Photo: The Modesto Bee | Edited
Most of the time, a recall only tells us that a carmaker, its employees, or the suppliers haven't done their job properly. In some cases, though, recalls offer interesting details that carmakers want to keep under the radar. In the case of the Tesla Semi, an insignificant recall shows that production has stalled in 2023.
The Tesla Semi starting deliveries last year was the EV maker's biggest achievement in a long time, considering it was the first new vehicle model since the launch of the Model Y in 2020. Tesla organized a big event on December 1, 2022, and formerly handed over the keys to the electric trucks to their launch partner, PepsiCo. The food giant received 36 Semi trucks from 100 ordered, with 15 of them assigned to its Frito-Lay plant in Modesto, California, and the rest to the PepsiCo facility in Sacramento.
Since then, PepsiCo appears to have frozen the purchasing deal with Tesla because no new truck from the 100 ordered was delivered. A recall announced at the end of March showed that 35 Semi trucks were affected by a parking brake issue. More specifically, the parking brake valves supplied by Bendix could fail to engage or disengage as required. The number of trucks recalled matches the PepsiCo fleet and covered trucks produced between November 30, 2022, and February 28, 2023. This implies that no new trucks were added to the fleet.
On June 13, Tesla initiated another voluntary recall to address a minor software issue concerning the door closure warning. According to the safety recall report, the door closure warning system allows the operator to dismiss the notification that the side door is unlatched. This could result in driving with an unsecured door. Tesla has already solved it with an OTA software update, which introduced a dedicated, non-dismissible warning that will be displayed in all power states when a side door is open, regardless of the parking brake state.
This time, the affected trucks include those built until March 15. The total number is 36, just one more than in the previous recall. Given the nature of Tesla OTA updates, it's highly probable that this is the entire Tesla fleet in operation. This appears to indicate that only one truck was delivered since the previous recall. It doesn't sound like the production of the Tesla Semi is going according to plan.
In a recent interview, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is facing problems with the battery cell supply. Musk said that he doesn't expect Semi production to reach larger volumes until late 2024, although he didn't explain what he meant by "larger volumes." Tesla Semi started limited production in a building near Giga Nevada. Tesla intends to build a dedicated production facility in Nevada, with a production capacity of 50,000 Semi trucks per year.
Since then, PepsiCo appears to have frozen the purchasing deal with Tesla because no new truck from the 100 ordered was delivered. A recall announced at the end of March showed that 35 Semi trucks were affected by a parking brake issue. More specifically, the parking brake valves supplied by Bendix could fail to engage or disengage as required. The number of trucks recalled matches the PepsiCo fleet and covered trucks produced between November 30, 2022, and February 28, 2023. This implies that no new trucks were added to the fleet.
On June 13, Tesla initiated another voluntary recall to address a minor software issue concerning the door closure warning. According to the safety recall report, the door closure warning system allows the operator to dismiss the notification that the side door is unlatched. This could result in driving with an unsecured door. Tesla has already solved it with an OTA software update, which introduced a dedicated, non-dismissible warning that will be displayed in all power states when a side door is open, regardless of the parking brake state.
This time, the affected trucks include those built until March 15. The total number is 36, just one more than in the previous recall. Given the nature of Tesla OTA updates, it's highly probable that this is the entire Tesla fleet in operation. This appears to indicate that only one truck was delivered since the previous recall. It doesn't sound like the production of the Tesla Semi is going according to plan.
In a recent interview, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is facing problems with the battery cell supply. Musk said that he doesn't expect Semi production to reach larger volumes until late 2024, although he didn't explain what he meant by "larger volumes." Tesla Semi started limited production in a building near Giga Nevada. Tesla intends to build a dedicated production facility in Nevada, with a production capacity of 50,000 Semi trucks per year.
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