Well, that was really something. Yesterday\’s Tesla Cybertruck launch was certainly eye opening. I, like many, was wondering when Elon Musk was going to say \”Just kidding. It actually looks like this….\” But he didn\’t. The specification though, was very impressive. From the corrosion resistant stainless steel bodywork, high-strength windows (despite the unexpected failure when designer Franz von Holzhausen threw the ball at the side windows), and air suspensions which could raise and lower the truck. Tesla\’s raison d\’être though, is vehicle electrification. Here Musk\’s vision of an emissions-free world including light-duty trucks led to the creation of the Cybertruck. To this end, the Cybertruck includes a large battery, providing a vehicle range between 250 miles and 500 miles, depending on the specification. One clear transformation in electric vehicles is startling performance, and the Cybertruck impresses with a 0-60 mph time of 2.9 sec in the highest spec tri-motor model. Even base model performance equals the quickest internal combustion pickup models from competitors. However, all this was somewhat overshadowed by what everybody watching the launch could see – a vehicle which looked unlike any pickup you had ever seen before, save for perhaps in a sci-fi film set in the future. It was obvious that even the crowd, many of whom were Tesla employees, were clearly shocked at what they saw. And perhaps this was the point. The Cybertruck is a compelling vision of what a pickup from the future could be. That future is coming sooner than many would believe, thanks to Tesla and the many projects the company has worked on to deliver in the past decade or so. Still, I was waiting for Elon to roll out the real truck. [P.S. I know it is very early in the piece to admit this, but the more I look at it the more it grows on me.]
