AUSTIN, Texas — Inside of the Tesla Giga Texas factory on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, where the company moved its headquarters to from California, CEO Elon Musk revealed new details about the company’s new and unconventional Cybertruck pickup.
The design of the electric pickup was first unveiled at Tesla's design studio on Nov. 21, 2019, in Hawthorne, Calif. Tesla later moved its headquarters to Austin in December of 2021. In February, Tesla announced plans to move its engineering headquarters back to California.
The new engineering HQ isn't the same as Tesla's "gigafactory" facility, which is where the Cybertruck will be produced.
Inside the gigafactory on Thursday, Musk showed off what the new Cybertruck can do. It was livestreamed to the company's X account – watch the full presentation here (it starts around the 24-minute mark):
If you don't want to watch the whole thing, however, here are some of the highlights.
CyberBeast vs. Porsche: Who wins in a race?
On a drag race black top, you see the CyberBeast pull up to the start line next to a Porsche. The two vehicles take off and the CyberBeast wins the race. Then, you realize the CyberBeast was towing the same car it just raced against.
The crowd erupted into applause after revealing there was another Porsche in tow.
According to the presentation, the CyberBeast goes from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds and has a towing capacity of 11,000 pounds. The Cybertruck's rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive go from 0 to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds and 4.1 seconds, respectively, according to Tesla's website. The Cybertruck's top speed is 112 mph and the CyberBeast can get up to 130 mph.
The Cybertruck also beat multiple different models of pickup trucks in a truck pull.
Cybertruck is bulletproof
To highlight the vehicle's bullet-proof frame/body, they showed multiple different weapons firing shots into the side of the truck. The windows are also "rockproof." Musk said the vehicle's Armor Glass "can resist the impact of a baseball at 70 mph or class IV hail."
How much does the Tesla Cybertruck cost?
There are three models people can buy.
According to Tesla’s website, the company will sell its base model rear-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck for an estimated $60,990. Tesla also plans to sell an all-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck for $79,900 starting in 2025, per the company website.
Then, there is a “Cyberbeast” version for $99,990.
The Cyberbeast and all-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck will be available in 2024, and the rear-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck will be available in 2025.
When the Cybertruck was unveiled, Tesla began taking $100 refundable "reservations," and the company said it received more than one million reservations since then. Now, customers must pay a $250 deposit to move forward with a Cybertruck order, per the Tesla website.
Breakdown of the Cybertruck and CyberBeast
- Rear-Wheel Drive Cybertruck
- Range: 250 miles
- Ranger with extender: not mentioned
- All-Wheel Drive Cybertruck
- Range: 340 miles
- Range with extender: 470-plus miles
- CyberBeast
- Range: 320 miles
- Range with extender: 440-plus miles
The "range extender" is a separate battery pack that sits in the bed of the pickup truck.
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