Pilot Opens First Megachargers for Tesla Semi Outside California

Until recently, charging the Semi meant relying on Tesla-operated sites. These included Giga Nevada, along with a fleet depot close to the Port of Long Beach, and a few customer-facing locations across Southern California. One of those, a TA truck stop in Ontario, California, opened in March but is capped at 750 kW.

The Ellabell site, alongside a freshly opened eight-stall Megacharger outside Atlanta that came online during the same stretch, delivers the Semi's first public charging beyond California.

Pilot, which also operates Flying J, runs upward of 900 locations spread across the US and Canada, with another 12 Megacharger sites under construction. That scale puts the operator in position to carry a large portion of Tesla's truck charging network, which remains small.

Once Ellabell opened, the network stood at four customer-facing sites and 26 stalls. Tesla had mapped out roughly 37 Megacharger locations across 2026, with Semi program lead Dan Priestley setting a target of 46 by early 2027. As of February, 64 further sites were flagged "coming soon" on Tesla's map across 15 states, with Texas leading at 19 and California at 17.

The Pilot chargers were originally slated to open this summer, putting them a couple of months behind. Tesla puts the output of its 1.2-megawatt stalls at a 60% charge in 30 minutes, lining up with the rest period federal rules require once a driver has logged eight hours behind the wheel.

For now, only Teslas can plug in. The stalls rely on the Megawatt Charging System connector, the standard the rest of the industry — Daimler and Volvo included — is designing its electric trucks around. Priestley has said rival trucks will eventually gain access, though neither Tesla nor Pilot has set a date. Tesla kept its Superchargers closed for years before admitting other brands.

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