Tesla has finally started production of its all-electric Semi truck, with the first ones set for delivery to Pepsi on December 1.
The company’s boss, Elon Musk, revealed the news in a tweet on Thursday evening, adding that the truck is “super fun to drive.”
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
Besides Pepsi, other interested buyers of Tesla’s Semi truck are reportedly firms such as Walmart, FedEx, DHL, United Parcel Service, and Anheuser-Busch.
Since its unveiling five years ago, Tesla’s Semi truck has faced a number of production delays, forcing interested customers to exercise a great deal of patience — or prompting them to consider alternatives — as they waited for the truck’s arrival.
Tesla boss Musk said in August that the 500-mile-range version of the Semi would begin shipping before the end of 2022, and it looks as if it’s actually going to happen. The summer announcement was a surprise as the Tesla boss had said at the start of the year that the company wouldn’t be introducing any new vehicles in 2022, leaving many to believe the truck would land in 2023. While that will probably still be the case for most Semi customers, Pepsi has struck lucky and looks set to take delivery of the electric truck at the start of December.
The first Semi trucks are being built close to Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada, while mass production of the vehicle is expected to take place at its Giga Texas site near Austin.
Tesla’s Semi features a sleek design and can hit 60 miles per hour in 20 seconds when loaded to its 80,000-pound maximum gross vehicle weight.
The vehicle is built with four independent motors for maximum power and acceleration, which, according to Tesla, gives it low per-mile energy costs.
The California-based company has been testing prototypes of the vehicle on public roads. In 2019, for example, a Semi was seen transporting new cars along a California freeway in what was apparently one of the first road tests of the vehicle.
And in 2021 Tesla shared footage showing the truck driving along a test track at its factory in Fremont, California.
Besides the 500-mile version, Tesla will also launch a Semi with a 300-mile range. The base price for the former is expected to be $180,000, and the latter $150,000.
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