put a much larger one. It is your site, so it is your number, and it belongs in the purchase rather than in a footnote.
Getting it titled and legal to run: registration, apportioned plates if you cross state lines, and the paperwork around them. Ours, a placeholder, and editable.
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What this costs turns on where the truck is based, how much it weighs, and which states you actually run in, so it is your number rather than ours. If you are running interstate this is apportioned registration rather than a plate at a counter, and it is worth asking someone who does it in your state what the real figure looks like. A heavy truck also carries federal filings, and they are a question for your accountant rather than for this page, which does the arithmetic on whatever you type.
Zero by default on purpose. A semi truck is the tractor unit, and many operators pull a trailer the carrier provides.
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The word semi hides a split. The thing people price is the tractor, and the thing that hauls freight is a tractor and a trailer. Pulling for a carrier that drops trailers, this box stays at zero and the truck is the purchase. Running under your own authority, the trailer is a real second purchase, and a dry van, a reefer and a flatbed are three different numbers for three kinds of work. Put your figure in and the total will carry it.
Your own rate, because we do not know where you are buying. Leave it at zero to see the pre-tax bundle.
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On a purchase this size the tax is a real line rather than a rounding. How it lands is local: it turns on where the truck is registered rather than where the lot is, and a truck bought for a business is treated differently from the same truck bought by a person. How the purchase is written down against your income is a separate question again, and this page leaves both to the people who can answer them and does the arithmetic on whatever rate you put in.
The denominator, and the reason this page exists. Our default is a placeholder: yours is the number that decides whether the truck is dear per mile or cheap.
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This is the box people leave out of the comparison, and it is the one doing the ranking. The capital you sink into the truck and the depot is spread across the miles you run before you sell it, so a truck run hard for a long life costs less per mile than the same truck run lightly. Be honest here rather than optimistic: use the miles you will genuinely run, at your real annual mileage, until the point you would sell it. The electricity to move those miles sits on top of this figure and is set by your utility, not by this page.
Estimated cost
$192,000

Typical range $144,500 – $258,500

  • The Tesla Semi, as quoted$150,000
  • Depot charging to run it$40,000
  • Plates, title and registration$2,000
  • Trailer$0
  • Sales tax at your rate$0
  • Total$192,000
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$180,000 to $300,000 is the ordinary shape of this purchase for an operator charging at their own yard: the tractor and a depot charger with the electrical work behind it. Compare this against your other options on the capital cost per mile above rather than on the two stickers, because that is the comparison that keeps the depot and the miles in the frame.

What this assumes, and where it could be wrong

Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.

THE STICKER IS HALF THE PURCHASE, BECAUSE AN ELECTRIC TRUCK THAT CANNOT CHARGE EARNS NOTHING.
This is the whole page. A diesel tractor fills at any truck stop, so its fuel is a running cost and its sticker is close to the purchase. An electric tractor of this size needs power delivered to where it parks, and that depot is a capital project sitting outside the sticker: the charger, the panel and conductors, the pad and the permits, and often a utility upgrade quoted on its own. So the page adds the truck and the depot together and divides by the miles you will run. At our defaults that is $192,000 over 400,000 miles, about 48 cents a mile of capital. The page does not tell you which way your truck lands, because you type both halves and the ranking turns on them.
The charging depot is a site question, not a truck question.
What the second box costs is set by your yard and your utility, which is why it is your number rather than ours. Charging on the road at a public site and putting a small figure here is one way to run; building a depot charger at your own yard and putting a much larger figure here is another. The utility connection is the part that surprises people, because it can be quoted separately from the charger and can be larger than it. Get the depot priced by whoever will pull the power before you commit to the truck, because the two decisions are really one.
The electricity to move it is a running cost, and this page does not invent a rate for it.
The capital cost per mile above spreads the truck and the depot across your miles. It does not include the power you buy to turn the wheels, because that turns on your utility tariff, whether you charge at your own depot or on the road, and the truck's real efficiency in your work. Those are your figures, and putting a placeholder energy price into a national-looking claim would be exactly the kind of borrowed number this site refuses. Price the electricity from your own tariff and add it to the capital figure to see the whole cost of a mile.

A semi truck is the tractor, and freight needs a trailer. The word hides a split: what gets priced when people ask what a Semi costs is the tractor unit, and what moves a load is a tractor and a trailer. Pulling for a carrier that provides trailers, the trailer box here stays at zero and the truck is the whole purchase. Running under your own authority, it is a second purchase in its own right. The box starts at zero, so the total follows your answer rather than assuming one.

What you write the check for is not what the truck costs you to run. A truck bought is a truck charged, insured, plated, serviced, parked and losing value while it sits, and this page prices the purchase and the depot rather than the operating year, because it is answering the question people type: what does one cost to buy and to power at your yard. Insurance, maintenance and the electricity per mile are a separate reckoning, and if you are pricing the whole business rather than the machine, the trucking company startup calculator adds authority, insurance and the working capital to reach the first settlement.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Tesla Semi truck cost?
It depends on the configuration Tesla quotes you, and then on a second capital line the sticker leaves out: the depot charging you install to run an electric tractor at your yard. Tesla sets the truck price and moves it over time, so this page leaves that figure to your quote rather than inventing one, and adds the depot, the plates and title, and your sales tax around it. Put the real numbers into the form above and the calculator gives you the out-the-door total, what the sticker left out, and the total divided by the miles you plan to run. That last figure is the capital cost of a mile, and it is the one worth carrying to the next truck, because two stickers are not comparable and two cost-per-mile figures are.
Why is charging a cost of buying a Tesla Semi and not just a running cost?
Because an electric tractor of this size cannot be fuelled at a pump the way a diesel can. It needs real power delivered to where it parks, and getting that power there is a capital project: the charger itself, the electrical panel and conductors to feed it, a pad and trenching, permits, and frequently a utility upgrade that is quoted separately and can be larger than the charger. That work is a condition of the truck earning anything, which is why it sits in the purchase here rather than in a footnote. The electricity you then buy to move the truck is the running cost, and it is set by your utility rate rather than by this page. At our defaults the depot is $40,000 of the $192,000 total, and yours will differ, which is the point: the box is editable.
What does a Tesla Semi cost beyond the sticker?
At our defaults the truck is $150,000 and the out-the-door total is $192,000, so $42,000 of the check sits outside the price you were quoted, before any sales tax or trailer. That is the depot charging you install to run it and the plates and title. Those are not accessories bolted onto the purchase, they are conditions of the truck turning a wheel and earning anything, which is why they are lines here rather than a footnote. Your figures will differ from ours and every box above is editable, which is the whole point: the gap is the thing to measure, not to guess at.
Is a Tesla Semi cheaper to run than a diesel truck?
The running cost and the purchase are two different questions, and this page prices the purchase. Whether an electric truck is cheaper to run turns on your electricity tariff against the diesel price, the truck's real efficiency in your work, and how you charge it, and those are your figures rather than ours, so the page does not put a number on the comparison for you. What it does give you is the honest capital side: the truck plus the depot to power it, spread across the miles you will run, which is the figure a diesel sticker leaves out entirely. Price your electricity from your own tariff, add it to the capital cost per mile above, and compare that against a diesel truck's fuel and maintenance to see which way your work lands.

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