Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) boss Elon Musk said production of the company's semi truck has begun, kicking off with deliveries to PepsiCo (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:PEP) for the first day of December.
The articulated lorries have a 500-mile range and are "super fun to drive", Musk said in a tweet.
PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) reserved 100 electric semi trucks in 2017, at the time the largest-known order, following those made by Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and distributors JB Hunt (NASDAQ:JBHT) Transport and Sysco (NYSE:NYSE:SYY).
Tesla lists the Tesla Semi starting price at US$150,000, which gives the vehicle a better cost of operation per mile than the diesel trucks that dominate the trucking industry.
With a 0-60 mph acceleration of 20 seconds and less than 2 kilowatt-hours per mile energy consumption, the company has previously boasted that the electric lorries can save companies as much as US$30,000 per vehicle per year.