PepsiCo Makes Biggest Public Pre-order of Tesla Semis: 100 Trucks

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PepsiCo has reserved 100 of Tesla’s new electric Semi trucks, the largest known order of the big rig, as the maker of Mountain Dew soda and Doritos chips seeks to reduce fuel costs and fleet emissions. Several transportation firms are holding off on the Tesla for now, citing uncertainty over the time it takes to recharge compared to a diesel fill-up, range, and payload capabilities and how the market for electric commercial vehicles will develop.

PepsiCo intends to deploy Tesla Semis for shipments of snack foods and beverages between manufacturing and distribution facilities and direct to retailers within the 500-mile (800-km) range promised by Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk. The semi-trucks will complement PepsiCo’s US fleet of nearly 10,000 big rigs and are a key part of its plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its supply chain by a total of at least 20 percent by 2030.
 
Ballsy. Either a brilliant move, or a catastrophic one. Will be fun to watch.
 
BSmith said:
Ballsy. Either a brilliant move, or a catastrophic one. Will be fun to watch.
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I'm going with the former. If anything 100 trucks is .01% of their entire fleet and a drop in the bucket but enough of a statistic to see how electric trucks can be used. If the truck can get to the delivery drops and back in a single day on a single charge and then recharge over night that would satisfy the above requirement.

The big ticket is the hauling the max range of a traditional big rig (i think it's 1400miles or so generously) which would mean Tesla would have to triple their battery range.
 
Hauling a full load, day in and day out, cold, hot, wet, ice and so on. Let's see how they hold up.
 
As a former truck driver that delivered beer along side these Coke and Pepsi guys, it's definitely gonna be a test for them. They run the guts out of those trucks, stop and go, sitting and idling while you wait in line with 5 other trucks for the one loading dock at a Walmart or Food City. This will definitely be interesting to see how they handle it. Hard to beat those old diesels. Those things are near indestructible.
 
MacLeod said:
As a former truck driver that delivered beer along side these Coke and Pepsi guys, it's definitely gonna be a test for them. They run the guts out of those trucks, stop and go, sitting and idling while you wait in line with 5 other trucks for the one loading dock at a Walmart or Food City. This will definitely be interesting to see how they handle it. Hard to beat those old diesels. Those things are near indestructible.
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I am pretty sure the Tesla could idle for days and not have any issue, lol.
 
Bigdady92 said:
The big ticket is the hauling the max range of a traditional big rig (i think it's 1400miles or so generously) which would mean Tesla would have to triple their battery range.
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I thought a truck gets 6 mpg? a 26" aluminum tank hold 150 gallons of fuel. so it's range would be 900 miles. This is on a new Peterbuilt.
 
MacLeod said:
As a former truck driver that delivered beer along side these Coke and Pepsi guys, it's definitely gonna be a test for them. They run the guts out of those trucks, stop and go, sitting and idling while you wait in line with 5 other trucks for the one loading dock at a Walmart or Food City. This will definitely be interesting to see how they handle it. Hard to beat those old diesels. Those things are near indestructible.
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Unlike diesels, electric motors do not use any power when they are stopped. There is no such thing as "idling" in an all electric vehicle. But, they do need cab A/C, in the heat and heat in the winter, so they will be using power while sitting.

Overall driving an all electric rig should be much easier and quieter for the driver.

The charge time is the big killer. That is a lot of downtime if they try to use those trucks for anything other than very short hauls.
 
Zepher said:
I am pretty sure the Tesla could idle for days and not have any issue, lol.
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BSmith said:
Unlike diesels, electric motors do not use any power when they are stopped. There is no such thing as "idling" in an all electric vehicle.
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Ha yeah I guess that's a good point. I mainly meant just the wear and tear of stop and go all day. It's not like over the road trucks where you drive on the freeway 10 hours a day. 99% of these trucks will be driving through congestion, rush hour gridlock and so on because they're not delivering to massive warehouses on the outskirts of towns....they're delivering to grocery stores right smack in the middle of towns.
 
Stop and go does not do much for 'wear and tear' in an all electric vehicle. There is no transmission or clutch. No automatic transmission either. It is one gear. Reverse polarity to go backward.

The driver is absolutely going to be less worn out in those congested traffic conditions.
 
BSmith said:
Stop and go does not do much for 'wear and tear' in an all electric vehicle. There is no transmission or clutch. No automatic transmission either. It is one gear. Reverse polarity to go backward.

The driver is absolutely going to be less worn out in those congested traffic conditions.
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I can't see how it wouldn't. We're not talking about you driving to work in your 3000 pound electric car. We're talking about running stop and go while hooked up to 70-80,000 pounds 12 hours a day. Getting that much weight moving from a dead stop over and over and over again, hundreds of times every day is going to put a lot of stress on the motor.
 
