Tesla delays Semi-truck event to Nov. 16, shifts focus to Model 3 production bottlenecks

Tesla has delayed the unveiling date for its Semi-truck from Thursday, October 26 to Thursday, November 16. CEO Elon Musk took to twitter to explain that the reason for the postponement is so that the company can focus on fixing Model 3 bottlenecks, but also ramp up battery production for hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico and other affected hours.

Tesla Semi unveil now Nov 16. Diverting resources to fix Model 3 bottlenecks & increase battery production for Puerto Rico & other affected areas.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2017

The announcement follows an earlier exchange on Twitter between the serial tech entrepreneur and Puerto Rico’s Governor, Ricardo Rossello, who seemingly expressed interest in exploring a Tesla Energy solution for the U.S. territory that’s had its electricity grid wiped out by Hurricane Maria. “Let’s talk. Do you want to show the world the power and scalability of your #TeslaTechnologies?” tweets the Governor, with aim at Musk.

“Medical equipment has priorities” says Musk, reaffirming Tesla’s stance in providing relief by sending Powerwall batteries to areas that need electricity the most.

Med medical equipment has priority

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2017

Delaying of the Tesla Semi-truck event also allows the company to shift focus to production of Model 3. Tesla announced in its recent third-quarter delivery and production report that it had produced 260 units of the all-electric compact sedan and delivered 220 units to customers. Though critics have questioned whether Musk and Tesla could ever meet its optimistic goals to have mass market production of the Model 3, investors didn’t express much concern following the report.

On many accounts, pushing the Tesla Semi event date back makes sense. There’s no reason to debut, yet, another product when its arguably mission critical product that’s said to be the most important vehicle in Tesla’s history hasn’t even been delivered to customers. Musk first warned of “production hell” during his presentation at the official Model 3 delivery event in Fremont. “We are deep in production hell” confirms Musk in his tweet from today.

You’ll know as soon as we do. We are deep in production hell 🔥

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2017

And in traditional Musk fashion: a master in fueling wild speculation – he suggests that recent spy shots of a “Tesla Semi” seen at a common Tesla testing ground could in fact be something other than Tesla’s semi-truck.

Or do you?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2017

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