Tesla took out a Tesla Semi truck to charge at its Megacharger station at Gigafactory Nevada as the company received an important visit.
Things are starting to move on the Tesla Semi front.
When unveiling the electric semi-truck back in 2017, Tesla said that deliveries would start in 2019. Clearly, the program has been delayed several times.
Last year, CEO Elon Musk told employees in an email obtained by Electrek that “it’s time to bring Tesla Semi to volume production.”
Despite Musk’s comment, volume production is expected to still be years out at Gigafactory Texas, but Electrek revealed that Tesla built a low volume production line in a building near Gigafactory Nevada.
Tesla also built a Megacharger station to charge electric trucks at Gigafactory Nevada, and now a truck has been spotted using the charging station for the first time (pictures via @hwfeinstein):
The Tesla Semi coming out for a charge in public coincides with an important visit that the automaker received today.
Sources familiar with the matter told Electrek that Tesla got a visit from PepsiCo executives today to check out the Megacharger and the Tesla Semi production line.
The visit comes after PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said last week that he is expecting Tesla Semi electric truck deliveries this quarter.
The comment was surprising since Tesla had previously said that the first customer deliveries of the Tesla Semi were delayed to next year.
A source familiar with the Tesla Semi program told Electrek that the production line is set up in Nevada, but the company is still debugging it.
It is set up to produce up to five trucks per week, but Tesla has previously said that battery supply constraints are holding back the vehicle program.
Sources familiar with the matter also told Electrek that Tesla is expecting a visit from the California Air Resource Board (CARB) to check out its Megacharger later this week.
CARB is offering some significant incentives for electric trucks, and it is involved in Pepsico’s project in Modesto, California, where it plans to use the Tesla Semi trucks that it ordered.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
