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Tesla has started production of fully electric trucks, the Tesla Semi, and the first units are set to be delivered to Pepsi on December 1, 2022. Pepsi, the maker of the world-famous soft drink, is scheduled to receive 100 of the initial models, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter on October 9.
Advantages of the Tesla Semi
The main feature of the Tesla Semi is the latest version of Autopilot, which can help avoid collisions with other vehicles. Tesla places the driver in the center of the cabin to provide maximum visibility and control.
The truck will also stand out for its efficiency — the manufacturer claims the vehicle can travel 300–500 miles on a single charge while using under 2 kilowatt-hours of energy per mile. That level of efficiency could save up to $200,000 on fuel costs.
The Tesla Semi owes its performance to four independent motors on the rear axles, which can accelerate the vehicle to 60 miles per hour in about 20 seconds.
5-year delay since the announcement
Tesla first announced the Semi, a fully electric truck with autonomous-driving capabilities, in 2017. At the time, reports said the first batch would go to Pepsi.
Besides Pepsi, Walmart, UPS, and Anheuser-Busch have also shown interest in electric trucks. Over five years, Tesla’s engineers built prototypes and refined design solutions before road testing.
Musk cited road-surface irregularities as one reason for the production delay, but Tesla has adapted the vehicles to those conditions. As a result, the trucks are now ready for mass production.
Also in December 2017, Pepsi placed a pre-order for the Tesla Semi. The first production batch of 100 vehicles has been assigned to the Gigafactory in Nevada, a facility equipped to produce five trucks per week.
Pepsi plans to use the electric trucks as part of a push to make its operations greener: the company intends to convert its Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, California, into a zero-emissions facility.
The rules of the game are changing
Tesla has laid the groundwork for a shift in the freight-transport sector. With the Tesla Semi — which Tesla lists with a useful range of about 500 km and an energy use of less than 2 kilowatt-hours per mile — fleets could see substantial savings. At an electricity price of $0.20 per kilowatt-hour, that works out to roughly $0.40 per operational mile.
That could mean big savings for companies that now spend about $80,000 a year on diesel. If trucking electrification scales up, freight-transport emissions could fall. Hopefully other truck makers — American, European, and Japanese — will follow Tesla’s lead.
