{"id":33125,"date":"2022-10-06T20:10:14","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T00:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33125"},"modified":"2022-10-06T20:10:14","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T00:10:14","slug":"tesla-semi-production-starts-pepsi-first-electric-trucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33125","title":{"rendered":"Tesla Semi production starts, Pepsi to get first electric trucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elon Musk announced that Tesla is starting Tesla Semi production and Pepsi is going to get the first electric trucks starting December 1st.<\/p>\n

Tesla Semi, an all-electric class 8 truck, was unveiled back in 2017. At the time, it was supposed to come as soon as 2019.<\/p>\n

The vehicle program was delayed for years, and until recently, it wasn\u2019t expected to go into production until 2023.<\/p>\n

However, Elon Musk surprisingly announced in August that\u00a0the Tesla Semi would actually start shipping later this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, the CEO confirmed that Tesla has started production of the electric truck:<\/p>\n

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Musk reiterated that the vehicle has a range of 500 miles (805 km) on a single charge.<\/p>\n

Tesla Semi electric trucks are being produced in Nevada near Tesla\u2019s Gigafactory. Last year, Electrek<\/em>\u00a0exclusively reported that\u00a0Tesla was building a production line for the Tesla Semi in a new building near the Gigafactory<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the time, we were told that the production equipment installed would be for about 5 electric trucks per week. Tesla plans to move to higher volume production at Gigafactory Texas.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s tweet, Musk announced that Pepsico would get the first Tesla Semi deliveries on December 1st.<\/p>\n

After the launch of Tesla Semi in 2017,\u00a0PepsiCo placed one of the biggest orders for Tesla Semi<\/a>: 100 electric trucks to add to its fleet.<\/p>\n

The company planned to use 15 of those trucks for a project to\u00a0turn its Frito-Lay\u00a0Modesto, California, site into a zero-emission facility<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year, PepsiCo said that it expected to\u00a0take deliveries of those 15 Tesla Semi trucks by the end of the year<\/a>\u00a0before it was delayed again.<\/p>\n

While the company didn\u2019t get its Tesla Semi trucks last year, Tesla did install a Megacharger station for the trucks at its Modesto facility, which led many to believe that it would be the first to take delivery of the electric truck.<\/p>\n

Electrek\u2019s Take<\/h2>\n

This is exciting. Tesla Semi has real potential to change the game in the trucking industry with its useful 500-mile range and efficiency of less than 2 kWh per mile.<\/p>\n

At $0.20 per kWh, that\u2019s a $0.40 cost of operation per mile. That\u2019s about half the cost of operation of a diesel truck.<\/p>\n

Considering companies can spend up to $80,000 on fuel per year per truck, you can imagine how it could be really attractive to go electric.<\/p>\n

If successful, it could quickly electrify the trucking industry and significantly cut emissions from freight transport.<\/p>\n

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