By Lauren Fix
It’s two years later than intended, but Tesla made its first deliveries of the Cybertruck to retail customers yesterday. Public reaction ranged from cheers to boos. Some people loved it, while most can’t get past the radical styling.
Like Ford’s Lightning and Chevy’s Silverado EV, pricing for the Cybertruck is coming in significantly higher than initial announcements from the company. The base RWD version will have a starting price of just under $61,000 before destination charges and any incentives. But that truck won’t be available until 2025.
The first versions to launch next year are the AWD model that starts at roughly $80-grand and the Cybertruck, which comes in just shy of $100,000. No word on battery sizes just yet, but the RWD model has an estimated 250 miles of range, will do 0-60 in 6.5 seconds and have the ability to tow up to 7,500 pounds.
AWD bumps range up to 340 miles and towing to 11,000 pounds and drops 0-60 to 4.1 seconds. The 845-horsepower tri-motor Cybertruck has 320 miles of range, will do 0-60 in 2.6 seconds and also has 11,000 pounds of towing capacity.
When Tesla first announced the Cybertruck, it said it would have over 500 miles of range. But in order to get close to that figure, it’s also offering a range extender, which is an additional battery pack that takes up about ⅓ of the Cybertruck’s bed. It’s estimated to boost the range of the AWD model to over 470 miles and the Cybertruck to over 440 miles.
Elon Musk says this is intended for long trips or when towing. One of the most important aspects of the Cybertruck that I think too many people are glossing over is that Tesla switched to a 48-volt system for its power electronics, meaning things like headlights and interior components. A system like this allows you to send a lot more power to those electronics without raising the current, which means you can use much thinner and lighter wiring.
It’s estimated that Tesla could cut the amount of wiring in the Cybertruck by 70%. Another first for the company is bidirectional charging. This includes the ability to send power to your home or another EV, which can also be done through a set of plugs in the bed that put out up to 9.6 kW of power. Rounding out the highlights of the Cybertruck are a new steer-by-wire system and 4WS as well. When trucks are finally hitting customer hands we will get more comments.
Lauren Fix, The Car Coach®, is a nationally recognized automotive expert, analyst, author, and television host. A trusted car expert, Lauren provides an insider’s perspective on a wide range of automotive topics and aspects, energy, industry, consumer news, and safety issues.
Lauren is the CEO of Automotive Aspects and the Editor-in-Chief of Car Coach Reports, a global automotive news outlet. She is an automotive contributor to national and local television news shows, including Fox News, Fox Business, CNN International, The Weather Channel, Inside Edition, Local Now News, Community Digital News, and more. Lauren also co-hosts a regular show on ABC.com with Paul Brian called “His Turn – Her Turn” and hosts regular radio segments on USA Radio – DayBreak.
Lauren is honored to be inducted into the Women’s Transportation Hall of Fame and a Board Member of the Buffalo Motorcar Museum and Juror / President for the North American Car, Utility & Truck of the Year Awards.
Check her out on Twitter and Instagram @LaurenFix.
