By Abhirup Roy
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Tesla is beginning deliveries of its Semi trucks to a first set of customers this week, executives said at its plant in Sparks, Nevada, almost nine years after CEO Elon Musk unveiled the electric big rigs.
The Semi, designed for long-haul freight, expands the market for Tesla, known for its electric sedans and SUVs, into commercial freight haulers at a time when diesel prices in the US have soared to record highs.
Tesla did not disclose production volume
plans or pricing of the trucks at a webcast event late on Thursday at the plant. It reiterated plans to build 50,000 Semis a year at the Nevada plant.
Musk did not attend the event. In a recorded video message he said: "I'd recommend placing more orders if you haven't already, but the waiting list is already pretty significant."
Customers, including PepsiCo, DHL and US Foods, were invited on stage, and trucks with their logos were shown parked outside.
The long-range variant, loaded, can drive 500 miles with one charge. "That's 500 real-world miles. Our customers have validated it," said Dan Priestley, Tesla's director of Semi truck engineering. A standard variant has 325 miles of range.
The Semi was first unveiled in 2017 and production was expected to start in 2019.
The first truck eventually rolled off the high-volume production line in April and volume production was set to start this year. However, Tesla's July shareholder letter said that production of Semi would begin in 2026, removing an earlier forecast for volume production this year.
Tesla began limited deliveries to customers including PepsiCo in the US in late 2022. Delays, rising competition and a reversal in EV policies in the US have since raised concerns about demand.
Still, Tesla this week received an order for 2,500 Semis from a coalition of the world's largest cargo-owning shippers, including Microsoft and PepsiCo, according to clean transportation nonprofit Catalyst Mobility. That is nearly double the existing US fleet of electric Class 8 trucks, the nonprofit said.
Last month, Swedish freight technology company Einride AB announced a deal to add 500 Semi trucks to its fleet.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson, Aurora Ellis and Shri Navaratnam)
