Musk says Tesla will deliver Semi trucks to Pepsi this year

Tesla Inc. will deliver its first Semi trucks to PepsiCo Inc. five years after Elon Musk showed off prototypes and began taking deposits for the electric big rigs.

The carmaker will hand over Semis to PepsiCo on Dec. 1, Musk tweeted Thursday. The food and beverage giant has reserved 100 of the trucks and expects to deploy an initial 15 by the end of the year.

PepsiCo confirmed the plans. The company said in a statement that the trucks would be used at its Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, Calif., and its PepsiCo beverages factory in Sacramento. PepsiCo has been aiming to reduce fuel costs and emissions, and placed an order for 100 of the trucks in 2017.

Musk said when Tesla first unveiled the Semi in November 2017 that it would go into production two years later. While would-be customers including Walmart Inc. and Anheuser-Busch InBev SA put down deposits, the automaker ended up prioritizing output of Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport utility vehicles for consumers while contending with battery cell and semiconductor supply issues.

In January, Musk told analysts Tesla wouldn’t roll out any new models this year because of parts constraints. He changed his tune three days after the US Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which made heavy-duty electric trucks eligible for as much as $40,000 federal tax credits. The chief executive officer tweeted on Aug. 10 that the company would start shipping Semis with 500 miles of range this year.

Tesla will compete with other makers of battery-powered big rigs including relative newcomer Nikola Corp. and more established firms like Sweden’s Volvo AB. The latter announced this week that it will deliver 20 fully electric trucks to Amazon.com Inc. by year-end.