- Images of another Tesla Semi on the side of the road are making the rounds on Twitter.
- Since deliveries started in December, drivers have been spotting disabled Tesla Semis.
- Investors aren't worried yet, Wedbush analyst says.
Word of another Tesla Semi that appears to be broken down on the side of the road is making the rounds on Twitter.
Since Tesla started delivering its long-awaited Class 8 electric truck to customers last month, several of the vehicles have been spotted on the side of the road, apparently broken down. One PepsiCo Tesla was seen getting towed by another truck.
The sightings have called into question the reliability of Tesla's new electric semi, which started production at the company's Nevada manufacturing facility in October after years of delays. The truck was originally supposed to start production in 2019.
Yet another apparently stranded Tesla Semi was making the rounds on Twitter Thursday. The video, originally shared on TikTok, appears to be from earlier this month in Modesto, California.
It's not an encouraging sign for investors already worried about the serious economic headwinds Tesla faces this year, but alarm bells aren't going off quite yet, said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
"These are not the images and sights you want to see," Ives said. "But no red flags yet. What will be important to see is how they handle it. Quality control is very important."
Tesla is known for working out kinks after its vehicles make it into customer's hands via over-the-air updates. But the company has had varying degrees of success with this strategy, and faces a federal probe into the self-driving software it updates that way.
Tesla first introduced a Class 8 prototype in 2017, initially setting a production date of December 2019. The program was led by former Daimler executive Jerome Guillen, who left the company in 2021. Following Guillen's departure and a series of supply chain issues, Tesla pushed back the start of Semi production to 2022.
The delays haven't stopped major companies from placing orders for the electric truck. Among the Tesla Semi's biggest pre-order names are Anheuser-Busch, Walmart, UPS, and PepsiCo, which was the first company to take deliveries in December.
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