The Tesla SEMI was announced with great fanfare by Tesla in late 2017. Since then there have been a number of sightings across USA of the test vehicles being put through their paces. They have also been used as demonstration vehicles for companies looking to purchase the all-electric Semi truck for their fleets.
These are the companies who have placed orders for the Tesla Semi so far:
- Walmart: One of the first major companies to reserve the trucks, the retailer has made aggressive investments in technology in recent years as part of its effort to compete with Amazon.
- Pepsi: Pepsi previously had the largest Semi order, reserving 100 trucks in December.
- Anheuser-Busch: The brewer announced it ordered 40 Semis in December.
- FedEx: The transportation service announced that it reserved 20 Semis in March.
- Sysco: The food distributor has reserved 50 Semis.
- UPS: The delivery company placed the largest Semi order to date, reserving 125 trucks in December.
- DHL: The transportation and logistics company has reserved 10 Semis to add to its fleet.
- Meijer: Based in Michigan, the grocery chain has ordered four of the electric trucks.
- Ryder: The transportation company reserved an unspecified number of Semis in November.
- J.B. Hunt: The trucking company is set to purchase “multiple” Semis, but hasn’t revealed the exact number.
- Asko: The Norwegian food distribution company has ordered 10 Semis.
- Posten Norge: The Norwegian postal service ordered an unspecified number of Semis.
- Flexport: Ryan Peterson, the freight company’s CEO, announced the company has ordered one Semi.
- JK Moving: The independent moving company has reserved four Semis.
- Loblaw: After ordering 25 Semis, the Canadian supermarket chain announced plans to make its trucking fleet 100% electric by 2030.
- Fercam: Based in Italy, the trucking company has reserved a single Semi.
- Girteka Logistics: Not to be outdone by Fercam, the European transportation company also announced its plans to invest in one of Tesla’s electric trucks.
- Fortigo Freight Services: The Canadian logistics company reserved one Semi.
- Best Transportation: The shipping company also ordered one Semi.
- Mecca & Son Trucking: According to Jalopnik, this trucking company has reserved one Semi.
- TCI Transportation: The truck rental and leasing company has reserved 50 Semis.
- City Furniture: The furniture retailer has reserved five Semis.
As can be seen there are a number of large corporations that have taken the time and initiative to see that the future is electric.
Just today I was looking at tweets from @Brett_Swanson7 who explained that he is looking forward to the SEMI due to the fact that “this one product will have the greatest environmental impact over any other product in world history”.
Brett has a significant point here and one that cannot be denied. Currently to move goods across large distances there are three ways. By air, by sea and by land. I want to focus on the land element. The vehicles that are used to travel across land are trucks.
This one product will have the greatest environmental impact over any other product in world history
@Brett_Swanson7
Due to large populations and limited amounts of space on most trucks there has to be large fleets on the road at any given time. We are talking thousands of trucks across any one continent and many more when considering global population. What this means is large amounts of Carbon dioxide (CO2) being pumped into the air from exhaust fumes.
The point that Brett is highlighting is that to remove CO2 producing vehicles from the road and replace them with electric vehicles, like the Tesla SEMI, we then start to have a significant impact to the global warming and environmental impacts that are becoming more apparent every day.
Just recently with the bush fires in Australia we have seen the ongoing impacts of an increase in global temperatures and a reduction of rain across land masses which has allowed the land to become extremely dry and easily catch fire. What most forget is that trees are the main devices to help remove carbon dioxide from the air. By having over 5 million hectres burn they not only release smoke but also the contained carbon dioxide within the trees into the atmosphere.
Any assistance, we as a global society can do to help this reduce is helping mother earth heal and better combat the issue we currently face.
In no way will it be the only thing that will help but Tesla is uniquely qualified to assist with the uptake of the Semi and other electric cars.
I believe the Semi can allow for many global companies to provide improved transportation between destinations whilst contributing to the evolution of clean vehicles and ultimately drive the future environment back to health.
Dave
