Elon Musk is notorious for announcing unrealistic delivery deadlines for projects and products made by his companies, but with the Tesla Semi, he’s already three years past his original promise. In 2017, Musk said he would deliver electric trucks to order-placers in just two years, and now, in 2022, he’s announcing that the first trucks have finally officially gone into production. It looks like the official launch for the Tesla Semi won’t happen until later this year in December.
The first customer to receive the Tesla Semi is Pepsi
Elon Musk officially announced on Twitter that Tesla has begun production of the Semi Truck, the company’s first electric truck. In 2017, after the announcement, companies like Walmart, DHL, Anheuser Busch, and PepsiCo signed up to pre-order these trucks, and these companies appear to be taking priority in receiving orders. Pepsi, for example, will be the first company to receive the new Tesla Semi’s, starting December 1. The company has reserved 100 units of the trucks.
Excited to announce start of production of Tesla Semi Truck with deliveries to @Pepsi on Dec 1st! pic.twitter.com/gq0l73iGRW
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022
In 2017, Musk announced two variants of the Semi. The first, the base version, priced at around $150,000 would have offered a range of 300 miles (483 kilometers), while the top variant, priced at $180,000 would have offered 500 miles, or 805 kilometers. It looks like the expensive models will be the first to go into production, as is the norm with all Tesla electric cars.
The companies ordering the Tesla Semi at the time were planning to cut back on fuel costs when they placed their orders. In the meantime, however, energy prices have risen significantly.
PepsiCo appears to be confident in the new delivery timeframe offered by Musk:
“We can confirm that we will receive our first Tesla Semi electric trucks on December 1, 2022, serving the Frito-Lay factory in Modesto, California and the PepsiCo beverage plant in Sacramento. We are excited about the next step in the PepsiCo Positive journey and will provide more details when they are delivered.”, said PepsiCo representatives.
