Tesla Inc. is starting production of its long-awaited Semi truck and will start deliveries from Dec. 1.
(Bloomberg) — Tesla Inc. is starting production of its long-awaited Semi truck and will start deliveries from Dec. 1.
Elon Musk, the electric vehicle maker’s chief executive officer, announced the plans to begin output of the big rig in a tweet Thursday, saying the first semis would be delivered to PepsiCo Inc.
Tesla first unveiled the semi in November 2017, saying it would go into production within two years. But launch and production has been pushed back multiple times — in part due to a lack of battery cell availability and the company’s decision to prioritize its consumer models.
Musk had tweeted in August that the 500-mile (805 kilometers) range vehicle would start shipping this year, but he’s also known for missing his own deadlines or forecasts. Earlier this year, he told Tesla investors that debuting the Semi in 2022 “would not make any sense because we’ll still be parts-constrained.”
PepsiCo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
PepsiCo has said it expects to deploy the first 15 Tesla Semi truck tractors by the end of the year, part of an order for 100 all-electric Class-8 tractors from the Austin, Texas-based company. Other corporate customers for the Tesla truck include retail giant Walmart Inc., which placed pre-orders for the Semi the year it was unveiled.
The zero-emission Semi is expected to be eligible for federal tax credits of as much as $40,000 per heavy-duty truck purchase under recently passed legislation. But Tesla will compete in a growing field for battery-electric big rigs including players like startup Nikola Corp. and more established firms like Sweden’s Volvo AB.
(Updates with additional details on Tesla Semi from third paragraph.)
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