Electric motors do not stress like combustion engines do.

As long as they are not overheating, there is not any real wear for an electric motor to start and stop. Yes, you can overheat them, just like a combustion engine, but they are more resilient in that regard.

The stress will be on the battery packs. It takes more current to start, than to run the motors at a steady state. The real risk is running out of battery power in the midst of congestion.
 
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Could you imagine how much power draw it would be if all 100 of those trucks stopped to charge at the same time!?
 
lostinseganet said:
Hmmm actually I remember reading if Teslas cars sit unused for a certain amount of time they will break on their own.

https://jalopnik.com/5887265/tesla-motors-devastating-design-problem

I don't think they ever fixed this. Their response was drive your car more pretty much.
I wonder how the warranty handles this for the trucks.
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Seriously? A blog post from early 2012 that writes:
its existing Roadster, almost certainly its impending Model S, and possibly its future Model X
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And what is being written about there is if you let your battery go to 0 charge by sitting it for months without trickle charging that you'll kill the battery. You'll kill any battery if you drain it down to 0.
Hey, if you make a habit of running your IC engine out of fuel, you'll kill the fuel pump. Huge flaw in IC engines!
Hey, if you make a habit of running your IC engine without oil, you'll kill the engine. I don't think they ever fixed this.

In normal service, you can't drain a Tesla to 0. The electronics automatically will kill the motors before the battery reaches a damagingly low level, so you can get towed to a charging station. (With an emergency override in case you're in a dangerous situation and need to eke the last several miles out of the auto.) Merely sitting in traffic motionless for several hours isn't going to kill the battery of those trucks. Also, considering you can run a residential house off of the auto battery, I'm sure you have enough juice in the truck to not have to worry about the A/C or heater draining your power.
 
Meanwhile, in our location we have fist sized rust holes, accident damage, outdated/damaged decals (some of our trucks have banners on the rears dating back to 2003) Always, "cant fix it, not in the budget next period"

They recently 'fixed' a truck with a can of spray foam, sanded to the door, ductaped over then spray painted white to match the truck.


They spend the big bucks in the places where our corporate types hang out, leave the smaller locations to scavenge for parts.
 
Screw the trucks stop trying to replace 2-liter bottles with those 1.5 liter bottles at the same price, that shit may have snuck by in the ice cream industry but come on they at least have ingredients that fluctuate in price soda is literally water, carbon dioxide and some sort of sugar flavor (either real, artificial, or synthesized)
 
sfsuphysics said:
Screw the trucks stop trying to replace 2-liter bottles with those 1.5 liter bottles at the same price, that shit may have snuck by in the ice cream industry but come on they at least have ingredients that fluctuate in price soda is literally water, carbon dioxide and some sort of sugar flavor (either real, artificial, or synthesized)
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Been doing it in the beer business for years now. A LOT of brands went from 12 ounces to 11.2 ounces but stayed the same price. Nobody noticed so I guess Pepsi figured they could get in on the act too.
 
BSmith said:
Unlike diesels, electric motors do not use any power when they are stopped. There is no such thing as "idling" in an all electric vehicle. But, they do need cab A/C, in the heat and heat in the winter, so they will be using power while sitting.
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Solar panels on the roofs.
The charge time is the big killer. That is a lot of downtime if they try to use those trucks for anything other than very short hauls.
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I'm sure they'll start with the shortest routes, and expand until they get adverse reactions.
sfsuphysics said:
Screw the trucks stop trying to replace 2-liter bottles with those 1.5 liter bottles at the same price
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Well, they went from 2 quart bottle to two liter bottles long ago, giving the customer a bit more. Now they'll simply change the measurement from whatever ounce to whatever ml to make the reduction.
Current vending bottles are 20 oz (I think it's about 590 something ml); they'll probably reduce that to 550 ml.
 
MacLeod said:
Been doing it in the beer business for years now. A LOT of brands went from 12 ounces to 11.2 ounces but stayed the same price. Nobody noticed so I guess Pepsi figured they could get in on the act too.
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I think its false to say no one noticed, the question is, does anyone care enough to boycott, and that is where it breaks down. hey I know ice cream changed, doesn't matter I still buy the ice cream I like and or look for one that has the best $ / unit price or a sale. At some point they might go up to a larger size and say look X% more FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!! But ultimately a large part of the population is just going to buy the brand that they like the taste of because they don't want to change, especially on a luxury item like beer or ice cream.
 
They are not the only ones making electric semis. Cummins is making electric trucks already. They showed a protype back in August.

https://newatlas.com/cummins-fully-electric-semi-truck/51127/

"The new Class 7 Urban Hauler EV, also known as the Aeos, eschews the usual diesel engine for a 140-kWh battery pack and electric motors. That means peak range is about 100 mi (160 km) and gross vehicle weight (GVW) is capped around 75,000 lb (34,020 kg). Extra battery packs could extend that to around 300 mi (483 km).

