Anheuser-Busch Reserves 40 Tesla Electric Trucks

The U.S. subsidiary of Belgium-based beermaker Anheuser-Busch InBev NV has reserved 40 of Tesla Inc.'s all-electric “Semi” Class 8 trucks.

The brewing company hasn’t decided whether it will buy the vehicles outright, lease them or have one of its truck carriers make the purchase, James Sembrot, the company's senior director of logistics strategy, tells The Wall Street Journal. Sembrot says Anheuser-Busch reserved the trucks to “prioritize its place in line” when Tesla begins producing the vehicles in two to three years.

Currently most of the brewer’s 750-unit truck fleet is owned and operated by third-party companies. The electric Semis would be used for shipments to wholesalers within 150 to 200 miles of Anheuser-Busch’s 13 U.S. breweries, which would be well within the 500-mile driving range Tesla is targeting for the trucks.

Anheuser-Busch, which spends about $120 million per year on fuel for its truck fleet, accounts for nearly 50% of the U.S. beer market through its Budweiser and Michelob brands. The company has said it aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% by 2025.

Tesla claims Semi owners will save more than $200,000 in fuel costs over a truck’s estimated 1-million-mile life compared with diesel big-rigs.

The 40-truck order would be the largest since Tesla unveiled a prototype of the truck last month. At the time, the company said it had received reservations for more than 50 of the vehicles, including 25 from Canadian grocery chain Loblaw. Other early adopters include DHL postal services, superstores Meijer and Wal-Mart, and at least three freight operators: J.B. Hunt, Fortigo and Ryder,

Initially, Tesla required buyers to put down a $5,000 deposit for each truck that has since been upped to $20,000. The base Semi will start at $150,000, while mid- and top-end versions will start at $180,000 and $200,000, respectively.