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Tesla to reveal electric semi-truck in October

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Get ready to meet Tesla's "beast" of a semi-truck.

The electric vehicle maker is aiming to unveil the Tesla Semi and do a test ride on Oct. 26, according to CEO Elon Musk.

"Worth seeing this beast in person," he tweeted late Wednesday. "It's unreal."

 

The launch date is a bit later than Musk had suggested earlier this year. In April, he said Tesla, which is known for missing self-imposed time frames, would reveal the battery-powered truck in September.

And drivers eager to get behind the wheel of the semi-truck, which is designed to transport cargo, are still likely to have a lengthy wait. Musk said last year that Tesla was aiming to enter production of the vehicle in less than five years.

He first teased the prospect of the semi-truck -- as well as a smaller minibus -- in his "master plan" that was released in July 2016.

"We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate," Musk wrote in the plan.

In April, he said the company also plans to reveal an electric pickup truck in 18 to 24 months.

Tesla started delivering the Model 3, its first mass market electric car, to customers in July.

The Tesla Semi will be unveiled next month in Hawthorne, the Los Angeles suburb where Musk's rocket and spacecraft company SpaceX is based.