Tesla continues to hit new sales and tech milestones (not to mention the stock price)…
Throughout 2018 and 2019, Tesla delivered 612,120 vehicles. This is an impressive number, and a quota that surely upped the ante for Elon Musk‘s famed tech-car company. However, that striking figure has already been dwarfed by the number of pre-orders currently in place for Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck.
According to Finbold, Tesla has already received 650,000 pre-orders for the Cybertruck. The bulk of these pre-orders (approximately 535,000 of them) took place before February of 2020. Naturally, fewer people placed orders as the coronavirus spread across the globe. Still, over 100,000 additional orders despite everything going on in the world is an enduring sign of the vehicle’s popularity.
Pre-ordering a concept with a precious few in circulation
Tesla first revealed the Cybertruck on November 21st in Los Angeles. It’s ultramodern aesthetic, with sharp lines, futuristic angles, and tankish wheels met polarizing reactions. Many even took to lampooning the vehicle on social media via memes. However, this generated increased publicity for the Cybertruck all the same, and the pre-orders eventually poured in.
Of course, not all pre-orders for the truck are guaranteed sales. Nevertheless, the 650,000 figure means that that many people are interested in the vehicle enough to reserve one, and each reservation requires a $100 deposit. Already, Tesla is earning money on the truck and if the copious pre-orders do turn into deliveries, the company will continue its trajectory of increased sales for every year since 2014.
Elon Musk and Tesla have recently earned some negative press while delivering their latest Model-Y cars, which are similarly in very high demand. Perhaps connected to the unanticipatedly large number of orders, Model-Ys have been notorious for quality control problems. Pre-ordered cars often come with incorrect paint, faulty interiors, asymmetrical features, and other mistakes.
Luckily, the company is already correcting its mistakes, and the issues have not hindered Tesla fans from remaining enthusiastic about the Cybertruck. Musk wants to start shipping them early next year, introducing the first EV truck onto the road and optimistically shifting the car market for the planet’s benefit.
Subscribe to our newsletter for all the latest updates directly to your inBox.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter February 21st to share and clarify a few details about the upcoming Cybertruck. One such change will be the dimensions to the body width, originally set for 84 inches shown during the unveiling in November 2019, will actually be closer to 82 inches. The adjusted dimensions of the truck will allow owners to more easily fit their pickup into most standard size garages.
He spoke how the EV Cybertruck’s active ride height and active damping systems are “game-changing”.
Current Cybertruck Dimensions- Width: 82″, Height: 75″, Length: 225-231″, and Wheelbase: 149.9″.
Also noted by Musk, all Cybertruck models will come standard with the innovative upper laser blade lights that illuminate the top of the windshield.
Btw, in some prior tweets I’d said production Cybertruck would be ~80” wide (vs ~84” body width at unveil). This is slightly too small. Will be closer to 82”, but come standard with upper laser blade lights.
When asked about a payload/towing calculator, the co-founder revealed that the EV pickup truck will indeed have features to indicate real-time changes in acceleration, braking, cornering, speed, range, elevation changes and towing and drag impact.
The payload and towing calculator will be a valuable feature for owners to understand and assist them in any necessary towing adjustments to achieve the optimal truck driving experience.
Yes, will also show real-time changes to max acceleration, braking, cornering, speed on gradient & range, latter factoring in route elevation changes & cargo or tow mass & drag impact
According to Cybertruck Owners Club, there is some indication that over 500,000 pre-orders have already been booked (an average of nearly 6,000 daily) – this is the result of calculations based on Tesla’s pre-order numbering system and with members sharing their reservation number. The EV pickup will be seen on the road in the next couple of years and with such high pre-orders its clear there is a high demand for more sustainable driving options in the truck / SUV market.
Production for the Tri and Dual Motor AWD Tesla Cybertruck are set to begin late 2021, with the more affordable Single Motor RWD model in late 2022.
With the production over a year away, there will surely be more updates and tweets regarding the final version of the futuristic looking Cybertruck.
The Tipping Point is Behind us Now, It’s only a question of When EV’s Market Share will Overtake ICE
The most talked about car in 2019 has been Tesla’s Model 3, an electric vehicle from Tesla that is sleek, modern looking, and highly desirable. In Tesla’s latest quarter alone, the company has sold nearly 80,000 Model 3s, sustaining it as the most popular EV on the market.
