Tesla plans to ramp up Tesla Semi deliveries to PepsiCo
Tesla is planning to ramp up Tesla Semi deliveries to PepsiCo, its main customer, ahead of the electric semi truck’s volume production.
The Tesla Semi program has seen some fairly serious delays.
It was first unveiled in 2017 and it was supposed to come to production in 2019. Instead, it came to production in late 2022 and it has been in extremely limited production since.
For over a year, Tesla Semi was only used internally and by Pepsico.
However, we have seen the electric vehicle in the hands of several more customers recently.
Last month, we reported on a Tesla Semi being spotted used by Martin Brower and one by food distribution giant Sysco.
Earlier this month, we also learned that Walmart and Costco both got their hands on the Tesla Semi to test it recently.
However, Tesla is still only producing the electric truck in low volume as it expands Gigafactory Nevada to build a new high-volume production line.
Tesla recently said that it now plans for the electric truck to enter volume production late next year and start wider customer deliveries in 2026.
In the meantime, Pepsico remains Tesla’s main customer for the electric truck.
Dan Priestley, head of the Tesla Semi program, went to the ACT Expo yesterday to discuss the status of the program.
The engineer quickly addressed the previously mentioned delays with Tesla Semi (via ACT):
Now, I know, as alluded to, there’s been some questions on timing. But Tesla has a specialty and that is turning the impossible into merely late. I think that there are some narratives that seem to think that electric heavy trucking is still impossible. You might hear someone say that it’s really hard. Well, guess what, it is really hard. We’ve been doing it, but it is absolutely worth doing, and we do not enter this industry lightly.
Tesla is not alone in the electrification of heavy-duty trucking, but the automaker claims to have an advantage with a dedicated electric platform, which is not always the case, especially with legacy truck makers.
Priestley commented on the Tesla Semi being built to be electric from the ground up:
“There’s no wasted space. The powertrain and the vehicle work hand in hand. We saw this on the light-duty side and we’re seeing it all over again on the heavy-duty side.”
With the Tesla Semi’s 500-mile range and megawatt charging, the engineer insists that customers are able to simply swap a diesel truck for an electric one with Tesla’s solution:
“What this does is it unlocks the operational equivalence between diesel and electric. There’s none of these ratios that you need extra electric trucks do the same amount of work that diesels do. They can swap one for one in operations.”
Priestley reiterated that Tesla is currently seeing an average of 1.7 kilowatt hours per mile with Tesla Semi on the Pepsico fleet and that’s with the company carrying heavy loads of brevages.
The engineer tried to reassure the trucking industry at ACT that Tesla is still committed to charging after CEO Elon Musk fired the entire charging team. Priestley said that Tesla still has plans to deploy its Megachargers for trucking:
“To be very clear, charging is core to Tesla. This year, we are investing more than $500 million in new supercharger stations, expanding the network. We are committed to providing our customers with a great supercharging experience and we’re going to extend that exact same train of thought into the heavy-duty side as well. We’re going to make sure that every vehicle we deliver has a charging solution supported that could come in a variety of flavors.”
As Electrek previously reported, the firing of the charging team had nothing to do with a change of plan regarding charging at Tesla. Musk fired the entire team and their leader, Rebecca Tinnuci, as an example because she pushed back against further layoffs, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
Tesla already deployed Megachargers at PepsiCo’s facilities, but it has yet to deploy a public network like it did with the Supercharger.
Finally, Priestley said that Tesla plans to deliver another 50 Tesla Semi trucks to Pepsico ahead of the production ramp. Deliveries to other customers in high volumes aren’t expected until 2026 – making it almost a full decade after the unveiling of the truck.
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The Pew Research Center surveyed Americans about how they feel about local wind and solar development in their communities – this is what they found.
Wind and solar in Americans’ backyards
As a whole, more Americans think wind or solar would help rather than hurt their local economy. But many believe it would make no difference or are unsure. Respondents were asked to consider the prospect of wind and solar separately, but their views on wind and solar turned out to be very similar.
When asked about the economic impact a new solar farm would have on their community, overall, 33% think it would help their local economy, 7% think it would hurt, 30% say it makes no difference, and 30% aren’t sure.
Americans similarly viewed the economic impact of a wind farm: 33% think it would help the local economy, 9% say it would hurt it, 27% say it makes no difference, and 31% aren’t sure.
If responses are divided by political leanings, Democrats are far more positive than Republicans about the local impact of solar and wind.
Among Democrats and Democratic leaners, 46% say installing a solar panel farm in their community would improve their local economy, 23% say it makes no difference, and just 3% say this would hurt it.
Contrast that with Republicans and Republican leaners – 21% say installing a solar panel farm in their community would improve their local economy, 39% say it makes no difference, and 10% say this would hurt it.
When the ages of those surveyed is considered, that impacts the results yet again – 45% of Americans under 30 think installing a solar farm would help the local economy, but only 24% of those 65 and older think the same.
Both Democrats and Republicans ages 18 to 29 are more likely than older people to see wind and solar having a positive effect on their local economy.
As for the aesthetics of renewables, 45% of Americans say a new solar panel farm in their area would definitely or probably make the landscape unattractive, and almost as many – 42% – say it wouldn’t do this. Feelings about wind were nearly identical.
