As if Elon Musk’s week couldn’t be more eventful, the Tesla (TSLA) CEO gave the automotive world more news to chew on.
In a tweet last night, Musk said Tesla has begun production of its long-awaited electric Tesla Semi truck, and that deliveries to Pepsi (PEP) would begin on December 1st. In a follow-up tweet, Musk said the semi would have 500 miles of range and would be “super fun to drive.”
Excited to announce start of production of Tesla Semi Truck with deliveries to @Pepsi on Dec 1st! pic.twitter.com/gq0l73iGRW
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022
Yahoo Finance has reached out to Pepsi for comment, but the company has not responded back at this time.
It’s been a long time coming for Tesla’s semi. The company originally unveiled the truck back in August 2017. It has been in various stages of development since then — and has been spotted in California trailering Tesla road cars from time to time.
In its last quarterly report in July, Tesla said the Semi was still in development, however in August Musk announced the truck would go into production.
Earlier this year Musk said Tesla would not be launching any new products this year, however this was before signing passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. The new law provided a tax credit of up to $40,000 per commercial clean vehicle, meaning electric powered or hydrogen powered fuel-cell powered.
With the Tesla Semi expected to cost around $150,000, that tax incentive will be a huge factor in making the truck cheaper for commercial operators. The industry will soon be awash with electric semi truck competitors (known as Class 8 trucks) with vehicles coming from Nikola, Daimler, and Volvo, among others.
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Pras Subramanian is a senior autos reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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