This is not Tesla’s only achievement for the year. The company’s Cybertruck and Semi have received copious attention; its Model X and Model S continue to be popular; and consumers are eagerly awaiting 2020’s releases of the Model Y and Roadster. It’s been a long time coming, but thanks to Tesla, EVs are growing market share at an extremely rapid pace.
Other car manufacturers, even ones that have been stubbornly committed to ICE vehicles, have had to accept that the tide is turning. Naturally, many of these companies do not want Tesla to have a monopoly on EVs, and they want to have their own stake in the market before it’s too late. For that reason they appear to have capitulated and there is now a large and public shift towards the EV market.
Car companies from General Motors to Ford to Mercedes to VolksWagen and more are now hopping aboard the EV train, announcing new full electric models aimed at competing with Tesla in the upcoming year.
In addition, longer term multi-billion dollar investments to fund an infrastucture and development shift toward sustainable and EV systems have been announced. There has been some scepticism that these are more of a PR effort, with possible changes at anytime, likely due to the extremely poor efforts of the last 25 years, and even the perception that they were trying to intentionally “fail” with EVs just to postpne any meaningful transition away from fossil fuel based transportation.
While the oncoming change in car-culture may be attributed more to Tesla’s sexy, ulta-modern designs than it is to environmentalism, the widespread transition towards electric vehicles is still an enormous win for the battle against climate change.
Transportation is the top CO2 buring category and automobiles are the largest contributors to carbon emission from transport across the globe. The systemic reliance on gasoline makes cars even more environmentally harmful, as their very fuel comes from big oil companies that drill the earth without much regard for balanced ecosystems.
Finally, there has been a Major Shift in Thinking in the Auto Industry
In just the past year, however, we have seen a noticeable increase in the number of charging stations for EVs, and certain governments have started cracking down on vehicle-related greenhouse gas emissions. These changes in infrastructure and politics reflect evolutions in consumer behavior—evolutions that bode well for our planet.
Between the VolksWagen ID.4, Ford Mustang EV, Mercedes ESQ, and all the upcoming Tesla models, there are about to be a whole lot more electric cars on the market, which will (hopefully) create healthy competition.
There remians skepticism in the automobile industry, implying that this could, indeed be some sort of elaborate head fake. In response to General Motor’s recent announcement to invest $2.3 billion in an EV battery factory, for example, Toyota Executive Bob Carter warned of an “electrified armageddon” for the industry. Indeed, despite EVs recent surge in popularity, gasoline-powered cars continue to dominate the streets. To invest so much in EVs at this point is a bold, somewhat presumptuous move for all of the companies, and they run the risk of overshooting consumer demand.
There is Still only one EV Company that Stands Above in Every Way
And the Toyota response while both tone deaf and likely misguided, is not wrong in the sense that a worldwide shift away from a fossil fuel based economic system will certainly lead to hardship and immense challenges and a long time. The problem with trying to wish away that fact is that, by extending the intentional sate of denial that has persisted for over a half century, things will only be worse when the inevitible and necessary changes finally come.
This exposes the brilliance of Tesla’s approach of starting with high end luxury vehicles, spurring demand and desire and then building downmarket into more afforable vehicles as economies of scale begin to kick in. And, even more prescient is Tesla’s stated mission “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” which removes any ambiguity or hesitation and signals a 100% clear commitment to the most important goal a transportation and energycompany can have.
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Nevertheless, while this “plays” as an example of corporations displaying a logical reaction to the market for the benefit of the environment, it could, in actuality, more likely be an example of corporations playing the market to make money as per usual. The less cynical among us must hope, nevertheless that this is truly at least partially an ecological conscious choice that happens to transparently project an immediate economic benefit. If these companies are correct, and EVs do ultimately lead the car market, then it will not just satisfy the executive’s bottom line, but it will also help make the planet a cleaner and safer place.
LA Takes Tackling Smog and CO2 Emissions Seriously
Technology leaders from the city of Los Angeles recently announced what they are calling the Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0. In this outline, the leaders propose a plan by which the bustling metropolis reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% within the next eight years—an ambitious and unprecedented goal that outdoes both the California State and Paris Climate Accord proposals.
Los Angeles is known as a progressive place, filled with creative people willing to adapt to new ideas and fight for just causes. Nevertheless, the SoCal city is also known for its soul crushing traffic. Even with four million residents, finding an Angelino without reason to complain about the town’s constantly congested crisscrossed freeways and lack of reliable public transportation is nearly impossible.
