Tesla set to unveil semi-truck EV in Nevada delivery to PepsiCo
Yahoo Finance autos correspondent Pras Subramanian outlines Tesla's plans to unveil its electric freight truck tonight.
Video Transcript
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DAVE BRIGGS: All right, let's check out shares of Tesla trading just about level but down a pinch today on some rather big news, big in terms of size anyway. The EV maker will unveil its 18-wheeler semi at a factory in Nevada tonight. And PepsiCo will receive the first delivery of Tesla semis tonight. This all comes after a three-year delay.
Yahoo Finance's senior autos reporter Pras Subramanian joins us with the details. What do we know about this big boy?
PRAS SUBRMANIAN: It'll be the first time seeing it, the production version, in the flesh here, this 18-wheeler semi truck, as they call it. It should possibly-- we're hearing that it will have around 500 miles of range, which is very impressive, towing 80,000 pounds, which is the max weight that a class A, I guess, vehicle can tow, so very impressive stats.
We'll get the official-- hopefully get the official numbers later tonight at the reveal event in Giga Nevada. And like you said, PepsiCo will be the first recipient of these trucks. They're going to use them use them in their Frito-Lay facility in Modesto. So they're going to be kind of rejiggering that facility to kind of deal with electric trucks and those big kind of semis as well.
So a big night for Tesla here. But I think there's some concern or some kind of skepticism if this thing can actually do that for the right price.
SEANA SMITH: Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
DAVE BRIGGS: Let alone if the power grid can support them.
SEANA SMITH: Yeah, then that's another big factor in all this. Pras, there was also a couple of headlines crossing today just in terms of Tesla adjusting their prices on a couple of models in an effort to boost demand. Why are they doing this now?
PRAS SUBRMANIAN: Yeah, I mean, it looks concerning on the face of it, right, cutting prices? ElecTrek reporting that they're sending out dealer notices to cut the Model Y and Model 3 price by $3,500 bucks each in the month of December to kind of boost deliveries in this month because of the fact that they're concerned, or they're seeing people canceling orders because they want to get that IRA tax credit that starts again for Tesla in January.
So they're saying, hey, we'll give you half that credit now if you get this truck now or get this car now. So that's kind of the reason behind it, because they don't want to have a backlog of cars sitting on their lots in December when their numbers come out for Q4 deliveries. They want to get those cars out the door and restart it again in January for Q1.
DAVE BRIGGS: And I think the semi has a $40,000 tax break. Yeah, so that's a big one.
PRAS SUBRMANIAN: Which is a huge--
DAVE BRIGGS: Big incentive there.
PRAS SUBRMANIAN: And that's why we saw Elon Musk say, hey, we've got that truck coming soon, December 1. That came out of nowhere.
SEANA SMITH: Hmm, all right, we'll see. I don't know. I guess it'll be entertaining.
DAVE BRIGGS: It always is.
SEANA SMITH: Unveils are always interesting. So we'll see.
PRAS SUBRMANIAN: Real quick, there might be a surprise. So we'll see.
SEANA SMITH: What do you think that will be?
PRAS SUBRMANIAN: I might-- you might hear some news about the new Tesla Roadster, that supercar that they teased awhile ago. We'll see. We'll see.
DAVE BRIGGS: Good tease, brother.
SEANA SMITH: OK, we'll sit over here. All right, Pras, thanks so much for having on set--