At a livestreamed event in Los Angeles, Elon Musk unveiled his company’s latest creation, the electric pickup Cybertruck. The idiosyncratically designed truck will come in three powertrain versions: single-motor RWD; dual-motor AWD; and tri-motor AWD.

Three ranges will be offered corresponding to the different powertrains, ranging from 250 miles to more than 500 miles; towing capacity is up to 14,000+ lbs; and 0-60 is as low as a blistering 2.9 seconds. Pricing starts at $39,900 for the entry-level single motor version.

The vehicle is slated for start of production in late 2021, with the tri-motor AWD version expected to begin production in late 2022. Tesla is taking fully refundable $100 reservations now.

The design of the truck features an exterior shell—an exoskeleton—featuring Ultra-Hard 30X Cold-Rolled stainless-steel structural skin and Tesla Armor Glass. (Tesla claims the stainless-steel skin, 3mm thick on the cybertruck, is bulletproof against 9mm rounds; Motortrend put some effort into analyzing the claim).

Tesla Armor Glass is an ultra-strong glass and polymer-layered composite that can absorb and redirect impact force for improved performance and damage tolerance.

The Cybertruck offers 3,500 lbs of payload capacity and 100 cubic feet of exterior, lockable storage, including a tonneau cover that is strong enough to stand on.

Posted on 22 November 2019 in Electric (Battery) | Permalink | Comments (16)

Well, the ugliest thing I have ever seen. On the positive side: they did not have to use any advanced tools to make the body of the vehicle.

Posted by: Peter_XX | 22 November 2019 at 06:04 AM

Tesla put the 'Uck!' into 'truck'.

Posted by: Davemart | 22 November 2019 at 06:50 AM

Weird. As one commentator said, "I think I drew this in kindergarten". Their demonstration of the armored glass did not got well with 2 out of 2 windows breaking with a rock being gently tossed at them.

I trust that Ford and GM will do better. The Tesla certainly does not look like any thing a contractor would use to haul 4x8 sheets of plywood.

Posted by: sd | 22 November 2019 at 08:12 AM

Sounds like they got their time travel coordinates mixed up and brought something from a previous future - one where they didn't have 3d CAD. But why the armour - just how many dictators and drug lords are there* ?

*ed: "quite a few"

Posted by: mahonj | 22 November 2019 at 08:21 AM

Elon Musk, as usual, is ahead of the curve. It’s all angles now.

Clearly, he designed a vehicle for the post-apocalyptic world we appear to be on the brink of.

I put a reservation down last night. Perfect vehicle to tow my airstream.

Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 22 November 2019 at 09:04 AM

Ugly for sure, but as the owner of a Honda Element, I can assure that one can get over that.

On the positive side is the pricing which should catch the attention of fleet managers. $40K US for the base model would be around C$53K. A similar F150 being used as a service vehicle in an urban setting probably gets around 12L/100km at best. So at 30,000 km per year the F150 would burn about 3600 litres per year or around C$40000 in most Canadian cities. The cost of energy for the cybertruck would likely be less than 1/3 so the fuel savings per year would be more than $2500, or $25 K over 10 years. The base price for a similar supercab F150 appears to be around C$38K so the fuel savings alone puts the Tesla in the game without considering the savings on maintenance. In addition the stainless steel panels may make the Tesla last longer and the advanced autonomous driving features may be of particular value in fleet operations.

I'm also wondering that if Tesla believes they can produce a basic truck for under $40K then they can probably produce panel vans for a similar price and if that is the case then that would also be of great interest to fleets.

Posted by: Calgarygary | 22 November 2019 at 10:15 AM

In stealth black it should have speeding fines. Or any incognito camo art illusion. Simple facets make sense on stainless. I don't know that Tesla or the owners need understatement.

Posted by: Arnold | 22 November 2019 at 09:45 PM

Actually with all flat facets it should be a radar stealth vehicle as long as the facets are not at right angles.

Posted by: sd | 23 November 2019 at 07:06 AM

All it needs is a 30 mm gun mounted in the flatbed and "real bullet proof" glass. Looks like it would fit nicely next to a Ratel IFV (South African Army Armored Vehicle), maybe that was Elon's intent.

Posted by: Account Deleted | 23 November 2019 at 07:33 AM

What I need is stand-up, enclosed, cargo space and although that tow capacity is useful I'd rather not have to maneuver a trailer around narrow city streets. I think I'll wait and see if they come out with a van.

Posted by: ai_vin | 23 November 2019 at 07:37 AM

I can see it displacing the Toyota Hilux/Tacoma as the vehicle of choice among revolutionaries, freedom fighters, jihadists and war-lords around the world.

Posted by: Calgarygary | 23 November 2019 at 07:43 AM

I haven’t seen much commentary anywhere about how this vehicle is a rolling truss. Clearly designed from first principles to actualize the stressed skin construction.

I don’t think I’ve seen this level of whole-vehicle innovation since Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Car.

Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 23 November 2019 at 10:33 AM

Based only on the presentation, the Cybertruck has a stressed skin structure. Basically a true monocoque that carries both tensile and compressive forces within the skin and with the absence of a load-carrying internal frame, i.e. no vertical stiffeners or longitudinal stiffeners. Most aircraft and racing cars are semi-monocoque. One early example of a true monocoque aircraft was the De Haviland Mosquito (which was made of plywood). The fuselage was made in two monocoque halves, which were glued together, One problem with stressed skin structures is their lack of rigidity under compressive loading which gives them a tendency to buckle. One method to provide more rigidity is to use a sandwich construction.This is used in some aircraft and most race cars. Not sure how this is handled by the cybertruck. Carbon composites could also be used, the current 2020 Corvette has structural carbon fiber in the passenger compartment floor. The battery module would add some rigidity similar to the way internal tanks do for missiles. Finally, one of the more modern true monocoque structures was the Beech Starship which was made of fiber composite using both “lay up” and “filament winding”. It was a pioneer in aircraft composite design (with the help of Scaled Composites - now part of Northrop).

Posted by: Account Deleted | 24 November 2019 at 10:29 AM

I am wondering though, if the Cybertruck should be considered semi-monocoque because at very least the B pillar, and probably the A and C pillars, appear to be significant structural members in the doorless profile view. The door skins, almost certainly, provide no load bearing capability.

I’d be astonished if the pillars were not stamped steel box structures internally, like most cars.

The lack of chassis frame rails I get. The top of this car appears to be a classic truss.

Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 24 November 2019 at 02:25 PM

Stock manipulation stunt. First we go down, then we go up. Someone made a packet on put options. Why is this charade permitted to continue?

Posted by: Emphyrio | 29 November 2019 at 04:12 PM

Haha, 250,000 pre-orders with $100 deposits in just a few days.

Exceeding 2018 sales of all the other trucks including Toyota and Nissan, with the exception of Ram, Chevy And Ford.

Yep, quite a “stunt” all right. Just like the “stunt” of Tesla Model 3 sales, Model 3 now the most popular EV by far, with just under 50% of EV market share, selling almost as many as all other EVs combined.

Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 30 November 2019 at 02:50 PM

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