Multiple companies are still waiting on the Tesla semi trucks they ordered and paid for years ago as full-scale production continues to get pushed back.
The Tesla semi truck was out on display in 2017 with promises for production to begin in 2019. Now, five years later, a mere 36 out of 125 ordered electric semis have been delivered to Pepsi, and even those trucks weren’t delivered until 2022 – three years late. Now, Pepsi is using 15 of the delivered electric trucks at its Modesto facility and 21 in Sacramento.
32 of the electric semi trucks were paid for by a $20 million state government grant, and federal subsidies helped to pay up to $40,000 per additional electric rig.
Pepsi isn’t the only company left waiting on their new fleet to be delivered, UPS, FedEx, and more are still waiting on the Tesla electric semi trucks they ordered.
Tesla is currently using 100 electric Tesla semi trucks to transport battery packs between the Nevada and California Tesla facilities, but says that “there just weren’t enough batteries” to fully launch into “volume production” of the electric rigs. However, Musk still claims that 2024 is “the battery problem gets solved,” reported Jalopnik.
For now, many companies interested in electric semi trucks have turned to the Freightliner eCascadia, which has already been delivered to over 55 fleets.