Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) Unveils the Much-anticipated Semi Truck and Starts the First Deliveries

Tesla delivered the first production versions of its long-awaited electric semi truck five years after CEO Elon Musk revealed the commercial vehicle.

FREMONT, CA: Five years after CEO Elon Musk initially unveiled the commercial vehicle, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered the first production models of its long-delayed electric Semi truck. Pepsi received the first Tesla Semi trucks during a ceremony at the business gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada.

When the Tesla Semi was first shown in December 2017, Pepsi placed an order for 100 vehicles. At least five Tesla Semis with PepsiCo and Frito-Lay branding were visible at the event. Pepsi previously disclosed plans to employ at least 15 Tesla Semis to make its Frito-Lay facility in Modesto, California, an emissions-free building.

The major disclosure comes a few months after Musk tweeted that the long-delayed Semi was in production and that the first deliveries would start in December 2022. Initially unveiled in 2017, Musk's electric Class 8 truck was scheduled to begin manufacturing in December of the same year. Delays have hampered the transportation programme. Tesla stated in its second-quarter 2021 financial report that production would need to be delayed until 2022 owing to supply chain issues and the scarcity of battery cells. The cost of the Semi truck was kept a secret by Tesla.

Tesla announced in 2017 that its cutting-edge driver assistance technology, Autopilot, would be available on the Tesla Semi. For instance, while fully loaded and travelling at 65 mph five years ago, Tesla claimed that its Semi could go 500 miles on a single battery charge.

The manufacturer seemed to have kept its word and even provided a video of a semi-truck travelling from Fremont to San Diego as proof. However, the business omitted other crucial data, such as the size of the battery pack.

Musk has previously claimed that the Semi will reach 60 miles per hour when fully loaded in 20 seconds, but the executive did not mention that capability. Musk and Priestley did highlight the Semi's ability to pass another truck on a highway with ease even though it was carrying a load of cargo and climbing a six percent incline.

The Semi depends on a tri-motor system and utilises the same power plant as the Plaid Model S and Model X. This implies that one of the motors is always engaged for maximum efficiency and the other two are for torque and acceleration, which may be useful if a driver was entering a loading dock or attempting to pass another truck.

Musk stated that the motor, roughly the size of a football but more powerful than a diesel engine due to its energy density, is the sole component of the vehicle capable of pulling 82,000 pounds at cruising altitude. The Semi was quick to break and quick to accelerate. The Semi is equipped with regenerative braking, which means that when drivers let up on the throttle, the brakes continue to generate energy for the batteries.

Because electric motors are more precise than diesel engines, Musk emphasised that the wheels had superior traction than a diesel truck, good enough to prevent the truck from jackknifing.