According to Cummins, the base battery and electric motors weigh about the same as the engine, gearbox, emissions treatment system and fuel tank in a conventional tractor. The company hasn't said how much the battery packs weigh individually, but logic would suggest adding extra cells to boost the range will also add some serious weight."

https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/29/cummins-electric-semi-truck/

Tesla has has problems with every model car they've made. I would not want their Semis.


MacLeod said:
Been doing it in the beer business for years now. A LOT of brands went from 12 ounces to 11.2 ounces but stayed the same price. Nobody noticed so I guess Pepsi figured they could get in on the act too.
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Just checked the MtDew can and it's still 12oz 355ml
 
MacLeod said:
I can't see how it wouldn't. We're not talking about you driving to work in your 3000 pound electric car. We're talking about running stop and go while hooked up to 70-80,000 pounds 12 hours a day. Getting that much weight moving from a dead stop over and over and over again, hundreds of times every day is going to put a lot of stress on the motor.
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Strain on a motor is not a problem. Motors are incredibly simple. 1 moving part. The rest is magnetic forces and electrons flowing over wires. Far beyond the reliability of any gas-powered engine. Brakes will be fine too since the main brake is the electric motor. TBH this is a perfect use-case for electric trucks.

With autopilot standard drivers will no longer have to become fatigued in stop and go traffic and accidents will decrease.

Though let's be completely honest, there will be no truck drivers with ten years so that last point is not as important.
 
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Zepher said:
I am pretty sure the Tesla could idle for days and not have any issue, lol.
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The more efficient, newer diesels that run refrigerated long haul idle at 3gal/hr with 75 gallons. Putting it at just under 10 days of idling per fill, there is no way you will see electric trucks long hauling refrigerated goods anytime soon. Never mind the amount of power used over night when resting if your going solo since Im guessing the law wont allow unsupervised autonomous driving anytime soon. Ill be surprised if refrigerated long haul is replaced by electric in our lifetime, as sad as that is.
 
BSmith said:
The charge time is the big killer. That is a lot of downtime if they try to use those trucks for anything other than very short hauls.
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They claim 30 minutes recharge for 400 miles. Could be recharged while the truck is unloaded.
 
lostinseganet said:
Hmmm actually I remember reading if Teslas cars sit unused for a certain amount of time they will break on their own.

https://jalopnik.com/5887265/tesla-motors-devastating-design-problem

I don't think they ever fixed this. Their response was drive your car more pretty much.
I wonder how the warranty handles this for the trucks.
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It's not a design flaw, it's a characteristic of the batteries, not something you can fix, if lithium batteries are completely discharged they're dead. Meaning if you drive your car to 0 range until it stops then leave it standing for months without recharging it it will certainly die. This is not something that happens in a few days.
 
MacLeod said:
Ha yeah I guess that's a good point. I mainly meant just the wear and tear of stop and go all day. It's not like over the road trucks where you drive on the freeway 10 hours a day. 99% of these trucks will be driving through congestion, rush hour gridlock and so on because they're not delivering to massive warehouses on the outskirts of towns....they're delivering to grocery stores right smack in the middle of towns.
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You're also missing something though, because they will need to 'idle' in order to keep their driver comfortable in extreme weather. can't have the driver turning into a puddle of sweat or a human Popsicle. Unless drivers need to carry around propane heaters or duck into the store while they wait (which slows down things) there's still 'idling' even for an EV.
 
pepsi will be rushing to enable that autonomous driving feature.
the movie Logan called it.
 
lostinseganet said:
Hmmm actually I remember reading if Teslas cars sit unused for a certain amount of time they will break on their own.

https://jalopnik.com/5887265/tesla-motors-devastating-design-problem

I don't think they ever fixed this. Their response was drive your car more pretty much.
I wonder how the warranty handles this for the trucks.
Click to expand...

Do you have the slightest idea how batteries work? If you did you would see this isn't a "Tesla issue" its a owner stupidity one. You wouldn't expect your gas car to start after sitting out in the cold for months would you? Same "bug".

Drakeniir said:
You're also missing something though, because they will need to 'idle' in order to keep their driver comfortable in extreme weather. can't have the driver turning into a puddle of sweat or a human Popsicle. Unless drivers need to carry around propane heaters or duck into the store while they wait (which slows down things) there's still 'idling' even for an EV.
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Power draw is a lot less during 'idle' though. Non zero yes, but certainly nowhere near what it would be using if you were moving. Coworker that ones a Tesla (I don't own one so I am unsure of this) told me his turns on the AC periodically throughout the day to keep his cabin at a preset temperature (within a range) so that it is comfortable when he gets in it after work.
 
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