How theTesla Cybertruck has changed over the years

Musk’s Top Fueling Strategy: How Many Trucks Are Needed Before Hehertz Gets There? Predictions for the 2016 Modeler Truck Roadshow

When Musk expects to hit 250,000 trucks a year, he will start cranking them out. But anyone who hasn’t already made a reservation yet—as Tesla says more than 1 million people have—might have to wait longer. It was more than double the price of a (refundable) reservation.

Another crucial stat: 250 miles per charge for the base model Cybertruck, and 320 for the premium Cyberbeast. The Rivian R1T, which has a 270 to 350 mile charge, is as impressive as the Ford F-150 Lightning but it is less impressive.

The Cybertruck is powerful, for example, as Musk emphasized during the Austin event which included footage of the truck’s premium model outperforming a Carrera and bringing a second car with it.

The base model will travel from 0 to 60 in about seven and a half minutes. The all-wheel drive middle model, available next year, can hit 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. The premium pick, also due in 2024, will be able to hit top speeds of 130 miles per hour, go 0 to 60 in 2.6 seconds, and tow a fairly beastly 11,000 pounds—more than the Ford F-150 Lightning, and about on par with the Rivian R1T.

The Case for a Look at Me EVs: Tesla’s Cybertruck, GM’s R1T, and Rivian’s Silverado

The internet was ablaze with a thousand hoaxes when the head of design for the Cybertruck tried to prove its strength by throwing a metal ball. The glass fell apart. Today, Tesla went a bit easier on its truck. Von Holzhausen took out the windows with a baseball. The Cybertruck survived.

This version of the truck is nearly 40 years old and the price has increased by over $40,000. The 500 miles that was quoted in 2019 always seemed somewhat aspirational. The production version of the vehicle can have up to four hundred miles of range, and there are optional battery extenders that can help get it there.

The $49,000 F-150 is the battery-powered version of the truck that has dominated the pickup segment for decades. GM will soon roll out its $52,000 electric Chevy Silverado, and Stellantis is readying its $58,000 RAM 1500 REV. Extroverts wanting a look-at-me e-candy truck can buy Rivian’s $73,000 R1T.

“Just 15 percent of those preorders would equal the annual unit sales of Toyota,” says Boston University Questrom School of Business professor Tim Simcoe. The challenges of scaling up production and getting a sufficient flow of customers are faced byTesla.

With nearly 2 million pre-orders from self-styled “reservationists”), this electric pickup could make the world’s richest man even richer. Half of those $100 deposits can bring in $65 billion, up from the $21 million that was promised four years ago.

It’s stupid. It’s very Divisive. It was really fast. The Hummer sold in numbers, but not as many as it should have. Might Elon Musk pull off a similar trick with the stainless steel Cybertruck?

So as you can see, Tesla stuck close to some of these numbers, but others turned out way different than we were expecting. It can’t tow as much or carry as much as originally envisioned. We were told the cost would be higher than it is. It has a design that is polarizing. It has become controversial due to Musk’s antics in the last few years.

There are better range estimates on the AWD Cybertruck, and also a heftier price tag. And like the other versions, the production model is slightly shorter and a little more compact than what was first announced in 2019.

The truck is remarkably similar to what it was four years ago, but almost nothing else is the same. The price, range, and performance have all shifted dramatically — and probably not in the direction most customers would prefer.

Let’s start with the performance-oriented Cyberbeast trim, since that’s the one we have the most details on. It is fair to assume that the version will have three electric motor, which was promised in 2019.

The torque appears to be the number that has changed most significantly since 2019. Tesla was originally promising around 1,000 lb-ft, but now the company says the Cyberbeast trim can put out an eye-watering 10,296 lb-ft. That could be due to the active torque vectoring that Musk announced at the event Thursday.