The Cybertruck departs from the conventional styling of pickup trucks with their muscular body lines and their big ICE engines and its all-electric minimalism is designed to maximise practicality without the emissions
Fig. 1: The Tesla Cybertruck is futuristic-looking and finally ready for deliveries | Image: InsideEVs
After two years in delays, the Tesla Cybertruck is finally ready for deliveries. The truck is purely electric and its looks are polarising. Some have called it a “refrigerator on wheels'' because of its bare-bones steel exterior. However, underneath that lies a 123 kWh battery pack in the Cyberbeast version and it offers a claimed driving range of around 515 km.
Why the Tesla Cybertruck is revolutionary
The Cybertruck departs from the conventional styling of pickup trucks with their muscular body lines and their big ICE engines. For instance, the latest Ford F-150, the best-selling pickup truck in the world, has engines that range from 2.7 litres (V6) to 5.0 litre V8s. This gives the vehicles a sizable carbon footprint. The Tesla Cybertruck dispenses with all of this as its all-electric minimalism is designed to maximise practicality without the emissions. The truck can be plugged into a regular power outlet like all other EVs, and it can be charged with solar power where available.
Table 1: Tesla “Cyberbeast” Cybertruck Specs
Source: The Verge
It can haul up to 1134 kg in its 6 foot-long bed — just like its ICE competitors — and the All Wheel Drive version puts out a healthy torque output of 10,082 Nm. The Cyberbeast version cranks it up to an eye-watering 13,959 Nm. For perspective, the 2023 ICE Ford F-150 only manages 678 Nm. The Cybertruck has a maximum ground clearance of 16 inches which lets it handle rough terrains with ease. With the range extender pack, its effective range can be boosted by another 130 miles (208 km) — at a stiff $16,000 overhead though. For most consumers the off-the-shelf capacity will be sufficient, but Tesla offers them the option of extended driving without having to stop several times to recharge.
Fig. 2: The range extended battery pack can be installed on the load bed for additional driving range | Image: Tesla Oracle
The Cybertruck is fast
The Cybertruck’s towing capacity hides one of the truck’s most marketed features: its blistering acceleration. Elon Musk said at its launch that the Cybertruck was “faster than a 911 while towing a 911”. He was referring to the Porsche 911, an ICE supercar that is one of the most sought-after performance vehicles. The video of the drag race has gone viral on social media and speaks to the inherent advantage that electric vehicles hold over ICEVs — their on-demand, instant acceleration at any speed. The Cyberbeast variant goes from 0-100 km/h in 2.7 seconds; the all wheel drive variant does it in 4.3 seconds.
Fig. 3: The Cybertruck pulling a Porsche 911 while drag racing a Porche 911 | Image: Stuff.co.nz
That the Cybertruck beat the 911 while towing another 911 strapped to its back is a never-before achievement in automotive history. It also speaks of the progress in the segment: pickup trucks are marketed as workhorses, not supercars that can beat other supercars while releasing zero emissions. They are meant to haul heavy loads but the tradeoff is poorer fuel economy over sedans and hatchbacks. Some of the more recent offerings by Ford and GM offer hybrid pickup trucks as well and the F150 also has an all-electric variant, the F-150 Lightning. Yet, Tesla’s Cybertruck is the only vehicle in its class that has no ICE pedigree and performs better than all its rivals in its first iteration.
The Cybertruck enables V2G
Another feature of its practicality is that its onboard batteries can be used to power homes and all kinds of electronics (at a camping trip, for example) through Vehicle-to-Grid technology. The feature could be useful during a blackout or when electricity is needed at a remote location, such as at an offgrid camping site to power up a satellite phone in the case of an emergency. Some aftermarket enthusiasts have already designed a bracket that can mount the Starlink receiver on the truck’s tonneau cover to enable broadband connectivity on the go.
The Cybertruck is costly
The Cybertruck was announced in November 2019 and deliveries were expected by 2021 at a starting price of $39,900. The truck is offered in two versions at the moment and their prices are $79,900 (AWD) and $99,990 (Cyberbeast). The Rear Wheel Drive variants should retail in 2025 at $60,990. Elon Musk says that the Cybertruck will take about 18 months of consistent deliveries for the project to be successful. In July this year it had surpassed 1.9 million units in pre-orders, so that should not be too difficult to achieve.
Fig. 4: The Cybertruck uses an exoskeleton instead of the traditional body-on-frame construction for trucks and SUVs | Image: CarExpert
Overall, the Tesla Cybertruck is a major leap forward in e-mobility. It reinvents the gasoline-only pickup truck segment in a way that only Tesla can with its super hard steel body and futuristic looks. Its prices will come down as its production and deliveries stabilise at around 250,000 units a year. Its next iterations will feature even better practicality as its first owners will relay their feedback to Tesla, and this will inevitably pressure other truck manufacturers to design their own all-electric offerings.
