Tesla Cybertruck Delivery Event: Here's What We Learned
Deliveries of the long-awaited 2024 Tesla Cybertruck have begun. The company placed a total of 10 production Cybertrucks in the hands of Tesla employees on Thursday, at the same time revealing some key specs and bragging points. Here’s what we learned from the event.
The Cybertruck will come with up to 845 horsepower in its three-motor all-wheel-drive format, dubbed Cyberbeast, with a two-motor all-wheel-drive variant boasting 600 hp. The more powerful version will sprint to 60 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 11.0 seconds, a factoid that Tesla bragged about by drag-racing a Porsche 911 against the pickup which was also towing a Porsche 911. The Tesla pickup will be able to tow up to 11,000 pounds, and it will have a 2,500-pound payload rating. The 4×6-foot composite bed has a rolling tonneau cover standard.
The configurator for the Cybertruck is live, showing a cash price of $60,990 for the rear-drive variant that won’t be available till 2025. The dual-motor truck coming next year will start at $79,990, while the tri-motor Cyberbeast will cost $99,990 before options.
Gallery: Tesla Cybertruck Delivery Event
Super-Skin
The pickup’s distinctive sheetmetal is made from a stainless steel “super alloy,” which does not need to be painted and will not corrode over time, according to Musk. That sheetmetal will also resist gunfire from a .45-caliber Tommy gun, a 9mm Glock pistol, or a 9mm MP5 submachine gun.
The Cybertruck’s chassis and skin give it claimed torsional rigidity that is greater than the McLaren P1 hypercar, and the battery’s placement down low means the pickup isn’t likely to roll over in an accident. The livestream featured footage from Tesla sled tests, which showed the Cybertruck digging into sand laterally at 16 miles per hour, tipping slightly, then returning all four wheels to the ground.
Winding Roads
The Tesla Cybertruck will feature steering by wire, which varies the amount of wheel angle based on vehicle speed. Around town and in parking lots, smaller inputs on Tesla’s controversial yoke will result in more aggressive angles from the four-wheel steering – in fact, Musk claims the Cybertruck’s turning circle at 37.1 feet is smaller than the Tesla Model S can muster. However, at freeway speeds, the gain from the yoke will get smaller, and the rear wheels will turn in phase with the fronts to aid stability.
Although it will be offered in a single-motor rear-drive variant sometime in 2025, the Tesla Cybertruck will initally only be available with all-wheel drive. The four-corner air suspension will give the pickup 17 inches of ground clearance, with a flat underbody helping prevent snags on obstacles. The front and rear differentials can lock, and the rear has active torque vectoring to improve maneuverability and traction.
Still In Question
The reveal event didn’t reveal some crucial information, such as the Cybertruck’s battery size and EPA range. Tesla estimates the dual-motor Cybertruck will drive 340 miles on a single charge, while the three-motor Cyberbeast can go 320 miles. With a drag coefficient of 0.34 and a 6,850-pound curb weight – better than the GMC Hummer EV – hopefully the Cybertruck won’t need to resort to a 200-kilowatt-hour battery to extract those miles.
However, the pickup will boast Tesla’s first 800-volt electrical architecture, which should enable fast charging times, an important consideration now that so many automakers are moving to the NACS charging standard used at Superchargers.
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