Tesla appears to have partnered with three new companies to help test its electric Semi, this time joining forces with wholesale and retail giant Costco, and two of the largest food distributors, Sysco and US Foods. The new partnerships come as Tesla works to fine-tune the engineering of the class 8 electric truck ahead of mass production.
Tesla’s first partner in the Semi testing program was PepsiCo, who has taken delivery of at least three dozen electric Semi trucks since late 2022. The company has been testing the Semi extensively on routes in California and Nevada, with positive results so far.
PepsiCo was the lone testing partner for one and a half years, until last month when Martin Brower announced it has also been testing Tesla Semi trucks. Then just a few days ago the first Walmart owned Tesla Semi was spotted in California.
Now it looks like three more companies have partnered with Tesla to test the Semi. One of those is Costco, where in two separate sightings shared online this week a Tesla Semi has been seen pulling a Costco trailer. It is unclear if these sightings are of the same truck, or two Semi trucks that Costco now owns.
After Walmart…looks like Costco is testing Tesla Semi 👀@WholeMarsBlog pic.twitter.com/QrBTt222uJ
— てすおた (@TeslaOtaku) May 7, 2024
After Walmart…looks like Costco is testing Tesla Semi 👀@WholeMarsBlog pic.twitter.com/QrBTt222uJ
— てすおた (@TeslaOtaku) May 7, 2024
Separately, another video has been shared online showing a Tesla Semi with a Sysco trailer. According to the video’s poster, Richard Garcia, two US Foods locations in Reno, Nevada, and Tracy, California, are also testing the Semi.
A friend of mine who works for US Foods sent this video to me. pic.twitter.com/LjPVb1d7O0
— Richard Garcia (@ricardgarciahoe) April 27, 2024
Among these three new companies, only Sysco has announced they have placed orders for the Tesla Semi. Back in 2017, when the Semi was first unveiled, Sysco said it had reserved 50 units.
Tesla has recently broken ground on its mass production Semi facility next to Giga Nevada. The company hopes to begin production in late 2025 with the first external customer deliveries starting in 2026.
