PepsiCo, one of the first customers of the Tesla Semi in late 2022 has announced they have taken new deliveries the electric trucks with the goal of more than doubling its fleet to 50 operating out of its manufacturing and distribution facility in Fresno, California.
The leading beverage maker has been testing the trucks at its depot in California and putting it through its paces for the past 18 months before deciding on the expansion.
John Dean, the head of PepsiCo Beverages North America, West Division, said the electrification of its truck fleet is “good for the planet, good for our business, and good for the communities we serve”.
These trucks will be supported by charging infrastructure that includes eight 750-kilowatt Tesla chargers and two Tesla Megapack Battery Energy Storage Systems
In August 2023, Pepsico stated that their Tesla Semi fleet at that time was sitting at 21 trucks. Bringing that up to 50 trucks will mean adding another 29 to the fleet.
Around the same time, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk had also chimed in on Tesla’s working partnership with Pepsico on the Semi program.
It’s been great working with @PepsiCo
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 4, 2023
On top of the 50 Tesla Semi trucks, the company will also have 75 Ford E-Transit electric vans used in its manufacturing and distribution operations.
According to Pepsico, these EV deployments will help Pepsico to reach net zero emissions by 2040.
In tests conducted by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) last year, one of the Pepsico trucks completed a 1,732 km (1,076 miles) trip in a single day. This was completed with just three charging stops, the longest of which lasted just over an hour.
The Tesla Semi is a unique addition to the whole trucking industry and with companies like Pepsico starting to increase their fleet within 18 months of taking initial delivery, it’ll help deliver cleaner heavy vehicles to the industry sooner.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.