More and more Tesla Semis are being spotted on public roads, following the American manufacturer’s delivery event at the beginning of December.
Now, two videos posted on Twitter by the user Tesla Owners Silicon Valley shows a Tesla Semi cruising down the highway in Modesto, California wearing a Frito-Lay paint scheme, with Chester Cheetah sitting proudly on the trailer.
It’s quite a serene experience, even though the videos are nearing potato quality. The driver who filmed the Semi on the road is also driving a Tesla, and all you can hear is a bit of wind and the futuristic sound of electric motors.
This isn’t the only time a PepsiCo-owned Tesla Class 8 truck was spotted on the road. A few days ago, Reddit user Tutrifor uploaded a video of a Pepsi-branded Semi silently going down the highway.
PepsiCo is one of the first reservation holders to get its hands on the initial batch of production Tesla Semis. In an interview with Reuters, Mark O’Connell, the beverage company’s vice president, said they’re deploying 36 trucks at the moment, with 15 in Modesto and 21 in Sacramento.
The total order from PepsiCo was for 100 units back in 2017, and it’s yet to receive the rest of the trucks that will be used for deliveries to Walmart and grocers such as Kroger and Albertsons.
Besides PepsiCo, Tesla received orders for Semis from UPS and food delivery company Sysco Corp, but deliveries for these companies have yet to be fulfilled by the EV maker.
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O’Connell, who oversees PepsiCo’s fleet, said that the Semi can haul Frito-Lay food products for around 425 miles (684 kilometers), but that for heavier loads of sodas, the trucks will be deployed on shorter, 100-mile trips.
Additionally, the company’s vice president said that all of the Semis delivered to them will have a range of 500 miles and that he doesn’t know when Tesla will start to deliver the 300-mile variant.
The Tesla Semi Class 8 truck was initially revealed in 2017, with hopes for production by the end of 2019. Several delays later, the American EV delivered the first road-ready units at the end of 2022, with a production ramp-up expected for the following year.
With an estimated range of 500 miles carrying a load, the Tesla Semi has a reported battery capacity of 1 MWh (1,000 kWh) and a charging rate of up to 1 MW.