The Californians who devised this plan were not unaware of LA’s traffic issues. Since Many of them live in the city, these tech leaders can tell from the air pollution alone that vehicles are Los Angeles’ heaviest contributors to carbon emissions. If they are serious about their plan, which appears to be the case, then they will have to do something fast about all the cars and trucks smogging up the roads.
The obvious solution would be to create a more effective mass transit system in Los Angeles. However, with an infrastructure unfit for trains and countless failed attempts to move LA drivers onto buses, such a change is unlikely to catch on now. Instead, the planners are looking to the future of electric vehicles for a possible answer to the city’s pollution problems.
The Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0 focuses heavily on LA’s transition towards EVs. Specifically, by 2028, the plan aims for EVs to account for 80% of all vehicles sold in the city. Simultaneously, it wants LA and the surrounding area to create more EV-compatible infrastructure and zero-emission goods, rebranding the City of Angels as the EV Capital of the World.
City Proposed Solutions as Federal and State Level Options Failed
Of course, not all vehicles emit equally. If Los Angeles wants to achieve its goal by 2028, then it first needs to attack the heavy-duty, gas-guzzling vehicles—buses and trucks. Luckily, as of this year especially, there are many plus-sized EVs for the city to choose from. Tesla recently released the Cybertruck, and many even larger zero-emission vehicles are on the way from a wide variety of car and truck manufacturers. The California Air Resource Board is even proposing an Advanced Clean Truck regulation, which would require one out of every five trucks sold in the state by 2030 to be zero-emission models.
Earlier this year, however, the state of California lost a battle against the Trump administration (as well as a few car manufacturers) for the right to set its own emissions standards. While the Golden State was denied the right to hold itself to a higher ecological standard than the federal government mandates, individual cities have a little more wiggle room. Therefore, Los Angeles is not just creating these standards for itself; it is hoping that these efforts will inspire other municipalities in California and around the nation to follow suit. If the federal government will not solve the problem, and the state governments are barred from taking action, then perhaps it is up to the local governments to evoke change from the bottom up.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is in full support of the plan. Known to be an environmentally sensitive politician, Garcetti proposed a Green New Deal to the city back in April, outlining ways for LA to combat climate change. The Zero Emission 2028 Roadmap 2.0 is therefore in his wheelhouse, as it accelerates the already ambitious conservation goals set out in the previous proposal. Also supporting the plan are the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and the Transportation Electrification Partnership (TEP) as well as private sector partners Tesla, BMW, Audi, BYD, Greenlots, and Proterra.
Memes and Ridicule are spreading the word: There’s a New Truck in Town…
It’s been quite a week in Tesla news since the Cybertruck was unveiled near the SpaceX headquarters on November 21st. There’s been a rollercoaster of love and mocking, most of which has been entertaining. Once the initial barrage of silly memes hit like an avalanche on Twitter, auto insiders piled on, in a nice way with tongue in cheek, and all seemed to combine to take an already massive press event to an even higher level.
While pre-orders for the Model 3 peaked around half-a-million, and as all would know by now, that model is a huge success story, 250k in pre-orders in less than a week for Cybertruck is not a bad start. Yes, the pre-orders for the Cybertruck are only $100, more a token of appreciation than a hard reservation, and are fully refundable at that, but for a truck that was roundly derided and even scornfully laughed at, this cannot be considered an insignificant number.
There has been much speculation, as the pre-order tally kept growing, that this could all be a ruse and that the publicity would spur on accelerated development at other automakers, which does appear to be the case. However, amid all the noise and squawking, the name, the image, the logo and the concept are splashing across the world like a tsunami of retro-nostalgic-futurism gone wild.
And, deep deep below the surface of that wave, there is something more. Much more. As is often the case with Elon Musk led projects, an attempt was clearly made to break the mold when it comes to the engineering and feature-set capability, not just the aesthetic ethos.
“So, normally the way that a truck is designed, you have a body on frame, you have a bed on frame and the body and the bed don’t do anything useful. They’re carried like cargo, like a sack of potatoes. It was the way that aircraft used to be designed, when they had biplanes, basically. The key to creating an effective monoplane was a stressed skin design. You move the stress to the outside skin.”
– Elon Musk at the Tesla Cybertruck Unveil Event
As can be seen by looking online at the stats, or reading some good Teslarati articles that go further into the deeply practical innovations, there’s a lot more here than meets the eye.
