In an interview with Reuters last week, PepsiCo Vice President Mike O’Connell stated all of its trucks were of the 500-mile variety, not the shorter-range 300-mile trucks, and they planned on using them for seven years (one million miles). He also confirmed that savings over the cost of operating conventional big rigs would pay them back over that duration (via Reuters).
O’Connell went on to outline the company is moving Frito-Lay “food products” on routes within a 425-mile range, while trucks carrying the heavier PepsiCo soda cans were confined to shorter routes within 100 miles. He did confirm that after hitting the 425-mile mark, there was still about a 20% charge on the battery, and it took approximately 35 to 45 minutes to recharge fully (via Reuters).
It makes sense for the company to take things slow to test out the capabilities of its new Semis. The other thing to consider is how PepsiCo and Frito-Lay set up their intrastate distribution systems. Perhaps soda products are stored and routed differently than lighter food products.
Oliver Dixon, a senior analyst at the consulting firm Guidehouse, thinks Tesla still has “a lot to prove” to commercial distribution fleets (via Reuters) because “dragging a trailer full of chips around is not the most intense, tough ask.”
Until Tesla starts providing concrete facts about the Semi, we’ll have to take the 500-mile range at face value or surmise what we can from the companies using them.
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