First introduced by Elon Musk in 2017, the Tesla Semi has been one of many longest-delayed merchandise within the firm’s historical past. However the brand new electrical truck is lastly right here, with PepsiCo being the primary buyer to obtain among the 100 automobiles it pre-ordered.
“PepsiCo owns one of many largest non-public fleets in North America, and that is one of many causes we’ve got partnered with Tesla,” stated Mike O’Connell, vp of provide chain for Pepsi. “We have now the 15 in Modesto that we’re launching … after which we’ve got 21 in Sacramento.”
To begin, Pepsi is utilizing the vehicles to ship Frito-Lay merchandise from its Modesto, California, facility as much as 425 miles on a single cost. It is usually delivering Pepsi out of its Sacramento warehouse on 100-mile day by day routes, going on to shops, and making 300- to 400-mile runs to different warehouses. Pepsi declined to say whether or not it had pressed the vehicles to check if they’ve the total 500-mile vary Musk promised.
CNBC visited Frito-Lay Modesto the place PepsiCo has been reworking the power in partnership with the California Air Assets Board to reveal the sustainability advantages of zero and near-zero emissions applied sciences. The Tesla Semis there are the newest additions to the corporate’s fleet of greater than 80,000 automobiles.
“This challenge has delivered a 91% discount in greenhouse fuel, and we’re utilizing this as a showcase to then cascade to our different operations,” O’Connell stated.
Watch the video to be taught extra about PepsiCo’s Tesla Semis and whether or not they dwell as much as the hype.
