Tesla to deliver first semitrailer trucks to PepsiCo in December

Elon Musk announced Tesla Inc. plans to deliver its first all-electric semitrailer truck to food and beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. in December 2022, almost five years after the vehicle’s reveal.

Musk reiterated that the truck can travel 500 miles on a single charge, as had been planned. The truck, introduced in 2017, initially was due out in 2019.

If Tesla meets its CEO’s latest stated timeline, the semitrailer truck would be the first new model the firm is introducing for customers since early 2020. Musk previously said the EV maker didn’t plan to release any new models to market in 2022.

Tesla’s planned delivery of its semi-truck would arrive after US President Joe Biden in August 2022, signed into law legislation that created a new tax credit for commercial electric vehicles (EVs), among many other incentives.

In early 2022, Elon Musk said Tesla did not have sufficient battery cells for it to comprehend to start producing the semi-truck. Musk added the truck typically would use five times the number of battery cells as a car but would not sell for five times as much.

The semi-truck introduction arrives at a time Tesla also is pressing to meet full-year delivery targets as it tries to ramp up new plants outside Berlin and in Austin, Texas, and recover from a COVID-19-related factory shutdown in Shanghai, China earlier this year.