Tesla Powers Up Its First Semi Charging Corridor Outside California

Tesla has switched on two new Megacharger locations in the Southeast, giving its Semi Class 8 truck a public charging route beyond California for the first time. An 8-stall station sits in Conley, Georgia, roughly 10 miles south of downtown Atlanta near the I-285/I-675 junction, while a 6-stall site operates in Ellabell, about 20 miles west of Savannah along I-16. Each stall is rated for up to 1.2 MW.

The two stations are spaced about 220 miles apart, a distance that fits comfortably within the Semi’s rated range. Tesla lists the Standard Range version at 325 miles and the Long Range at 500 miles when hauling 82,000 lbs, and says a Megacharger can restore up to 60% of that capacity in half an hour. That math matters for fleets: a Standard Range truck can now leave the Savannah port area, run to Atlanta, top up while the driver takes a break, and return, a 440-mile round trip that would otherwise be impossible for the shorter-range variant.

The Ellabell site carries extra significance because it is the first Megacharger to open at a Pilot truck stop, part of a partnership Tesla and Pilot announced in January. The original plan called for the first locations to arrive during the summer, so the launch lands a season behind schedule. Pilot says three more sites are nearly ready, including a Flying J in Tulare, California, followed by a Flying J in Fort Stockton, Texas, and a Pilot in North Las Vegas. Nine additional locations are under construction, each slated for four to eight stalls.

Even with the new openings, Tesla’s public Megacharger footprint remains modest. Counting the new Georgia stations, the network holds four customer-facing sites and 26 stalls, well below the roughly 37 locations the company projected for 2026 and its stated goal of 46 by early 2027. On the vehicle side, Tesla recently began volume production of the Semi at a Nevada plant designed for 50,000 trucks annually, shortly after being named primary supplier on a 2,500-truck order.

The Savannah lane is one of the busiest freight routes in the country, with container traffic flowing from the port toward Atlanta, and the new chargers mean operators on that corridor could run a Semi without ever buying diesel. There is a notable coincidence in Ellabell as well, since the town hosts Hyundai’s Metaplant, which moves parts using hydrogen fuel cell trucks, putting megawatt charging and fuel cell logistics in the same small community. The question now is whether Tesla can accelerate its buildout to close the gap with its own targets.