Tesla Semi Truck Delivered to PepsiCo After 3-Year Delay, Elon Musk Silent on Pricing and Availability

Tesla CEO Elon Musk handed the company’s first heavy half of the business Thursday to PepsiCo without providing an updated pickup truck price forecast or production plans.

muskwho appeared on stage at an event at Tesla The Nevada plant said the long-haul, battery-powered truck will reduce highway emissions, outperform existing diesel models in terms of power and safety, and outperform fast-charging technology that Tesla will use in its next generation. Electronic truck Pick up.

“If you’re a truck driver and you want the best platform on the road, this is it,” Musk said, noting that it’s been five years since Tesla announced it was developing the all-electric truck. However, industry experts remain skeptical that battery electric trucks can economically handle the burden of hauling heavy loads for hundreds of miles.

Tesla didn’t announce pricing for the semi-truck at Thursday’s event, nor did it provide details on variants of the truck it initially expected or provide projections for deliveries to PepsiCo or other customers. Tesla said it will start using the Semi to ship parts to its factory in Fremont, California.

In 2017, Tesla said the 300-mile range version of the semi would cost $150,000 (roughly Rs. 1,21,76,500), and the 500-mile version $180,000 (roughly Rs. 1,4,611,200). Tesla’s electric passenger cars were very expensive. It has increased sharply since then.

PepsiCo, which completed its first truck haul, ordered 100 trucks in 2017.

Brewer Anheuser-Busch, United Parcel Service Inc, and Walmart were among the other companies that retained Semi.

Musk said the semi-truck was conducting trials between Tesla’s Sparks, Nevada, factory and its factory in Fremont, California. Tesla said it completed 500 miles of driving on a single charge with a curb weight of 81,000 pounds, without giving details of cargo weights.

‘unimpressive’

Some observers expressed skepticism about the show, which ended without Musk asking questions.

“It’s not impressive – moving a shipment of chips (average weight per package 52g) can in no way be a conclusive proof of concept,” said Oliver Dixon, senior analyst at the consulting firm Guidehouse.

Tesla initially set a 2019 production target for the Semi, which was first revealed in 2017.

Musk said the Semi is capable of charging at 1 megawatt and has liquid cooling technology in the charging cable in an updated version of Tesla’s Supercharger that will be made available to the Cybertruck.

The Cybertruck is scheduled to go into production in 2023.

Tesla said other future vehicles will use the half-developed powertrain technology, without providing details.

Musk said the truck has nearly three times the power of a diesel truck and uses regenerative braking to improve efficiency.

In a slide shown as part of Musk’s presentation, Tesla showed an image of a futuristic “robotaxi” in development with a mockup of the future car covered in a tarp.

© Thomson Reuters 2022