The CEO of PepsiCo, Ramon Laguarta, confirmed on CNBC this morning that his company will be taking delivery of the first electric Tesla Semi trucks this year.
The comments are at odds with statements from Tesla which said just last month that production of the Semi is delayed until 2023.
However, they back up an announcement from PepsiCo in March that said they expect to take delivery of 15 Semis by the end of 2021.
PepsiCo Expecting to Receive 15 Tesla Semi Trucks Later This Year
Laguarta nonchalantly made the comment while talking with CNBC’s Jim Cramer. When asked about how his company is going to cut emissions from its trucking fleet, Laguarta said:
“As you think about, we replace our fleet regularly every 10 years more or less, that’s the life of our truck. we are already starting to buy electric trucks actually, from Tesla. I don’t know what to promote anybody, but that’s the brand we’re using so far, and we’re getting our first deliveries this Q4.”
Given that this timeline is completely different than the one provided by Tesla during the Annual Meeting of Stockholders in October, there are a few likely explanations for it.
The first is that Laguarta misspoke during the interview and meant next Q4 (Q4 2022), but even that would be earlier than what Tesla is predicting.
Another possible scenario is that Tesla has a special deal with PepsiCo in which the company will be helping them test the Semi on a certain number of routes in California.
We have seen signs that Tesla is progressing with development of the Semi, most recently with the first Semi Megachargers installed in Giga Nevada.
Given the impact of this announcement, there will likely be a clarification issued by PepsiCo or Tesla soon. Stay tuned for updates.
You can watch Laguarta’s comments in the video below.
BREAKING: Pepsi CEO just said on CNBC that Tesla will be delivering Tesla Semi’s to them in Q4 of this year despite Tesla saying that deliveries will start in 2023. pic.twitter.com/4k5ZkEZjIa
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) November 8, 2021
