Pepsico announces electric fleet expansion with Tesla Semis and Ford E-Transit

Beverages firm Pepsico has announced an expansion of its electric fleet across California featuring new Tesla Semi trucks and Ford E-Transit electric vans.

The expansion will walk through the next several months and include 50 class 8 Tesla Semi trucks, which will operate at Pepsico’s manufacturing and distribution facility in Fresno. Pepsico will also buy 75 new Ford E-Transit electric vans.

Pepsico says this move will help the company progress toward its pep+ goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. On the other hand, this expansion plan is supported by a grant from the California Air Resource Board, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and the California Energy Commission.

Pepsico Tesla Semi (Image Source – Pepsico)

PBNA’s Fresno is a 170,000-square-foot manufacturing facility with a fleet operation covering PepsiCo products including Pepsi, STARRY, Gatorade, Rocketsar, Aquafina, and more. The facility equips eight 750-kilowatt Tesla chargers and two Tesla Megapack Battery Energy Storage systems onsite to power electric semis.

PBNA will deploy 75 Ford E-Transit electric vans at 13 locations in California. These vans will provide multi-purpose services including sales delivered and service support.

Ford E-Transit Electric Van (Image Source – Pepsico)

The EV deployment in Fresno marks the start of a job training program for students enrolled in Reedley College and Duncan Polytechnic High School. The Program educates over 100 students annually and focuses on the development of hands-on job training in EV and infrastructure management.

Pepsico is the first large Tesla Semi buyer across the board and this expansion hits a major deal for the EV company. It is also operating Tesla semis in the Sacramento facility.

The beverage firm also has a fleet of Tesla Semis operating out of their Modesto, California facility and FLNA”s Queens, New York facilities.

(source)