2019 has been a Watershed Year for Tesla and Elon Musk and 2020 will see more Massive Changes
The 250k pre-orders represent, at the very least, a massive world-wide focus group on the idea of the Cybertruck, if not the truck itself. This focus group is very, very enthusiastic about the idea. How much of this is celebrity love? How much is tree-hugger-meets-mad-max eco-rescue lovers? How many are tired of the macho-hillbilly-redneck pro-gas-guzzling Marlboro-Man image of “Made-Ford-Tough”? A lot, clearly.
“So if you think about a truck, you want a truck that’s tough. You want a truck that’s really tough, not fake tough.”
– ELON MUSK AT THE TESLA CYBERTRUCK UNVEIL EVENT
And what if it is just a lot of people with a C-note to spare that would like to vote for an overthrow of the old guard and see the transition to a sustainable energy transportation infrastructure at least get off its ass?
In Southern California you get on the freeway anytime, anywhere and you will see old guard 19mpg, 40 gallon per tank monsters with fat, stupid oversized clown wheels as far as the eye can see. What if they were mixed with Tesla Cybertrucks, in addition to the Model S and Model 3s that are already a California freeway mainstay. Would that be “Blade-Runner-esque? And what of it? At lease a new day will look new and be different.
Haven’t we seen enough of the Status Quo? Haven’t the Dinosaurs had their day? Change can be refreshing, even while retro in a cyberpunk kind of way, and in the end, Saving the Planet and Having Fun Doing It is a much better way than the way we had.
More than 200k in pre-orders and Future buyers posting Proof Online as a Badge of Honor
The Cybertruck unveiling at the SpaceX adjacent Tesla Design Center on November 21st was one for the the ages. The initial reaction by the throngs of invited press (invitations were required and very hard to come by for the ultra-anticipated event) was to run with the obvious: smash proof window failure and wild twitter responses to the extreme throw-back-style design.
Elon Musk even pre-revealed what the general look the truck would be before the event, as if he was concerned that people needed a preview to reduce the shock of seeing the radical concept without a prior hint of what was to come.
Electric motors also have insane torque. If we load both trucks to the max, electric still wins. Physics is the law, everything else is a recommendation.
And then, within 24 hours of the unveiling, literally 100s of online media outlets pumped out articles, perhaps with a ratio of two or three to one ridiculing the design, or the issues with the on-stage window demonstration vs. the minority actually digging deeper into the truck itself and how it might actually fare in the real world. One outlet even speculated that the whole concept was 100% fake and that there was no chance that any truck, at least not similar to this one, would ever be produced.
In the run-up to the epic unveiling, Musk hinted that the truck would possibly be influenced by the “Blade Runner” aesthetic and cyberpunk ethos and might be like “an armored personnel carrier from the future”. And how spot on those hints turned out to be!
Once the pre-orders started to flood in, something changed, big time.
Within 72 hours Elon had tweeted milestones for the $100 fully refundable pre-orders. First that approximately 160k and then more than 200k orders had been taken. Not quite at the level of the Model 3 pre-orders, and at a much lower cost (Model 3 was a $1000 deposit) but, for an unveiling that was considered by the press, generally, to be a failure and even worthy of mocking and derision, this was an abrupt, if not surprising turn-around.
Not surprising because this type of press-vs-the public behavior is commonplace in all areas of commerce and entertainment. Just last summer, Disney’s Lion King was almost universally panned by critics, then went on, predictably, to be one of the biggest financial successes in movie history. Cybertruck is unlikely to be that extreme as it bounces back from the initial negativity coming from the press, but what the bounce back says about Tesla, climate change and the future is an even more fascinating story, to observe and speculate on, than that cute and cuddly digital cat.
[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”30″]
Tesla’s Support and Status as a Hero in the Fight against the Fossil Fuel Industrial Complex and ICE automakers runs deep and strong
The speculation on why Elon Musk chose to design and offer this vehicle at this time has obviously run rampant. There are many theories, most of them pretty silly, and, short of a detailed announcement from the man himself, there can be no definitive statement.
However, now that the pre-orders are proving to be robust and the company’s stock has rebounded (probably unrelated but, that’s another story), the possibility of a “crazy like a fox” story behind it all begins to make more sense.
Reason Cybertruck is so planar is that you can’t stamp ultra-hard 30X steel, because it breaks the stamping press
One interesting development is the tweets of the deposit receipts as a badge of honor among the faithful. This could just be folks who love everything about the truck and it’s radical design and features.
