Musk says Pepsi to receive Tesla’s first Semi trucks in December

(Reuters) – Tesla Inc is starting Semi electric commercial truck production and PepsiCo Inc will get the first deliveries on Dec. 1, the electric vehicle maker’s chief Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday.

When Musk unveiled the prototype of the futuristic, battery-powered Semi in 2017, he said the Class 8 truck would go into production by 2019.

However, the timeline has been pushed multiple times due to part shortages and Musk said the production would be delayed to next year. In August, he announced the planned production of the truck.

In another tweet, Musk reiterated that the vehicle has a range of 500 miles (805 km). It was not immediately clear how many Semi trucks the electric vehicle maker plans to produce.

The truck is expected to cost $180,000, although it would qualify for a tax break of up to $40,000 under a U.S. subsidy program approved by the Senate.

Back in 2017, PepsiCo reserved 100 of Tesla’s semi electric trucks as it sought to reduce fuel costs and fleet emissions.

In an interview with CNBC last year, PepsiCo’s top boss Ramon Laguarta had said transportation accounted for 10% of the company’s gas emissions.

The maker of Mountain Dew soda and Doritos chips had previously said it aims to use the trucks to ship snack foods and beverages between manufacturing and distribution centers as well as to retailers.

PepsiCo did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and David Sheperdson; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)