In May, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency announced that its annual “Run on Less” demonstrations would include the Tesla Semi this year. The PepsiCo company, together with its subsidiary Frito-Lay, the only customer to have received such Tesla semi-trailers so far (see photo), confirmed this, and the first data has now come in.
This shows that 3 of the 21 Tesla Semi that Pepsi claims to be using at its Sacramento location are taking part in Run on Less this year. Data on these and almost 20 other participating commercial vehicles has been available on the website for this year’s edition since Monday. In one graphic you can see the battery level along with the speed over the day, in another, you can see the distance traveled.
As of Tuesday lunchtime in Germany, the data for the entire first day was available in the USA. Accordingly, all three Tesla trucks measured at Pepsi in Sacramento traveled a lot – at least 376 miles and up to 545 miles (605-877 km). Each of them was connected for recharging at least once during Monday. For this purpose, so-called mega chargers are available on the Pepsi premises, which deliver up to 750 kilowatts of power.
The longest Semi ride without recharging on Monday was 378 miles (608 km), according to the data. It started in the middle of the night when the battery was almost 95 percent full – and was only interrupted for charging shortly after 7 a.m. when the battery was 1.7 percent remaining. The person behind the wheel of the Tesla Semi trailer must have had great confidence in the accuracy of the display or already had a reassuring experience with it. Almost the entire time she was driving around 60 miles per hour, highway speed.
Trucks for 350 miles reality
An observer from the Rocky Mountain Institute, who was previously excited about the live tests with Tesla, among others, commented on the initial results on LinkedIn. Trucks with a range of 350 miles are a reality, he concluded. However, there are still some unknowns, and on the first day the weather was warm and the wind was light. For more than 350 miles in real use, there will have to be charging options on the go to ensure a safer feeling.
Before the first Semi delivery, Tesla reported a fully loaded journey of over 500 miles. In a time-lapse video, you can see that this also largely took place on highways. The speed information can usually also be seen on the screen to the left of the driver, which, especially towards the end, shows values closer to 50 than 60 miles per hour as is now the case with the public Pepsi ride. During a visit to Run on Less in August, the early customer spoke of using the Tesla Semi on routes of up to 450 miles.
