NEW YORK — Key Tesla customer PepsiCo made initial payments for 100 Tesla Semis in 2017, intending to use the electric-truck fleet to haul its Cheetos, Lays potato chips and Pepsi soda pop to retailers.
Diesel-powered 18-wheelers are a major source of pollution. As companies pledge to slash their greenhouse gas emissions, the proposition for Tesla is clear. But, as of this month, PepsiCo was"focused on best leveraging the 36 vehicles that are currently in our fleet," a spokesperson told Reuters in early April. That’s the same number PepsiCo first started with when it began using the trucks to transport goods from its Modesto food manufacturing plant and Sacramento bottling site, PepsiCo executives said. Tesla had said it would have the Semi in production by 2019.
UPS reserved 125 Tesla Semi tucks in 2017, one of Tesla's biggest orders at the time. A spokesperson for the package delivery company told Reuters on April 16 that it is"working closely with Tesla to determine a date for us to take delivery of the trucks," but declined to provide additional details.
To be sure, Tesla has its own fleet of close to 100 Semi trucks that are traveling between its factories in Fremont, California and Sparks, Tesla executive Lars Moravy said on reality show Jay Leno's Garage in December.