Tesla Delivers First Semi Trucks to PepsiCo, Five Years After Unveiling
In December 2022, Tesla handed over its first production Class 8 electric Semis to PepsiCo at an event in Sparks, Nevada.
On December 1, 2022, Tesla delivered its first production Semi trucks to PepsiCo at an event at its Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. The handover came five years after CEO Elon Musk unveiled the Class 8 electric truck in 2017.
A long road to production
Tesla had originally planned to start Semi production in 2019. TechCrunch reported that during its second-quarter 2021 earnings report, the company said it would push production to 2022 because of supply chain problems and limited battery cell supply. The Verge said the delays also stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic and a global parts shortage.
PepsiCo ordered 100 Semis in December 2017. TechCrunch reported that the company had previously said it planned to use at least 15 of the trucks to help make its Frito-Lay site in Modesto, California, a zero-emissions facility. Trucks on stage at the event carried PepsiCo and Frito-Lay branding.
What Tesla claimed
Tesla said the Semi could travel up to 500 miles on a charge. Musk said a Semi had completed a 500-mile drive from Fremont to San Diego fully loaded, at about 81,000 pounds, without recharging, according to The Verge.
Other details Tesla presented, as reported by TechCrunch and The Verge:
- A tri-motor setup, with one motor running constantly at cruise for efficiency and two more for torque and acceleration
- Regenerative braking, which Musk said meant a truck reaches the bottom of a grade with cool brakes
- Traction control meant to help prevent jackknifing
- A central driver's seat, with room to stand up in the cab
- A new 1,000-volt powertrain architecture
- A liquid-cooled charging connector capable of delivering one megawatt of power
Tesla did not reveal the truck's price or the size of its battery pack, TechCrunch reported. The company also did not discuss the Autopilot driver-assistance features it had promised for the Semi in 2017.
The Verge noted that other manufacturers, including Daimler, Volvo, Peterbilt and BYD, had already been working on electric heavy trucks, and that Nikola had delivered an electric truck before Tesla.
What it means for drivers and fleets
The first deliveries put a high-profile electric Class 8 tractor into regular commercial service, but in small numbers and with a single large customer.
For most fleets, the open questions were the ones Tesla left unanswered: price, battery size, real-world range across seasons and loads, and the cost and availability of megawatt-level charging. Truck stops were largely unprepared for the power demands of electric tractor-trailers, according to The Verge.
Drivers had reason to watch how the cab layout, regenerative braking and traction control performed in daily use. Fleets weighing electric tractors had reason to treat early operating results, rather than launch-event claims, as the real test.