On balance, more Americans think a local solar farm would lower the price they pay for electricity than not (44% vs. 37%, and 19% not sure). Views tilt positive (40%) on tax revenue impact, but 32% say they’re not sure, and 27% say it wouldn’t bring in more tax revenue.
If you’re curious about Pew’s methodology and who was polled (spoiler: it’s extremely balanced), that’s here.
Electrek’s Take
In some ways these responses are predictable, and in other ways they’re enlightening. The political divide is pretty much what I expected, and the differences in age demographics isn’t a shock – younger people are more familiar with renewables, and probably more open to new things.
What surprised and frankly disappointed me was the larger-than-expected percentage of Americans who don’t think renewables positively impact their local economies, or who aren’t sure. Solar and wind bring in significant tax revenue, create jobs, and, assuming the utility passes the savings down, reduces folks’ electricity bills. Why don’t more folks know about this at the local level?
I’m curious to hear from our readers why you think there isn’t more awareness of the benefits of utility-scale solar and wind at the local level. Is it NIMBYism? Propaganda? Lack of communication from local government? Electricity bills not budging? Let me know your thoughts below, and please be civil.
Read more: 49% of Americans think climate change is mostly someone else’s problem
Due to shifts in solar policy, renters and homeowners in many states are now able to subscribe to a local community solar farm. Community solar typically saves you 5-15% depending on where you live, it’s quick and easy to sign up (no upfront costs), and no solar panels are installed on your property.
Save money and help the environment by utilizing the EnergySage Community Solar Marketplace to explore all the solar farms available to you. They even have dedicated Energy Advisors to answer any questions you have about community solar and help you sign up. Subscribe and save here. –affiliate link*
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Environment
U.S. needs major nuclear power expansion to meet rising electricity demand, Southern Company CEO says
The United States needs to build a significant number of nuclear plants to supply surging energy demand while also meeting climate goals, the CEO of Southern Company said at an event on Thursday.
“This country will need more nuclear plants going forward,” Chris Womack said at the Reuters Global Energy Transition conference in New York City.
“It’s upwards of 10 large gigawatts of nuclear power that I think we have to have going forward,” the CEO said. This is equivalent to about 10 new nuclear plants with a single reactor each. The typical reactor in the U.S. produces about a gigawatt of electricity, according to the Department of Energy.
Based on market capitalization, Southern Company is the second largest name in the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU). It’s also one of the largest providers of electricity in the nation, serving millions of people across Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
Last year, the Atlanta-headquartered utility completed the first nuclear plant in the U.S. in more than three decades, with the second of two new reactors having started commercial operations in April.
Womack said Southern Company is seeing a level of electricity demand that that the utility has not faced since the advent of air conditioning and heat pumps in the South in the 1970s and 1980s. After two decades of nearly flat power growth, Southern Company is now expecting demand to grow by three to four times, the CEO said.
“A lot of this is dependent and contingent upon what we see with artificial intelligence and all those large learning models and what data centers will consume,” Womack said. “You’re also seeing in the Southeast, this incredible population growth and you’re seeing all this onshoring with manufacturing.”
Unit 3’s reactor and cooling tower stand at Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Vogtle nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, on Jan. 20, 2023.
John Bazemore | AP
Atlanta is one of the fastest growing data center markets in the nation, with construction growing by 211% increase to 732 megawatts in 2023, according to the real estate service firm CBRE. Utility stocks have made a comeback in 2024 on the power trend, with Southern Company up 11% year to date.
Womack said 80% of the demand Southern Company is facing between now and the end of the decade will be supplied by renewable energy, but natural gas and nuclear will also play key roles in providing reliable power.
“Nuclear has got to be a big part of this mix, of [the] decarbonization focus as we go forward to make sure we’re having the power and the energy and the electricity this economy needs,” Womack said.
Nuclear has the advantage of providing reliable electricity without emitting any carbon emissions, while renewables will need cheaper, longer duration batteries before they power facilities like data centers around the clock at commercial scale.
But building new nuclear plants is expensive, and the permitting and construction process is time consuming. The new nuclear reactors that Southern Company built at the Plant Vogtle in Georgia opened some seven years behind schedule and cost more than $30 billion, at least double the original projections, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Not everyone in the power industry is convinced that nuclear is the way forward. AES Corporation CEO Andres Gluski said earlier this month the he thought the “euphoria” over nuclear power is a “little over blown.” AES is major supplier of power for tech companies building out data centers.
There is only so much existing nuclear energy that merchant power providers can re-contract to sites such as data centers, Gluski told CNBC. “The question is, going forward, what’s the price of new nuclear,” he said.
Womack said the government has to put the right incentives in place and ensure that there is a way to mitigate cost overruns in building new nuclear plants. The CEO said developing small modular nuclear reactors is also key. These smaller nuclear plants, which are still under development, are in theory easier to site and not as capital intensive as traditional plants.
GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik told CNBC Thursday that small modular nuclear reactors will become an important part of the energy mix. The company will commission a small modular reactor in Ontario, Canada in 2029.
“Small modular reactors are going to become a much bigger piece of the equation,” Strazik told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “No question it will be.”
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