Tesla (TSLA) provided a significant update Monday on its long-in-the-tooth project to develop electric semitrucks, which has experienced a series of delays since CEO Elon Musk debuted the rig back in 2017.
The company confirmed its Tesla Semi remains on track for production-spec deliveries to customers by 2026 while offering more details on range and payload capacity for the EV truck.
Speaking at the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo in Las Vegas, Tesla exec Dan Priestley said, “We’re building a factory in Nevada that is being ramped in 2026 for customer deliveries and ramping to eventual target capacity to 50,000 units a year.”
Currently, the Tesla Semi is in pilot testing with PepsiCo’s FritoLay division. Priestley said PepsiCo would be receiving an additional 50 trucks in its fleet for the pilot program. The company is currently testing approximately 35 trucks.
Tesla stock rose as much as 4.5% on Tuesday.
In his presentation, Priestley said the company’s long-range Semi would have a range of up to 500 miles with a 23,000-lb vehicle weight.
Its standard-range truck would be capable of 300-mile trips with an unladen 20,000-lb vehicle weight.
In real-world testing with Pepsico, Tesla Semis performed long-range runs of 250 and 520 miles with a gross vehicle weight including cargo of up to 82,000 lbs, the maximum allowed by law.
“[The trucks] could do more than 1000 miles in a 24-hour period; fast charging enables that,” Priestley said.
All told, the Semi test fleet has accumulated 3.5 million test miles, Priestley said, with Tesla also using the Semi to deliver batteries from Nevada to its main plant in Fremont in extreme weather and mountainous regions.
These new details regarding the Tesla Semi come amid a series of shifts at the company, including a renewed emphasis on the company’s robotaxi program, plans to accelerate development of its low-cost Model 2 car, and cuts across the business, notably in its Supercharger unit.
Tesla shareholders are also set to vote on Musk’s proposed pay package, potentially worth tens of billions, ahead of its June 13 annual meeting.
Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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