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Tesla Inc.’s superstar chief executive Elon Musk unveiled a futuristic looking electric semi truck last week that surpassed analyst expectations and weighed heavily on the shares of truck and truck component makers.

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — Tesla’s success in the passenger-car arena has changed consumers’ perceptions and pushed the limits of what’s possible with electric cars.

Customers are starting to place orders for Tesla Inc.’s new all-electric Semi truck, with retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. preordering for both its U.S. and Canadian units.

Tesla unveiled its highly anticipated electric-powered semi-truck on Nov. 16, 2017. Here are its first public moments and the introduction by company co-founder Elon Musk. (Seth Clevenger/Transport Topics)

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — Tesla Inc. has unveiled its long anticipated, all-electric Class 8 tractor, marking the electric car maker’s entry into the commercial truck industry and reinventing the heavy-duty truck as we know it.

Tesla Inc. is finally ready to introduce its first all-electric heavy-duty truck. In the works for two years, it’s a project that’s aimed squarely at cleaning up the freight industry, which accounts for one-fifth of global oil demand.

China’s Tencent Holdings has developed its own autonomous driving system, according to people familiar with the matter, becoming the latest technology player to dive into a crowded field that could become a $42 billion industry.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has promised to unveil an electric semi-truck on Nov. 16 that will drive like a sports car and beat its diesel counterpart in a tug of war. “This will blow your mind clear out of your skull and into an alternate dimension,” he wrote on Twitter this week. But none of that really matters.

Tesla Inc. will unveil its electric Tesla semi-truck on Nov. 16 in southern California. It’s all part of CEO Elon Musk’s “Master Plan Part Deux” in which he vowed to expand the company’s lineup to “cover the major forms of terrestrial transport.”

Daimler AG is stepping up plans to roll out electric-powered trucks as the world’s largest maker of commercial vehicles seeks to fend off newcomers like Tesla Inc. and Deutsche Post AG.