PepsiCo orders 100 Semi electric trucks, Tesla shares rise 3%

On Tuesday, PepsiCo announced that it had booked 100 Tesla Semi electric trucks. Influenced by this news, Tesla's stock price rose by more than 3%.

PepsiCo's order is the largest order Tesla has received so far for its all-electric Semi truck. Tesla launched the all-electric Semi truck in late November last year and expects it to go into production in 2019. Prior to this, Walmart, American beer maker Anheuser-Busch and American transportation company JBHunt Transport Services also announced reservations for the electric truck. It is estimated that the total number of orders for the truck has exceeded 250 so far.

The deposit for reserving a Tesla Semi is $20,000, while the deposit for the Founders Series is $200,000. Both deposits are refundable after the customer formally signs the purchase agreement.

In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Jamie Albertine, an analyst at market research firm Consumer Edge Research, said that these orders show that consumers believe that Tesla's electric truck can at least bring them the same value as existing products on the market. He said that based on the deposits received alone, Semi can bring Tesla $50 million in revenue.

“I think it will take a long time to see how valuable Semi is, but seeing a company like PepsiCo take a booking is definitely a sign of confidence in Semi,” Albertine said.

He said once Tesla demonstrates the Semi's advertised performance, orders for the vehicle will number in the thousands because its per-mile operating cost will be lower than a diesel truck.

To be sure, Tesla isn't the only company working on electric trucks. Companies like Cummins have already unveiled their own electric truck prototypes.

“It seems like the auto industry is fully focused on electric trucks, and Tesla wants to play a role in that,” Albertine said.

In regular trading on the Nasdaq on Tuesday, Tesla's stock price closed at $341.03, up 3.68% from the previous trading day.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.