Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s hotly anticipated Cybertruck all-electric pickup on Thursday night in California. This may sound odd, but when we first saw the wedge-shaped truck that has the presence of an autocratic government’s police vehicle from a 1990s dystopian future film, we thought he might be kidding, waiting to pull a switcheroo on us. Turns out, he wasn’t.
As with the Palto Alto company’s other endeavors, Tesla wants to disrupt the heavily contested, yet hugely lucrative, especially in the United States, pickup truck segment. Seven years in the making, the Cybertruck, or CYBRTRK, as some at Tesla like calling it, is a futuristic looking, albeit unpolished, wedge-shaped full size pickup truck. At 5,885 mm long, 2,027 mm wide and 1,905 mm tall, with seating for six, it sits nicely between the numerous offerings from Ford’s F-150, which depending on the body, measure 209 to 250 inches long, 80 to 86 inches wide and 75 to 78.5 inches tall.
While Musk didn’t show the insides of the electric pickup truck during the event, the company did release a single image. It’s even simpler and more minimal than usual for a Tesla, with your typical huge touch-screen in the middle, two rows with three seats each, and a Knight Rider 2000-style steering wheel that won’t make the cut in production. There’s also the top part of the dash that looks like a marble-style quartz slab from a kitchen countertop. Or maybe that’s just the picture. Who knows.
If there’s one thing Tesla hasn’t been shy about, that’s offering performance out-of-this-world, and the same applies to the Cybertruck, with the most potent Tri-Motor AWD version accelerating to 96 km/h in a supercar blasting 2.9 seconds, and completing the quarter mile in 10.8 seconds. For reference, the 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye special does the 0-60 in 3.8 sec and the 1/4 mile in 10.8 sec. This configuration offers a 800+ km driving range and a 209 km/h top speed. It will cost US$ 69,900.
There will be two other models available, the base Single Motor RWD Cybertruck priced at US$ 39,900 with a 400+ km range and 0-60 in 6.5 sec, and the mid-level Dual Motor variant that starts from US$ 49,900 offering a 0-60 in 4.5 sec and a 480+ km range. Musk claimed in his presentation that the battery-powered truck will handle like a Porsche – even showing a video of the Cybertruck out-accelerating a 911, yet at the same time, offer commendable off-road abilities, with a a 35-degree approach angle, a 28-degree departure angle and up to 16 inches of ground clearance. As far as towing is concerned and aside from a video Musk showed of the Cybertruck destroying an F-150 in a tug of war, it will be rated between 3,401 kg to 6,350 kg.
If you missed the live presentation, Musk had Tesla employees abuse the Cybertruck hitting its body with sledgehammers and throwing metal balls on the windows. Why? To prove that it’s Tesla strong. Now, while the stainless body proved its metal, the same didn’t happen with the supposedly shatterproof windows that were busted. Oops. “We’ll fix it in post,” Musk bantered.
Unlike the competition that has a body-on-frame design, the Cybertruck gets a stainless steel monocoque construction. Other highlights include the air suspension and the 2m bed that Tesla calls the Vault and which has a lockable aerodynamic cover offering 2,831L)of protected cargo storage. Tesla also shoewed an ATV, though it didn’t go into any further details on it.
The Californian automaker is already accepting US$ 100 refundable deposits for the Cybertruck that is scheduled to enter production in 2021, with the more powerful tri-motor model to follow the next year.
