Cybertruck: All About Tesla’s Electric Pickup
We already know quite a bit about the plan for the Cybertruck and what to expect from what could be a revolutionary vehicle.
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If you fell asleep in, say 2014 and woke up five years later during the unveiling for the Tesla pickup Cybertruck you might have thought you’d been slumbering for a couple of decades and woke up in the legit future, future. Elon Musk’s latest “baby”, the Tesla “Cybrtrk” could very well be another industry disruptor, meant to usher Tesla into the pickup truck market. And dude’s going about it by bucking many traditional parts of the industry.
This isn’t your boring-old-father’s Ford F-150 or Chevy Silverado, not by a longshot. Though not in production yet, we already know quite a bit about the plan for the Cybertruck and what to expect from what could be a revolutionary vehicle when it’s all said and done.
Cybertruck’s Blade Runner Concept
If the design harkens to you something along the lines of a sci-fi movie, it isn’t by accident and congrats, you’re a nerd like me. Musk and company based the exterior designs heavily from Blade Runner even releasing the first look at the truck in Los Angeles, November 21, 2019: the date and location of the original movie.
It has a blockier design that even had Lego poking a bit of fun at Tesla after the unveiling.
Stainless Steel Exterior
Worried about getting dents on the exterior when you are parking in the grocery store parking lot? No worries. Worried about getting caught in the crossfire of a warzone with bullets spraying at you like the end of days? Also no worries. Tesla has taken to touting the exterior as nearly impenetrable, with a “stainless-steel structural skin” and armored glass for the windows. Sure, these didn’t hold up all that great to a guy short-arming a steel ball about as hard as my eight-year-old would wing it, at the unveiling but Elon has promised this was one of those one-time, once in a million random guy throws a steel ball at my window, type of shatters.
When it’s all said and done, I suspect this thing would have been the ride Nick Fury needed when he was getting tuned up in Winter Soldier.
Unlike other trucks which are manufactured “body on frame”, the Cybertruck is comprised of an exoskeleton made to be aerodynamic even with that aforementioned boxier design.
The bed of the Tesla truck has a built-in, sliding, retractable cover (or tonneau), different than your typical pickup truck after-market tarp-like cover that traditionally has snapped into place.
The windows, in the concept piece, don’t yet have windshield wipers built into the design which still has some folks wondering how they’ll solve the problem of inclement weather. Maybe Musk plans to just do away with rain before the trucks come off the lot. The guy has big ideas after all.
Inside Cybertruck
Cybertruck’s interior seating resembles that of a standard, cab pickup truck with two seats in the front, three in the back and a middle seat that folds down to allowing loading in from the bed. Think 2×4’s from the hardware store, or an ionic blaster death ray gun that just won’t fit into your traditional pickup model.
The Tesla truck’s dashboard though has almost nothing in common with a traditional car. The steering “wheel” resembles something you’d see in a video arcade driving game, and information is displayed on a monitor mounted in the center dash. The rest of the dashboard looks like a marble countertop void of your traditional air vents, buttons, knobs, and really anything else. It’s a trimmed down and sleek set up.
Under The Hood
The Cybertruck will come in three different models, with the base package as a single-motor rear-wheel-drive vehicle. But there will also be a dual-motor all-wheel drive and a tri-motor all-wheel drive. Depending on the model you can expect the Tesla truck to go from 0-60 in 6.5 seconds or even as fast as 2.9 seconds if you spring for the highest-end version and really want to blow your metaphoric hair back.
And of course, all truck owners want to know what you can tow. The single motor Cybertruck towing capacity is around 7,500 pounds, but that almost doubles to 14,000 pounds with the trimotor option. By comparison, this is a towing capacity somewhere in between the Ford F150 (11,000 pounds) and the Ford F350 Diesel (16,000 pounds).
Charging and Range
Come for the futuristic style and military-grade body, stay for the chance to avoid gas stations for the rest of your life. The Cybertruck base model will have a range of about 250 miles on a full charge and the top-end version will range up to 500 miles. The Tesla truck will also have multiple charging ports and outlets for life on the go (or the end of the world).
How Much Does Cybertruck Cost?
Musk announced that refundable Cybertruck “pre-orders” would start with a $100 deposit and Tesla reported they’ve received 250,000 of these in less than a week after the first unveiling.
Once you get that hundo out of the way you’ll be looking at $39,900, $49,900 or $69,900 depending on the engine you choose for your Tesla truck.
Tesla Truck Add-Ons
If you thought this was going to stop at just the truck, I don’t think you’ve been paying much attention to Tesla. At the unveiling they also introduced the companion ATV which rolls up into the bed, can charge there and makes for a perfect getaway vehicle in a pinch. Not much else is known about it except for the style, but Tesla has said they will be ready to ship with the Cybertruck.
There’s also a camping add-on package which will include a full kitchen that pulls out from under the bed and a tent that covers the Cybertruck’s bed.
There might even be a companion house to park your Tesla truck in when it’s all said and done.
Timeline
The future is close, but not quite here yet. Production on the Cybertruck isn’t slated until late 2021 but early looks at the Tesla factory have certain analysts saying the “CyberTruck is completely in a different Technology Orbit.”
Tesla and Elon Musk are visionaries, ranging from simple flamethrowers all the way up to just blasting things into space. There isn’t a 100% conversion rate on all of the moonshot ideas they’ve thrown out there over the years. But the Cybertruck does appear something we’ll see hitting the roads in the very near future. The future, that’s here now. for Tesla’s truck
