Pepsi to get first Tesla Semi in December: Musk
Elon Musk has tweeted that the first ‘production’ Tesla Semi would be delivered in just monthsTesla fans are going nuts as Elon Musk has tweeted that the Tesla Semi is going into production and the first trucks will be delivered to Pepsi on December 1.
Pepsi ordered 100 trucks soon after the announcement of the Tesla Semi in 2017. Around then, Musk said that the Semi was going into production in 2019.
The production date was then amended to 2021, and when that didn’t eventuate, the date was revised to later this year.
As we haven’t heard much about serious long-distance testing, nor of any trucks being offered into fleets for evaluation, we’re a little sceptical that these are really ‘production’ trucks.
More likely they’re prototypes doing some R&D, but time will tell.
Tesla said back when they were announced that the Semi would have a base price of around $US150,000 (approximately $A235,000) for the 300-mile (480km) version, rising to $US180,000 (approximately $A280,000) for the 500-mile (800km) truck.
Through the savings to be gained via electric propulsion over traditional diesel, Tesla says the Semi has a typical payback period of around two years.
For the Australian market, it’s really quite academic, as due to its central driving position, the Tesla Semi, would be very unlikely to pass ADRs for certification in this country.
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