Elon Musk announces Tesla has started delivering electric trucks to Pepsi
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Thursday during an event for the automotive company that it had begun delivering its long awaited electric Semi trucks to PepsiCo.
“It's been a long journey, long five years, but this is gonna really revolutionize the roads and I think make the world a better place in a meaningful way,” said Musk during his introduction of the Semi, livestreamed over Twitter.
Tesla’s Semi was first introduced in 2017 with a 2019 release date, but production was delayed for years due to battery cell supply shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sorry for the delay,” joked Musk after walking onstage at the event, held near a Tesla production site in Reno, Nev.
The multi billionaire himself rode a Semi to the truck’s delivery celebration, where he announced that a number of the vehicles had been delivered to Tesla partner PepsiCo.
“We completed our first cargo run with a very enormous amount of Frito-Lays,” said the CEO.
Musk touted the Semi’s power coupled with its environmental sustainability relative to diesel-fueled trucks, claiming that use of the new Tesla automobile “will improve the quality of your air and will improve the health of people living near freeways.”
Tesla advertises that its new truck, the first release by the company since 2020’s Model Y SUV, can travel 500 miles after one charge, accelerate to 60 miles per hour in 20 seconds and recharge up to 70 percent in just half an hour.
The official release of the Semi follows new legislation signed by President Biden this summer providing tax credits and other incentives for electric vehicles beginning next year.