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Tesla pushes EV semi-truck launch to November 16th

The company is diverting resources to Model 3 and battery production for Puerto Rico and other areas.

PETER PARKS via Getty Images

The automotive world has been awaiting Tesla's long-teased electric semi-truck, which it was supposed to unveil on October 26th. But the company is pushing that date back to November 16th for a couple reasons: First, it needs to fix a few bottlenecks to speed up production of its upcoming Model 3 car. But more pressingly, the company is delaying the release of its truck to make more Powerwall batteries to send to Puerto Rico and other hurricane-devastated areas.

Shortly after Hurricane Maria abated and reports emerged that Puerto Rico's power grid went down, Tesla began quietly sending hundreds of its homestead power bank units along with technicians to install them. The commonwealth's governor synced up with Elon Musk over Twitter about the possibility of Tesla doing more -- like potentially help build new energy infrastructure. Musk did include "other areas" in his tweet, presumably including the US Virgin Islands and potentially other locations devastated by this season's damaging hurricanes.