It could also, however, be something larger in play. Once the truck concept vs. the EV concept is taken into account the process of observing social and commercial trends in this case becomes very interesting.
Factoid 1: Incidents involving Tesla charging stations being blocked and vandalized have generally been perpetrated by strange rogue Pick-up truck owners and there has been an exaggerated hate and pride in driving a gas guzzling anti-Tesla. It’s bizarre to think that Tesla in this case could be creating a kind of counter force to these oddly “pro-gasoline” wackos who seems to see Tesla as some sort of flashpoint for their retro-oil-fetish. And, the Cybertruck is bulletproof (!?).
Factoid 2: While it has been well documented that Tesla stands virtually alone against the power structure of the entire world in its crusade to rid the world of ICE vehicles ASAP, the degree to which the general public has a strong desire and motive to support the company and its products, above and beyond a love for the products themselves or its leader, is as yet an unknown quantity.
In the press at large (many who are beholden to the ICE power structure) Tesla is often seen as just another carmaker selling wares, while customers may have a deeper connection as they search for ways to support solutions to the climate crisis as individuals. This could be a major and growing force in the days and months ahead, and can be a powerful resource to help to keep Tesla afloat even when Elon Musk decides to tackle challenging and even outlandish ventures.
Factoid 3: Perhaps more fantasy based than fact supported, the connection between the climate crisis as a motivation to buy and EV truck may go even deeper and wider than just the battery power. As a virtual disaster survival vehicle with various features that would be potentially life saving in a post-catastrophe situation – such as being employed as a bug-out vehicle to escape a flooded urban area. Various features seem to be conceived in response to a potential dystopian fantasy, but could be extremely valuable in a real emergency. The almost tank like durability, the shatterproof windows (as long as a sledgehammer doesn’t hit the door first), the battery powered cooking facilities in the camping-mode version, even the optional ATV come to mind.
“an armored personnel carrier from the future.”
– Elon Musk
Taking this thought experiment to its furthest possible conclusion its not hard to imagine a future (the Cybertruck could be on streets by perhaps 2021-2022) where the factions who support ICE trucks and the anti-fossil fuel “warriors”, each become radicalized and clash in some crazy mad max survival contest on US highways.
A more Optimistic stroke of Genius could also have played a role
Another very interesting possibility is that Elon Musk, known for being a master playing in marketing ventures, as well as being dedicated to sharing the EV market gladly with “competitors”, who he sees more as partners, once they take up the mantel of helping to accelerate the global transition to sustainable energy transportation.
It is no coincidence that GM, Ford, and many others have announced EV truck projects and details in the wake of the Cybertruck unveiling. It is a given that they will be watching very closely as Tesla ventures in to the traditional automakers most lucrative market segment.
“Trucks have been the same for a very long time like 100 years, we wanted to try something different,”
– Elon musk
For Musk and Tesla, however, it is clearly a win-win if you understand the higher purpose and motivation that infuses all activities within the company and yet is often misunderstood by others.
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
If the Cybertruck does not command a large market share and somehow ends up like the DeLorean that it resembles, it will have, nevertheless, been a huge success in forcing the hand of the legacy automakers toward offering more EV options asap.
The legacy ICE carmakers cannot afford to wait while hoping that Tesla will fail. That phase of the battle over sustainable vs fossil-fuel transportation is over. Tesla is a force to be reckoned with and the Cybertruck, along with its on-going army of supporters who’ve ponied up C-notes, are making themselves seen and heard and stand as a warning that it’s not only the climate that’s changing on this planet.
Tesla Continues its Founding Sustainability Mission and Allies with Competitors against Washington D.C.
Ahead of Tesla’s much-anticipated unveil of their EV pickup “Cybertruck” coming this Thursday, November 21st, Tesla partners with their biggest EV pickup truck rival Rivian, and other companies related to the electric vehicle (EV) industry, in the fight against the federal government’s decision to revoke California’s rights to create their own environmental emission standards that differ from President Trump’s administration.
Together, the EV manufactures, Tesla and Rivian, and electricity and charging equipment suppliers, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Plug In America, and ChargePoint Inc., joined forces to establish the National Coalition for Advanced Transport (NCAT).
NCAT recently joined California and twenty-two other states in the two lawsuits with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. against the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding this issue.
This alliance between Rivian and Tesla in the face of their upcoming EV pickup competition reminds us that the electric vehicle movement in the auto industry is more than just another capitalist market competition, but also about pressuring the rest of the industry to follow suit towards sustainability.
