Texas Filings Show 11 Tesla Semi Charging Sites in the Works, From Laredo to Robstown. None Is Confirmed Open Yet.

Honest fence (read first): These are state registrations, not open chargers. Texas's Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) keeps a public registry of construction projects that need an accessibility review, called TABS. We searched it on Thursday, Oct 22 and found 11 projects owned by Tesla that are named for Semi or Megacharger charging. The newest, in Robstown, was registered on Oct 6. Each record lists estimated start and finish dates and an estimated cost for "electrical infrastructure." None of that proves a charger is built, powered or open. As of the latest independent count we found (TeslaSemi.com, Oct 12), no public Semi Megacharger is open in Texas. Tesla hasn't announced any of these 11 sites itself. It shows the Georgia site, not Texas.

Editorial Thesis

Tesla's Semi only works as a business if trucks can charge where freight actually moves. In Texas, that means I-35 from the Mexican border, the Houston area and the Gulf Coast. The state's own paperwork now sketches that map: Laredo, Cotulla, San Antonio, Waco, Dallas and Fort Worth up I-35, three sites around Houston, and a new filing in Robstown. That's a real signal of intent. But a filing is a plan, and the Pilot partnership already shows how plans slip. Ellabell, Georgia was supposed to open in the summer and opened on Oct 8.

Honest Verdict

Proven (state records): Tesla has registered 11 Semi charging projects in Texas, with addresses, owners and estimated dates, and at least one new filing landed this month. Claimed: the estimated start and finish dates, which Tesla supplied. Not proven: that any of these sites is built, how many stalls most will have, whether they'll be public or only for Tesla's own fleet customers, or when the first one opens.

What the filings show

All 11 list Tesla as the owner and show the status "Review Complete." "Created" is the date the project was registered with TDLR.

Seven are titled "Megacharger." The others say "Semicharging," "Semicharger" or "Semi EV Charging." Only Saginaw gives a count: eight Semi chargers.

We left out a twelfth record, "Tesla to Midland, TX" (4037 FM 1788). TeslaSemi.com lists it as a Semi site, but the filing only says "EV charging infrastructure." Two sites Pilot or TeslaSemi.com have named, Fort Stockton (Flying J #553, which Pilot calls "near completion") and Irving, didn't come up under these search terms. That may just mean a different filer or project name.

The map in plain English

Put the addresses on a map and three lines appear (this is our reading, not a Tesla statement):

• I-35, border to DFW: two Laredo sites, then Cotulla, San Antonio, Waco, Dallas (Bonnie View Rd) and Saginaw on the north side of Fort Worth. Laredo is the busiest U.S. land port for trade with Mexico, and I-35 is the main truck route north from it.
• Houston area: Houston (FM 529, northwest side), La Porte (Hwy 225, by the ship channel) and Brookshire (west on I-10).
• Gulf Coast: Robstown, on US-77 just west of Corpus Christi. Robstown is also where Tesla built its Texas lithium refinery.

The newest filing, Robstown, hasn't shown up in any news coverage we could find. The Cotulla filing's address matches the Flying J travel center at 921 N I-35. That fits the Pilot to Tesla partnership, but the filing doesn't name Pilot, so treat it as our address match. PlugShare lists a "Cotulla Megacharger (Coming Soon)."

What these records are, and aren't

TABS is Texas's accessibility review system. Projects above a cost threshold have to register so an accessibility specialist can review the plans and, later, inspect the work. That makes TABS a good early-warning list for real construction, because companies don't usually pay for reviews on sites they don't plan to build. But it's not:

• a building permit (that comes from the city or county),
• a utility interconnection (often the slowest step for megawatt chargers),
• or an opening date.

The cost figures are estimates for the registered scope, "electrical infrastructure." They aren't what the whole site costs. Tesla's 1.2-megawatt Megacharger hardware and the grid work behind it can cost far more than $100,000 to $400,000. The dates are estimates too. Several "finish" dates are a year to the day after the "start" date, which looks like a placeholder, not a schedule.

How fast the network is really moving

Here's the honest baseline outside Texas:

• Pilot (Oct 8): the first Pilot to Tesla Megacharger opened in Ellabell, Georgia, with six stalls. Tulare, California followed on Oct 9. Fort Stockton, Texas and North Las Vegas, Nevada are "near completion." Twelve sites are under construction, with four to eight stalls each.
• FreightWaves (Oct 14): Ellabell came later than Pilot projected. In January, Pilot said the first sites would open in the summer.
• TeslaSemi.com (Oct 12, independent): seven public Megacharger sites are open in the U.S., all in California and Georgia.
• Tesla's own target: more than 30 Semi charging stations and 200-plus megawatt posts by the end of 2026 (from its September Semi event, via The Verge and FreightWaves). With about ten weeks left, the Texas filings help explain how Tesla might get there, but most of their own estimated finish dates fall in 2027.
• Service, not just charging: Electrek found a Clark County, Nevada permit on Oct 8 for a "Tesla Semi Service Center" in Las Vegas, status "Awaiting Plans." Chargers and service bays both have to exist before fleets commit.

Why Texas matters for the Semi

Texas has the long, flat, high-volume freight lanes where an electric Class 8 truck has to prove itself: border crossings at Laredo, the Houston port and petrochemical belt, and the I-35 spine through San Antonio, Austin and Dallas. It's also Tesla's home state, where Cybercab is built. If the Semi can run Laredo to Dallas on Megachargers, that's a showcase route. Right now, the route exists on paper.

Claim vs proof

What to watch next

• Fort Stockton: Pilot's "near completion" site would likely be the first open Texas Megacharger on a public corridor.
• New TDLR filings, especially Irving and anything on I-20 or I-10 west.
• Whether Tesla's charging map flips any Texas site from "coming soon" to open.
• Stall counts and access rules (public, or Tesla fleet customers only).

Video note

WJCL News' Oct 8 report (YFxRBX606MU, 2:35) shows the Pilot to Tesla Megacharger opening in Ellabell, Georgia: the tall white Tesla charging posts and the truck-stop layout these Texas sites are likely to copy. It is not a Texas site. We use it to show what the hardware looks like.