First real data shows that Tesla electric tractors in Pepsi services travel less than 100 miles per day
yesterday | Petr Prokopec
Photo: Tesla
The company boasted the first data on the operation of a small fleet of Semi electric tractors. Although twenty-one machines use pure electricity, only three are used on longer routes. And even those aren’t really long, let alone straightforwardly serviced.
The United States of America is a relatively young country, the Charter of Independence was only written on July 4, 1776. At that time, Los Angeles was just a pueblo, which was rebuilt as a Spanish mission some two decades later. As a city, however, LA was not recorded on the maps until May 23, 1835. That is, only 55 years before the arrival of Karl Benz’s invention, which changed all transportation. Los Angeles and a large number of other American cities thus began to expand in accordance with two-track means of transport, which is also why it is said that the automobile put the USA on its feet.
Behind this somewhat unusual trip into history is a fleet of twenty-one electric Semi trucks that Tesla supplied to Pepsico. It is the very first company that can use them, and it has recently released some information about its operation. And while some EV enthusiasts are jumping for joy after reading this, we remain skeptical. In essence, it has been confirmed that the battery drive is only suitable at certain times during certain activities and suits only certain drivers.
Pepsi mentions that the working time of the electric fleet is around 12 hours, during which the trucks travel less than just 160 km. Most of the time is therefore associated with loading and unloading cargo, which drivers deliver from the main warehouse in Sacramento to the nearby area. The advantage at any given moment is wide roads, which can also be counted on in cities. Even with a length of 12.8 meters and a width of 2.6 meters, the Semi has no problem fitting in.
But now try to imagine that such monsters would drive around Prague. At that moment, nothing but collapse can be expected, the domestic metropolis is simply not built for such large colossi. And so it is in most cities on the old continent. So if electrification is to take place here in the way that the politicians have planned, then only with the help of smaller tractors. However, due to the price, smaller batteries will be associated with them, which will lead to their even more limited use.
Dejan Antunovič, who is in charge of electrification at Pepsi, said that three of those twenty-one tractors are also used for longer routes, which measure 400 to 700 kilometers. Recharging at the Megachargers, which are powered by solar energy from the panels that Pepsi installed on the roof of the warehouse, takes about half an hour. During it, the batteries go from 5 to 10 percent to 95, which doesn’t sound bad, but in the end it’s just another confirmation of limited usability.
We can once again move to Europe, where truck drivers, for example, take Spanish oranges to the Czech Republic. This means that they have to cover a distance of around 2,500 km and they drive practically non-stop with two drivers. Electric trucks can never match that.
So what to add? Perhaps only what we have been mentioning ever since the politicians started pushing the electric saw so hard that its teeth started flying in all directions. So that the battery drive was not, is not and will not be for everyone. After all, the question is whether Pepsi would have made the purchase in the first place if it weren’t for a marketing event of some sort. We probably don’t need to add that the answer is negative, the second question is how expensive this event will be for her. But the company will only be able to give a clear answer to that when it takes the initial batch of Semis out of service and will be able to add up all the costs.
The Pepsi company likes Semi electric tractors, its drivers say they don’t even complain about the centrally located seat and the shape of the cabin. This is not surprising, since they do not have to sleep anywhere on their routes, just as they do not have to deal with narrow streets, gates and the like. Photo: Tesla
Source: Teslarati
Petr Prokopec
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2023-08-12 11:25:05
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