Tesla (TSLA) receives a historic order for 2,500 Semi-trucks from ZET SCALE (Microsoft and PepsiCo)

Tesla (TSLA) has received the largest-ever order for a Class-8 electric semi-truck in US history. The US-based electric automaker now has a 2,500 Tesla Semi order in its bag.

Catalyst Mobility and the Smart Freight Centre placed the huge Tesla Semi order through their joint program, the Zero-Emission Truck Shipper-Carrier Alliance Leading Electrification (ZET SCALE).

Interestingly, corporate giants like Microsoft and PepsiCo are the financial muscle behind this program. Through the ZET SCALE program, these companies aim to scale their purchases to 10,000 Class-8 electric semi-trucks.

Of these 10,000 planned purchases, the Tesla Semi is the first Class-8 battery-electric truck getting an order of 2,500 units.

“Going big. This will help shippers adopt the Tesla Semi in volume and lower costs,” Semi-truck Lead at Tesla, Dan Priestly, posted on LinkedIn.

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ZET SCALE orders 2,500 Tesla Semi-trucks. A historic order that almost doubles the US Class-8 electric semi-truck fleet.

“Every part of the freight industry wants cleaner trucks, but until now each company faced that transition — and its risks — alone. ZET SCALE aligns shippers, carriers, manufacturers and financiers around a single, real demand signal. When the risk is shared across the whole chain instead of resting on any one player, the industry can finally move at scale,” said Christoph Wolff, CEO of Smart Freight Centre.

Magnitude of the Order

The magnitude of the Tesla Semi’s 2,500-unit order is huge on the financial, production, and electric-fleet scale. Tesla is currently offering the following two variants of the Tesla Semi in the United States:

Variant	Range	Estimated Price
Tesla Semi: Standard Range	325 miles	$260,000
Tesla Semi: Long Range	500 miles	$290,000

Price source: California HVIP.

Tesla and ZET SCALE haven’t provided official details on the orders beyond the 2,500-unit number. According to the official press release, the large-scale order will reduce the upfront price of the Tesla Semi truck.

If we assume a 50/50 mix of Standard and Long Range variants, the average price per truck we get is $275,000 (not including fleet order discounts).

The total estimated cost of the entire 2,500-truck order is around $687 million.

Tesla has already started production of the Semi truck at its Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. According to Tesla, this huge manufacturing facility has the capacity to produce 50,000 Tesla Semis annually.

With the advanced manufacturing and engineering technology that is tailor-made at Giga Nevada, the electric automaker is fully capable of delivering large orders such as this one.

However, this 2,500 Semi truck order will test Tesla’s ability to deliver at scale while maintaining quality, as these trucks are meant to operate long-term, hauling heavy weights.

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Two Tesla Semi trucks hauling shipping containers. The one in front is the Standard Range (325 miles), and the second one behind it is the Long Range (500-mile) variant (extended cabin and roof fairing). Credit: Courtesy of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA).

Tesla, Microsoft, and PepsiCo

Microsoft is one of the companies behind this large-scale logistics electrification, as revealed in the official press release. Actually, this is an interesting scenario.

In the past, Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates has denied that the Tesla Semi could become a reality. “It doesn’t work,” he said multiple times.

Earlier this year, as the first Tesla Semi rolled off the production line, Elon Musk teased Bill Gates about his past statements when he visited Giga Nevada with him.

Now, Microsoft is backing the purchase of the 2,500 Tesla Semi trucks.

“Microsoft is working to turn our sustainability commitments into operational reality. Our participation in ZET SCALE does that for road freight, by signaling real demand for electric trucks so the low-carbon option becomes competitive for moving our cloud infrastructure,” said Nico De Golia, Director of Sustainability for Cloud Supply Chain Global Operations at Microsoft.

PepsiCo, on the other hand, has been optimistic about the Tesla Semi program. The multinational beverage company helped test early units in its Frito-Lay and Pepsi supply chains.

This real-world testing provided Tesla with useful data to iterate improvements to its electric semi-truck. Now, Microsoft and PepsiCo have joined hands to accelerate sustainable logistics utilizing Tesla Semis.

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