They've given Musk $5k x 25 trucks ordered, on promises of trucks delivered in a year or more, from a company that usually misses its deadlines. And oh by the way the truck doesn't have a price yet, so they're not committed to actually buying.
Maybe they're just giving tesla an interest free loan for a few years for PR?
But even if they hadn't, this story hit newspapers in pretty much every region they have consumers. At a WACC of 6%, a two-year 125k loan means they've got quite an effective PR move for $15k in interest payments.
Remember this is a company with $46 billion in revenues, not a mom-n-pop store or small local chain.
It's a good move without even going into whether the semi ends up worth buying a few years down the road.
Or, yes, it's a smart PR move. The stories now are probably too small to have much reach. But being the first company to take delivery of the vehicles is a pretty sure way to get them into the evening news, with your logo on the side and a quote from your CEO about your company's pro-environment efforts.
And if they were going to buy diesel trucks to update/maintain their fleet anyway, trying something different for a really very small part of their transportation and logistics budget is a smart thing to do.
There must have been discussions between Tesla and Loblaw, where expected final price, or even guaranteed, has been agreed. possibly with penalties for late delivery. I imagine also reduced upfront payment in exchange for PR: it helps create momentum for Tesla.
1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Option_(aircraft_purchasing)
It also gives Loblaw a seat at the table when Tesla is deciding what features to include.
Also, Lablaws chain is pretty forward-thinking and they always had the newest stuff. They were one of the first, if not the first, to implement self checkouts. They have order online and pick up in store. They have had a partmership with online bank for points, also one of the first if I remember correctly. They embrace new things in other words.