Today is the Tesla Semi delivery event, and we have some of the first photos from the inside. Tesla will be delivering its all-electric Semi for the first time to PepsiCo and is expected to impact the trucking industry. The all-electric Class 8 truck is expected to have a 500-mile range when pulling an 81,000-pound load.
Minimal Duck is attending the Tesla Semi delivery event and shared the following photos with us. Teslarati asked him to share his thoughts about the event, and he said, “The future is here!”
In November, Martin Viecha, Tesla’s investor relations head, said that the Tesla Semi may be his favorite of all the Tesla products. “Most people in the investment community (including large holders) that I speak to didn’t believe it’s possible to make a 500-mile, fully loaded Class 8 truck,” he tweeted.
Disclosure: Johnna is a $TSLA shareholder and believes in Tesla’s mission.
Your feedback is welcome. If you have any comments or concerns or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter at @JohnnaCrider1.
Teslarati is now on TikTok. Follow us for interactive news & more. Teslarati is now on TikTok. Follow us for interactive news & more. You can also follow Teslarati on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Tesla is holding its “Tesla Semi Delivery Event” today at 5 p.m. PT (8 p.m. ET) to deliver the first electric truck to customers. The company is also expected to have a presentation about the production version of the truck.
Here’s our news hub for the event, where you can watch the livestream and get updates.
Three years late, but it is now here. Tesla is going to deliver the first production version of the Tesla Semi electric truck to customers – to PepsiCo, to be more specific.
The Tesla Semi was first unveiled in 2017, and it was supposed to enter production in 2020, but it was delayed several times.
Now the automaker is finally ready to make the first deliveries after having started low-volume production at a facility outside of Gigafactory Nevada in October.
Today, Tesla is expected to deliver the first few units to Pepsi. After the launch of Tesla Semi in 2017, PepsiCo placed one of the biggest orders for Tesla Semi – 100 electric trucks to add to its fleet. The company planned to use 15 of those trucks for a project to turn its Frito-Lay Modesto, California, site into a zero-emission facility. Last year, PepsiCo said that it expected to take deliveries of those 15 Tesla Semi trucks by the end of the year before it was delayed again.
On top of the first deliveries, Tesla is expected to give an update on the specs and pricing of the electric truck, which are expected to be updated from the original 2017 unveiling.
Those are the base expectations for the event, but there could also be a few surprises since Tesla used the original Tesla Semi unveiling for a surprise unveiling of the Tesla Roaster.
We never know.
Tesla will finally hand over the keys to the first customer-ordered Semi models at a special event tonight at 5pm PT / 8pm ET at its Gigafactory in Nevada – though don’t be surprised if it starts with a delay.
It has been almost exactly five years since the Tesla Semi was first unveiled to the world and after numerous delays, it is finally ready to hit the road. Conveniently, its launch coincides with President Joe Biden’s policy to offer a $40,000 tax credit for clean commercial vehicles like the Semi.
The first Tesla Semi models will be handed over to PepsiCo during the delivery event and analysts expect that Tesla will produce 100 units before the end of the year having started production in early October.
One of the odd things about the Semi’s prolonged journey to the market is the fact that Tesla has never updated its range and performance claims about the vehicle, despite the rapid development in battery cells and electric motors over the past five years.
According to Tesla, the Semi can accelerate to 60 mph (96 km/h) in as little as 5 seconds when unloaded and reach the same mark in 20 seconds with a full load of 82,000 lbs (~37,200 kg). Those are extremely impressive times for a vehicle like this. Elon Musk also recently claimed that the Tesla team completed a 500-mile (805 km) drive in the Tesla Semi with it loaded to 81,000 lbs (36,700 kg). That variant was presumably the high-spec model as the entry-level model’s range is expected to be capped at 300 miles (482 km).
It is possible that Tesla will announce updated specifications for the Semi during the delivery event.
The electric automaker has asserted that prices for the entry-level Semi will start at $150,000 while the longer-range variant will start at $180,000. It ultimately plans to produce as many as 100,000 units annually.
CEO Elon Musk kicked off deliveries of the company’s first few production Semi trucks on Thursday, speaking on stage at the company’s factory in Sparks, Nevada, with Dan Priestly, the company’s senior manager for Semi truck engineering.
As CNBC previously reported, Tesla set up lines and started production of the Semi outside of Reno this year at the site where it primarily makes the battery cells, drive units, and battery packs that power its cars. Musk and Tesla did not say on Thursday how many Semis it is delivering.
Tesla originally showed off the Semi design in Dec. 2017. Production got delayed by the Covid pandemic and battery cell supply issues, among other things.
During the deliveries kick-off event, Musk briefly alluded to the tumult of the past five years and quipped, “Sorry for the delay.”
He later thanked and the handed the mic to representatives from PepsiCo Frito Lay
, which is Tesla’s first customer to receive and use production Semi trucks.
One major difference between Tesla’s Class 8 offering and other heavy-duty trucks is the location of the steering wheel and the driver’s seat. Rather than using the left side (or right side in Europe), Tesla designed the Semi with the steering wheel in the center of the cab with touchscreens positioned on both sides of the driver.