Police have seized an imported Tesla Cybertruck in the UK as it is not road-legal in the country and deemed dangerous for pedestrians.

Tesla has always known that its Cybertruck design would be complicated to get homologated in other markets than North America, where the rules are similar between the US, Canada, and Mexico. The company admitted that it might limit the markets where Cybertruck would be sold, which is why Tesla doesn’t plan to expand beyond current markets.

However, it hasn’t stopped people from privately importing Cybertrucks to their home markets.

We have seen two Cybertrucks traveling through Europe, and they were stopped at Lithuanian customs due to suspicions that they were going to Russia.

Sure enough, Russian warlord and Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov took delivery of Cybertrucks and outfitted them with machine guns a few months later and then claimed that they joined the war effort in Ukraine.

Other Cybertrucks made their way to other markets like China.

Now, we learn that one has made it to the UK, but it didn’t last long.

The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) announced that the seized the Cybertruck pictured above that was roaming the streets in the UK illegally. They wrote on social media:

Whilst this may seem trivial to some, legitimate concerns exist around the safety of other road users or pedestrians if they were involved in a collision with the Cybertruck.

Tesla had brought the vehicle in the UK, but only for demonstration. It never tried to make it legal in the country.

The police added:

The Tesla Cybertruck is not road-legal in the UK and does not hold a certificate of conformity.

The authorities said that the Cybertruck was registered and insured abroad, but the driver was a UK resident. They will have to show prove of ownership and insurance to release the vehicle.

Electrek’s Take

The authorities are clearly right here since the vehicle is not road-legal currently, but could it be road-legal? It’s hard to say.

The police here repeat claims that the Cybertruck might be dangerous for pedestrians in crashes. That has been a concern that has often been raised since the truck launched in 2023.

It looks obvious based on the design of the Cybertruck. However, we haven’t seen third-party crash testing of the Cybertruck yet, and it might take a while before we do.

This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes proposed e-bike restrictions in New York and Oregon, Super73 lowering the performance of its e-bikes, a review of the Tenways CGO600 Pro-C electric bike, new sodium-ion batteries coming from Yadea, Heybike unveiling its first mid-drive e-bike, and more.

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UK EV startup Charge Cars has announced a fresh breath of life into its bespoke electric muscle car business. The company has announced new ownership, which intends to continue and expedite the development of its flagship model, the ’67, based on a classic Ford Mustang.

Charge Cars emerged as a startup in 2016 and is headquartered a few minutes outside London. The company’s initial goal has been to develop and deliver its flagship product, the ’67 EV, as seen below. The ’67 is based on the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback and required a license from the American automaker to use its body components.

The company previously shared plans to build only 499 examples of this electric muscle car, but almost a decade later, potential customers are still waiting.

While we have been following Charge Cars for some time, there’s a reason we haven’t covered the company. Its flagship BEV is cool as hell but has always given us the feeling that it runs on pure vapor. Most startups can build a prototype, but as we always say, scaling is hard.

There’s no better evidence of this struggle than the news that came out of Charge Cars HQ in May 2024, stating that it had entered administration in the UK and a licensed insolvency practitioner, in this case, Mark Smith and Stephen Cork of Cork Gully LLP, were appointed as administrators to handle the business, its affairs, and intellectual property.

The options were to sell off pieces of the business or try to salvage it with fresh investors interested in taking over. Lucky for Charge Cars, a group of private investors has come to the rescue and will try to pick up where the original owners left off in developing and delivering a bespoke electric muscle car.

Charge hopes to live on and deliver its electric muscle car

According to a press release published from the UK early this morning, a consortium of private investors has acquired Charge Cars. It plans to expedite the final development of the ’67 electric muscle car at a new state-of-the-art global headquarters based in Silverstone, UK. Paul Abercrombie, who took over as Charge CEO last November, spoke about the new ownership and the opportunities it will bring the British EV startup:

On behalf of the consortium, I am delighted to announce the acquisition of Charge Cars. The ‘67 establishes a new class of EV – and we will now accelerate final development at our new global HQ in Silverstone, UK, rapidly delivering this exciting luxury vehicle to customers. The Charge brand has huge global potential, and we look forward to revealing more details very soon.

While we now know the future of Charge Cars’ electric muscle car is in the hands of this consortium at a new headquarters, the rest of its plans remain private for now. We do not know if the new owners will stick to the original production targets of 499 builds or go smaller or larger.

From what we can tell, the specs of the ’67 will remain the same as the reborn startup works through its final development stage, as outlined above. The electric muscle car based on a classic Ford has a 63 kWh battery that delivers 200 miles of range and powers quad motors that can reach 400 kW of peak power (1,520 Nm of torque). The BEV can travel 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds and recharge at a DC rate of up to 50 kW.

Charge Cars promises to reveal future plans “imminently.” Check back with Electrek soon.