This company to have a 100-strong Tesla Semi fleet in 2023

Beverage manufacturer PepsiCo becomes the first major customer and operator of the Tesla Semi electric trucks. The company has said it will operate a 100-strong Tesla Semi electric truck fleet in 2023, reports Reuters. In fact, the automaker has already started delivering its much-hyped Semi electric trucks to the food and beverage company. With orders placed back in 2017, PepsiCo is also the first customer of this gigantic electric truck, using them as a way to cut its environmental impact. The company claims to have installed four 750 kW Tesla charging stalls at its plants in California to juice up the big electric trucks.

PepsiCo plans to deploy 15 trucks from Modesto and 21 from the Sacramento plant. Speaking about its Tesla Semi fleet, PepsiCo Vice President Mike O'Connell said that it is a great starting point to electrify the company's vehicle fleet. "Like any early technology, the incentives help us build out the program," he said, adding that there were lots of development and infrastructure costs involved with the purchase. Among other companies, courier service provider United Parcel Service and food delivery company Sysco Corp have also reserved the Tesla Semi trucks, while retailer Walmart is claimed to be testing alternatives.

Tesla Semi has been one of the most anticipated electric trucks of all time. Since its unveiling for the first time in the last decade, the Tesla Semi production plan has faced several bumps for years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk first said that the trucks would enter production in 2019, which was delayed due to battery constraints. Consecutively as well, the company delayed the project multiple times. This has earned the EV manufacturer accusation of overpromising and under-delivering. However, after a lot of delays, the EV company has been finally able to start production of the big truck a few months back.

The Tesla Semi offers a whopping 805 km range on a single charge. There is another version in the plan that will offer a 480 km range on a single charge. However, the shorter-range version of the Tesla Semi truck is yet to enter production.