There is only one issue with the Tesla Semi that has finally been delivered to a customer. And no, the fact that it is three years late is not the issue. We still know almost nothing about it. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, showed PepsiCo the first production Semi on Thursday, but he made no mention of the truck’s price, how many will be produced by the company, how much it weighed, if Autopilot was installed inside, or how much cargo it could carry.
It appears that Musk merely made trite generalisations about the truck. According to Reuters, the CEO said that the Semi would lessen highway pollutants and perform better than current diesel vehicles in terms of both power and safety. He continued by saying that the Cybertruck, if it is produced, would feature the fast-charging technology featured in the Semi.
The first of 100 trucks that PepsiCo purchased in 2017 with assistance from the Californian government was this semi. Deliveries of snacks were made using it for Thursday’s launch in Nevada. Walmart, UPS, and Anheuser-Busch are among the other businesses that have made bookings for semis.
We still only have preliminary information from Tesla even though it has been five years since the Semi was initially presented. The business has previously stated that a version with a 300-mile range will cost $150,000, while a version with a 500-mile range will cost $180,000. Although it’s tough to say for sure, it’s unlikely that the Semi will continue to have similar pricing given how much Tesla’s standard passenger vehicle prices have increased since then.
Tesla plans to build 100 Semis this year, the automaker’s chair Robyn Denholm reportedly told Reuters. Given the short remaining time in 2022, that is a challenging request. However, the company plans to produce 50,000 trucks in 2024.
The Semi has been doing test runs between Fremont, California, and Sparks, Nevada, according to previous statements made by Musk. According to Musk, the Semi can travel 500 miles on a single charge. The Semi and payload weighed 81,000 pounds. How much of that weight is actually the truck itself is yet unknown. It’s interesting to note that Musk reportedly declined to answer questions at the conclusion of the presentation, which is unusual from what he has typically done.
One senior expert deemed the entire endeavour to be unimpressive.
“I guess we’ll have to wait even longer before learning anything conclusive and valuable about the Tesla Semi. It can’t possibly take another five years, can it?