Tesla Wipes Out ‘Granola Style’ EV Trend with High-Quality, Powerful, Sexy, and Fun EV Production
Tesla has already found success in influencing major auto manufacturers to turn seriously towards high-quality EV production in the realm of sedans and crossover vehicles, which has made the production of less attractive and lower-quality, “granola style” EVs less viable.
Historically, traditional electric vehicle (EV) design involved a “granola style,” which involves the cultural perception of EVs as light, small, and weak “golf cart”-sized cars (think SMART cars). This has been the EV design trend for years by auto makers to pacify environmentalists, who were willing to overlook the advantages of powerful and large gas-powered vehicles to own a weaker, lower-quality electric car just to decrease their own carbon emissions. Because of this, there is a cultural perception that electric vehicles, in addition to the environmental movement that influences its market, require an almost impossible level of self-denial that feeds into the rhetoric that it isn’t worth the switch from powering cars with fossil fuels to electricity.
“Tesla has certainly set a positive impulse because the do not say electromobility is renunciation [of power] and about ‘granola image,’ but on the contrary: that is power and enthusiasm. And that is the right way.”
Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Daimler, to German Magazine T3n at SXSW 2017
But through Tesla’s introduction of the “Roadster” battery electric vehicle (BEV) sports car, the “Model S” all-electric liftback sedan, the “Model X” mid-sized crossover SUV, and the “Model 3” all-electric four-door sedan, Tesla has proven that zero emissions can be sexy, fun, and practical.
Tesla’s Next Step is to Address Historical Market Rise towards Powerful Trucks and SUVs
However, one growing market that Tesla has yet to tap into–at least until this Thursday– is an all-electric truck suited for multiple terrains. This trend towards truck purchases is evidence of the public demand for pragmatic and powerful vehicles, which has historically been dominated by gas-powered vehicle manufacturers.
Auto sales in the US. soared in 2018 for “light trucks,” which is a vehicle category that contains SUVs, vans, and pickup trucks. Cars were outsold by trucks, which occupied 69.2% of the market share that year. The truck sales market share during 2018 is the highest in history as it skyrocketed from 5% to 69.2% within one year. This consumer trend towards light truck purchases comes from a variety of features including more room for cargo and passengers, towing capabilities, four-wheel drive, and more.
Of the vehicles in the “light truck” category, the crossover utility vehicles, like the upcoming Tesla Model Y, led the demand for light trucks by being 38.7% of the sales. SUVs were followed by pickup trucks with 30.5% in sales, which left small cars with 30.8% of the market share.
Tesla’s next step in their multi-pronged plan to prove that electric power can rival that of fossil fuel power is their all-electric pickup truck “Cybertruck,” and they need to be able to compete with their all-terrain, EV pickup truck rival Rivian in order to be successful.
How will Tesla compete with its Biggest EV Pickup Truck Rival: Rivian R1T?
In order to compete in the large and growing market share of trucks, Tesla’s upcoming “Cybertruck” electric pickup truck needs to be able to surpass the tried and proven powerful capabilities of both gas-powered trucks and the electric powerhouse of Rivian R1T.
In light of the big reveal on November 21st in Los Angeles, the “Cybertruck” needs to either measure up to or, ideally, surpass a number of high expectations in order to find success in the nascent market for EV pickups.
In order to continue their mission of making electromobility accessible to the masses, the “Cybertruck” needs to compete with affordable pricing. Currently, the starting price for the R1T is $69,000, while the Cybertruck should cut well underneath that with a starting price of $50,000.
The Cybertruck also needs to have incredible endurance capabilities with a super long range, off-road dominance, high-volume storage availability, massive towing strength, and a towing-tuned auto-pilot to match. For reference, the R1T already touts a 400+ mile range and an 11,000 lbs towing capacity complete with multi-terrain capabilities, including a water wading depth of over 3 feet, cloud-based navigation features, and “Level 3” autonomy features.
Although Rivian’s R1T’s impeccable features seem intimidating compared to the specs of Tesla’s other models, Tesla has the advantage of a much later unveiling that may have given them more time to fine-tune their technology and strategize to compete.
We’ll know how the “Cybertruck” will compare against the R1T on Thursday, November 21st at 6pm in Los Angeles, CA near SpaceX, when Elon Musk finally makes the EV pickup truck’s specs known to the public.
