Tesla's futuristic Cybertruck revealed: up to 500 miles of range, can go 0-60 in 2.9 seconds

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Highly anticipated: If you've been eagerly waiting for the reveal of Tesla's "Cyberpunk" pickup truck, then we have some good news for you today. The vehicle was showcased to the public last night during a flashy livestream, and it's quite an impressive specimen -- not just in terms of looks, but also performance capabilities.

We'll get to the technical details later, but first, let's talk about the truck's design: in short, it's probably unlike anything you've ever seen before in a modern mass-market vehicle, and not just in the realm of pickup trucks.

The vehicle, aptly called "Cybertruck," is almost entirely free of curves. Instead, it's composed of several sharp edges and hard lines, serving to give it a fairly intimidating look. If its overall shape and massive, flat windshield wasn't odd enough, the Cybertruck also discards the notion of a traditional, open-air truck bed.

Instead, a large, metal plate slides up (seemingly into the roof of the car) to reveal its rear cargo area, aptly called the "Vault." You can leave this protective plate up if you're transporting bulky cargo (such as the Tesla ATV Musk briefly teased), or you can shut it for improved security. The Vault is about 6.5ft in length, with 100 cubic feet of empty storage space.

The Cybertruck's tires are powerful-looking, but it's hard to determine their exact specifications from the limited information currently available on Tesla's website. We'll likely learn more about them closer to the car's official launch.

The final design-related detail worth mentioning about the Cybertruck relates to its front end. It does not house two traditional headlights like most other vehicles, instead including one large light bear near the top of the hood, and two smaller lights toward the bottom.

With the aesthetics out of the way, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. The Cybertruck has three main variants: Single Motor RWD, Dual Motor AWD, and Tri Motor AWD.

The Single Motor model boasts a 0-60mph speed of 6.5 seconds, and a range of 250 miles. The Dual Motor alternative has a 0-60 speed of 4.5 seconds, with a total range of 300 miles. The final Tri Motor Cybertruck kicks things up a notch with 0-60 speeds of 2.9 seconds, and an astounding 500 miles of range.

Each model's towing capacity also differs, starting with 7,500lbs for the Single Motor model and increasing to 14,000lbs for the Tri Motor one.

All Cybertrucks will ship with Autopilot included as a standard feature, as well as Tesla's "adaptive air suspension" technology, which allows the vehicle to dynamically shift its height to cater to the terrain it's riding on (up to 16" of ground clearance). Further, during the Cybertruck's live showcase, Tesla said the vehicle's turning will make it feel like its "on rails," which is quite the claim.

All of the features and design elements mentioned so far are reasonably impressive, but it's the Cybertruck's construction that makes it truly stand out. Company CEO Elon Musk says Tesla decided to shift the truck's mass from the inside to the outside, resulting in an "Ultra-Hard 30X Cold-Rolled stainless steel" exoskeleton, of sorts.

Tesla brought a traditional pickup truck door up on stage for a durability comparison, and, needless to say, the Cybertruck came out on top. After a few good smacks, the other pickup truck door was noticeably dented, but despite receiving several nasty hits of its own, the Cybertruck remained completely unscathed.

You might reasonably assume that this would only be possible in Tesla's controlled testing conditions, but there's reason for optimism here. Why? Because when Tesla revealed the durability of the Cybertruck's "transparent metal" windows, the results were much more mixed.

A company employee dropped a heavy-looking metal ball onto a standard vehicle's glass, and it cracked right away. Conversely, after several drops from ever-increasing heights, the Cybertruck's demonstration glass had no damage whatsoever (aside from being rattled a bit). Not bad, but things quickly took a turn for the worse.

When Musk asked one of his colleagues to throw that same metal ball directly at the Cybertruck's actual window (not the square piece of glass used for the first experiment) in a seemingly impromptu test, it broke. Somewhat sheepishly, Musk pointed out that the ball didn't go all the way through, and his friend opted to try again on another window. Unfortunately, the result was the same, which may imply that the initial body durability test was indeed legitimate.

Embarrassing tests aside, let's move on to the main question that's likely on your mind: how much does the Cybertruck cost? In short, probably less than you might think. Here's the price of each model before incentives:

  • Single Motor RWD: $39,900
  • Dual Motor AWD: $49,900
  • Tri Motor AWD: $69,900.

If you want to secure a Cybertruck for your own use, you can pre-order one now with a fully-refundable deposit of $100. Production for the first two models is expected to begin in 2021, but the Tri Motor version won't hit the market until late 2022 at the earliest.

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We'll get to the technical details later, but first, let's talk about the truck's design: in short, it's probably unlike anything you've ever seen before in a modern mass-market vehicle, and not just in the realm of pickup trucks.
That would be because no has ever thought the design looked good. It is usually kids using boxes that make designs like this.
 
I liked what they were trying to accomplish specs wise and think paper wise it's got a lot of capabilities and nice features. But the design is just to damn radical(or just Ugly), most truck owners are pretty devoted to a single brand, something this radical prob won't appeal to most of them. With both GM and Ford releasing all electric versions of there normal truck families around the same time this ships I don't see it doing well in the traditional truck market, Rivian will prob fair a lot better after this reveal.
 
Musk needs to wear the ROBOCOP uniform during a big auto event and have him exit the vehicle saying, Dead or alive you're coming with me!"

This design screams late 1980's.
 
I'm not a fan of the design but come on....stainless steel body panels? That's cool. It was cool on the Delorean (which was terrible) and it is cool on most anything else.

It's not that smart though. You pretty much have to build it looking like this all angles and flat surfaces, because pressing contours into stainless steel for mass production is more difficult than traditional mild steel bodies.

It's very heavy, very expensive, it looks terrible left bare since it quickly gets covered in scratches, you can't easily repair it if you have an accident and that will all make insurance costs ridiculous. But hey. I assume they will offer painted versions which only really help the aesthetics.

It'll be tougher and last longer but that may be an issue in itself. If you buy one of these it lessens the interest in buying another one a few years later. Most companies want their customers to ditch the old car and buy a new one a few years later.

I'm guessing this model reveal is a bit of a show pony. We'll see what the production version really looks like later.
 
truck
/trək/
Learn to pronounce
noun
1.
a large, heavy motor vehicle used for transporting goods, materials, or troops.

This thing ain't transporting jack ****.
 
Like the Model 3, I bet this is yet another design that Tesla will not be able to deliver at the advertised cost.

As for the unbreakable windows - ????? Keep dreaming, Elon!
 
I think the demand for this will exceed the supply. It definitely has a cyberpunk look but contrary to what most people seem to be saying, I like the design. It reminds me of a DeLorean which although it wasn't a great car, I liked the design.
 
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Uhhh, what? What the heck is this? Did a five year old draw it? This is TERRIBLE! It's like, let's take the cool angular design of the Lockheed F117 "Stealth fighter" and make a truck from it, but it looks like a horrible disaster of a box. How can this thing even be remotely aerodynamic?

I really think and hope this thing this will be a complete flop with that visual design.

Wow, I just can't even fathom this. Tesla went from curvy, swoopy, appealing visual designs for their cars to, THIS? No... just, no.
 
I wouldn't call it ugly. I certainly wouldn't call it attractive though. I do think it looks better than the following.
Nissan Cube​
Smart fortwo​
Honda N-Box​
 
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