The Tesla Semi has been spotted travelling along California highways undergoing some long range testing ahead of the highly-anticipated electric truck entering production next year.
The first sighting was by Kyle, a member of the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley Club who tells us he spotted the Semi travelling westbound along Interstate 580 on Tuesday morning between Tracy and Livermore. It was cruising in the travelling lane without a trailer attached.
BREAKING: Tesla Semi spotted on 580W in California. Source TOSV Member https://t.co/2bX6dVDapw pic.twitter.com/2ssFYqJDay
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) June 14, 2022
Later in the day the Semi was spotted again more than 50 miles away, this time travelling along El Camino Real towards CA-237 in Palo Alto. Unlike the video above which was taken from a Model 3s Dashcam and had no sound, this video was taken from the driver’s seat of a Model 3 with the window open, giving us a chance to listen to the electric motors and regenerative braking in the Semi, a stark contrast to the loud diesel engine in traditional semi trucks.
https://twitter.com/DriveTeslaca/status/1536845198281453568
Although Tesla has at least four of these white Semi trucks that were built at their prototype production line in Nevada, we know this is the same truck because they both have the same MNR-16 marking on the side. Another Semi spotted in Palo Alto earlier this year had the marking MNR-13 on the side.
Tesla was expected to deliver the first Semi trucks to PepsiCo earlier this year, but those plans have since changed. According to information obtained by Drive Tesla, the automaker decided to keep those trucks for their own internal testing, and has recently started building additional units on the same Nevada production line to deliver to PepsiCo. There is currently no timeline for when those trucks will be delivered.
When they are, PepsiCo will be ready to charge them at their FritoLay facility in Modesto, which has the only Megacharger installed outside of a Tesla facility. Giga Nevada also has a four-stall Megacharger that was completed in January.
Tesla Megacharger installation at Giga Nevada wraps up construction
