Tesla is expected on Thursday to deliver its first Elon Musk led battery-powered semi truck, with which it hopes to get a jump start on the nascent electric heavy duty vehicle market by offering longer ranges without recharging.
The company is scheduled to hand over the keys to its first electric truck dubbed “Semi” at its Nevada manufacturing plant to multinational food company PepsiCo.
Tesla electric semi has been highly anticipated since Musk unveiled a sleek designed prototype in 2017, the launch of full-scale production might be a launchpad for Tesla to hit new highs .
The truck that “the market has been waiting for… is the one from Tesla,” KXCO said in a note to traders today.
Legacy manufacturers have primarily converted their diesel-designed trucks to electric in a clunky ill-conceived bid to compete.
If the Tesla vehicle lives up to expectations, “it’s going to be a massive win,” KXCO says.
In a tweet on Saturday, Musk said that one Semi had driven 500 miles (800 kilometers) with a total weight of 81,000 pounds (nearly 37 tons).
The electric vehicles currently on offer only have a range of 250 to 300 miles.
The most populous US state, California, has passed a law phasing out combustion engine trucks, which has since been followed by other states.
The European Union is also expected to debate new standards in the coming months.
Companies are also facing pressure to have more environmentally conscious reputations.
They “want to be on the right side of history,” says Marie Cheron of the Europe-based association Transport & Environment.
Those who do not commit to a decarbonization strategy, some of whom say they are waiting for technologies to improve, “are falling behind,” she says.
Another motivation to transition, Roeth says, is that drivers who have been able to test them, “love the electric trucks a lot.”
“They’re very quiet, they don’t have the smells of the exhaust, and they are comfortable to drive.”
In late October, Musk said that Tesla is aiming to build 50,000 Semis by 2024.
In 2018, when production of Tesla’s Model 3 sedan struggled to ramp up, Musk showed that he was capable of getting his teams to speed up.
