PepsiCo has confirmed it will enter at least one of its Tesla Semi trucks in the upcoming ‘Run On Less’ trucking industry event, which will run for three weeks starting September 11, 2023. The bi-annual event will showcase advances in freight efficiency and provide the first independent performance data for Tesla’s all-electric Class 8 semi-truck.
Tesla delivered the first Semi trucks to PepsiCo late last year, and in the months since both companies have been relatively quiet about how the electric truck has been performing. What Tesla has said is that the Semi has a range of 500 miles (804km), showing a video at the delivery event of the Semi doing just that from Fremont to San Diego, using only 93% of its battery while fully loaded (81,000lbs).
Amanda DeVoe, Frito-Lay’s Sustainability and Technology Director told Automotive News they will do the same during the event and travel 500 miles with a maximum payload to demonstrate the truck’s capabilities. Performance data will be posted on the event’s website, including the distance traveled, the effect of speed and distance on battery charge, and weather conditions encountered by the vehicles.
This event will be significant for Tesla and the general trucking industry because other than the previously mentioned trip, which equated to an efficiency of around 1.7kWh/mile, neither the automaker nor Pepsi have revealed any sort of performance data, providing the opportunity for independent real-world data to be collected and analyzed.
Other participants in the event will include operators of electric trucks from brands such as Nikola, Freightliner, and Volvo. However, the event will provide only general comparisons between the brands due to differences in payloads, travel routes, and charging systems.
