PepsiCo announced Tuesday that it has placed an order for 100 Tesla semi trucks, making it the largest order to date.
The announcement, made on December 12th, cited the electric truck order as a way to reduce fuel costs and fleet emissions for PepsiCo in the future.
According to Reuters, the Tesla electric semi trucks will be added to PepsiCo’s fleet of around 10,000 trucks, and will be used for the shipment of snack foods and beverages between manufacturing and distribution facilities that fall within Tesla’s promised 500 mile range.
“PepsiCo is analyzing what routes are best for its Tesla trucks but sees a wide range of uses for lighter loads like snacks or shorter shipments of heavier beverages,” said Mike O‘Connell, senior director of North American supply chain for PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay.
It is not clear how much PepsiCo paid to pre-order the 100 semi trucks, as the price to reserve has recently fluctuated between $5,000 and $20,000, but since the truck’s unveiling, Tesla has received orders for at least 285 Tesla semi trucks from companies like J.B. Hunt, DHL, and Sysco. Before PepsiCo’s order, 50 was the largest amount of trucks reserved for a single company.
PepsiCo claims that the electric semi trucks are part of its plan to reduce its production of greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by the year 2030.
The Tesla truck is expected to go into production sometime in 2019.