Tesla plans to invest another $3.6 billion to expand the Nevada Gigafactory to make the Semi and 4680 battery cells.
, fleet operators care little about anything but the bottom line. In the ultra-competitive world of freight handling, costs are figured down to the tenth of a cent per mile over the lifetime of each vehicle.
Electric trucks should have lower fuel costs, as electricity is much cheaper than diesel fuel. They also should require less maintenance, since their drivetrains have only a few moving parts compared to the thousands of pieces whirring and banging around inside a typical diesel engine and heavy-duty transmission. On the other hand, adding charging equipment to depots can be costly and the upfront price of acquisition is higher for an electric truck than a conventional truck. There have been photos circulating on social media lately that purport to show a Tesla Semi or two broken down on the side of a highway — not the sort of thing that instills confidence in a fleet manager contemplating the purchase of a few million dollars worth of new trucks. Nevertheless, teething pains are to be expected for any new product. Over the 10 to 12 year expected useful life of a heavy-duty truck, the Tesla Semi should still pencil out as a less expensive alternative to a diesel-powered tractor. The $40,000 federal tax credit for heavy-duty electric vehicles should help as well. As of this moment, Tesla has not announced prices or other specifications for the Semi, so it’s hard to say with certainty where the break even point for its electric trucks will be.PepsiCo, the parent company of Frito-Lay, has placed an order for 100 Tesla Semi trucks and is reconfiguring its manufacturing and distribution center near Modesto, California, to be a “showcase for sustainable manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution technologies,” according to a. It is the first Frito-Lay manufacturing facility to implement site-wide alternative fuel vehicles, onsite renewable energy generation, energy storage equipment, and employee electric vehicle charging stations, the company says. Its public image is a valuable asset to any company, although putting a precise value on it is impossible. “At Frito-Lay and PepsiCo, we are dedicated to operating within our planetary bounds and inspiring positive change. The transformation at Modesto is in direct support of our PepsiCo Positive commitment to building a circular and inclusive value chain and achieving net zero emissions by 2040,” said Steven Williams, CEO of PepsiCo Foods North America. “To date, the Frito-Lay Modesto transformation has resulted in a 91 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from direct fleet operations.” The Modesto facility now boasts: Three BYD 8Y electric yard tractors. Each yard tractor operates 20 hours per day and moves more than 150 trailers while only charging for two hours every day. 1-megawatt solar carport with energy storage, which doubles the amount of solar generation capacity at the facility by supplementing the site’s 1-megawatt of rooftop solar panels.2.7 MWh of on-site battery storage to help reduce the site’s electricity costs and support grid capacity by reducing the facility’s electricity load on the grid during peak times. Electric Tesla over the road semis and four Tesla 750kW charging stations to provide the semis with up to 400 miles of range in 1 hour of charging. 38 Volvo VNL compressed natural gas tractors fueled by CNG with RNG attributes from a nearby, public access CNG fueling station owned and operated by Beyond6. Six Peterbilt 220EV electric box trucks that provide zero emission last mile delivery into the Modesto community Seven dual-head employee electric vehicle charging stations capable of charging up to 14 vehicles at one time.correspondent Jack Ewing wrote this week, “If the Tesla [Semi] is a success, it could put pressure on established truck makers that carmakers faced from Tesla’s electric cars and sport utility vehicles. The success of Tesla cars forced General Motors, Ford Motor, Volkswagen and other automakers to reply with their own electric vehicles, upending the industry. “But it is unclear how many truck buyers will switch to electric vehicles, and how quickly. Fleet owners pay close attention to the cost of ownership of the vehicles they buy, carefully calculating the price of fuel, maintenance and driver downtime. Tesla’s semi is likely to cost more to buy than a conventional heavy truck, and will be attractive only if customers figure they can make up the difference in lower fuel and maintenance expenses.” He’s right. Despite all the hype and hope from Tesla, electric trucks are going to have to prove themselves in the workplace. The final chapter on the Tesla Semi, and electric heavy duty trucks in general, is still years away from being written.
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