|
15 August 2023
PepsiCo cites consumption of 1.1
kWh/km for Tesla Semi
PepsiCo uses 21 Tesla Semis in a bottling plant in Sacramento,
California. In a video, the beverage company provided some insights
into the daily logistics routine with the all-electric vehicles of the
US Class 8, including statements on consumption, recuperation or the
range of the Tesla truck, which is still largely unclear concerning
its technical data.
In the video, which was produced by the North
American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), only representatives
of PepsiCo and the local energy provider Sacramento Municipal Utility
District (SMUD) are interviewed, while Tesla representatives do not
weigh in. The EV manufacturer has delivered only a small number of its
Semi electric truck, most of which have likely gone to PepsiCo.
The beverage company was the first to order the
Tesla Semi about five and a half years ago. In April, PepsiCo was
also the first company to present the electric truck as a fleet
vehicle in its company design. Tesla started deliveries of the
Semi at the beginning of December
2022. The manufacturer itself does not provide an update on its
deliveries. However, Teslamag reports,
with reference to a recall by the US authority NHTSA from June, that
PepsiCo probably received 36 of the 100 Semis ordered so far: 15 are
in operation at Frito-Lay in
Modesto, California, and 21 at the primary location in Sacramento.
The camera in the NACFE video is pointed at the
latter 21. It confirms that the Sacramento location has installed four
Tesla chargers with a charging capacity of 750 kW each. They are
supposed to allow charging to 80 per cent in less than 45 minutes.
Elsewhere in the video, it is said that the Semi can charge from 5-10
per cent to 95 per cent in 20 to 30 minutes.
PepsiCo uses 18 of the 21 Tesla Semis for
deliveries within a 100-mile radius (about 161 kilometres) with
multiple stops – in shifts of up to twelve hours. According to Amanda
DeVoe, Transformation and Strategy Director at PepsiCo, using electric
vehicles for these short trips between the company’s bottling
warehouse in Sacramento and delivery locations is particularly useful.
However, according to Dejan Antunovic, head of the electrification
programme at PepsiCo, the remaining three units will definitely be
used for long distances of 250 to 450 miles (about 400 to 725
kilometres). Tesla officially says the electric truck has a range of
500 miles (over 800 kilometres) when fully loaded.
Another feature worth mentioning is the Tesla
Semi’s recuperation. Antunovic says that the Tesla truck can drive
energy-neutrally on the way back from the Donner Pass in the Sierra
Nevada by recuperating braking energy. A concrete efficiency value
also drops: the programme manager states that PepsiCo achieves an
average efficiency of 1.7 kWh per mile with the Tesla Semi, the
equivalent of 1.1 kWh per kilometre. The Tesla website speaks of “less
than 2 kWh per mile.”
What else is known about the Tesla Semi was
summarised here
in December 2022. The most important confirmed news on the
occasion of the delivery start in winter was that the battery can be
charged with up to 1 megawatt thanks to a 1,000-volt system.
Consequently, the chargers with a maximum of 750 kW would be the
limiting factor in Sacramento – and not the vehicle. Like the Plaid
versions of the Model S and Model X, the Tesla Semi has a drive system
consisting of three electric drives, one for the most efficient
constant speed and the other for acceleration. As mentioned, the truck
is said to be able to go up to 500 miles on one charge, even when
fully loaded.
Tesla is still not giving a price for the Semi,
nor any other official details on the payload, the battery capacity,
the performance of the drive system, or when large-scale production
will begin. Tesla started production of the first units in October
2022. In the USA, the Semi falls into truck class 8 with a gross
vehicle weight of up to 80,000 lbs (around 36.3 tonnes). Electric
trucks can exceed this limit by another 2,000 pounds, which translates
to 37.2 tonnes. A few months ago, Tesla stated that it had
demonstrated the 500 miles mentioned above with a fully loaded,
82,000-pound Semi.
However, the tare weight (which determines the
payload) remains a mystery. As the US portal Electrek explained
in an earlier report, Class 8 trucks can weigh between 12,000 and
25,000 lbs (around 5.4 to 11.3 tonnes), and the payload varies
accordingly.
The price of the electric truck also remains
unknown. Shortly after the prototype was unveiled in 2017, Tesla
quoted an “expected base price” of 150,000 dollars for the basic Semi
model. At the time, $180,000 was quoted for a range-extended variant
and $200,000 for the “Founders Series” version. Since then, Tesla has
not commented on its price expectations.
More information on the Semi could follow in
September. The organisation NACFE, which produced the video, is
hosting an annual test drive called “Run on Less” – and in this year’s
edition, data on the Tesla Semi will be publicly recorded for the
first time.
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
Spokane, Washington. 99212
509 995 1879
Cell, Pacific Time Zone.
General office:
509-254
6854
4501 East Trent
Ave.
Spokane, WA 99212
|
