Tesla Cybertruck review: incredible tech packaged in the weirdest way
I got my hands on a Tesla Cybertruck for a week. Being from Canada, I haven’t had the opportunity to test the electric pickup truck until now.
So, for those who care, here’s my Tesla Cybertruck review:
I rented the Cybertruck on Turo and I had about a week to drive it around Washington for my review.
We put together a video review (if you enjoy it, I’d appreciate if you could subscribe, like, and share it):
My more detailed review is below, but here’s a quick TLDR:
I am particularly impressed by the technology inside the Cybertruck. It drives amazingly well. I was particularly impressed by the drive-by-wire system, which makes the truck drives like a video game. The rear-steering makes it turn on a dime. Also, Tesla should be commended for being the first to push to move to a 48-volt architecture.
However, there are some downsides. The novel design has forced Tesla to make some compromises, like the huge A-pillars resulting in a bling spot, the tonneau cover resulting in a useless rear-view mirror. Some of the downsides also seem to have to do with Tesla’s belief that self-driving is just around the corner – even though it doesn’t even have Autopilot right now. Finally, the charging capacity is subpar compared to Tesla’s other vehicles and competitors.
Attention Grabber
One of the first things you will notice when driving the Cybertruck is the attention you are getting. I’ve driven rare supercars that would get much less attention than this pickup truck.
Most of the time, it’s great. People come up to you and want to ask questions, which I am happy to answer unless I’m on a schedule. However, it can also be a pain. Plenty of people don’t ask before taking pictures and have no problem photographing you while you are inside the truck.
But more importantly, it can be dangerous. I had people drive erratically to try to catch up to me to take pictures of the vehicle while they were driving. Please don’t do that. It’s stupidly dangerous.
Either way, it likely not going to be a problem for long. It is a very novel vehicle right now, but Tesla is ramping up production and plans to make hundreds of thousands of Cybertrucks per year. Once that’s the case, I assume that the fascination and excitement will die down a bit and owners will be able to travel with less attention.
Things my girlfriend said about the Cybertruck
My girlfriend might be the Cybertruck’s biggest fan. Here are a few things I caught her casually saying during our week with the truck (yes, I actually kept a list cause I couldn’t believe how excited she was about it):
- All other cars can go home, this is the only vehicle that matters
- It’s the perfect car.
- Cars should have always look like that.
- If you don’t like this car, you don’t like the future.
- *sees people checking the truck from a distance* please make the truck fart.
- It is effing beautiful, I have nothing else to say.
For context and to be fair, she doesn’t drive, in fact, she has never driven a vehicle. She is a city girl without a driver’s license. She doesn’t know anything about cars. I’m not sure she could name you another car with a gun to her head, but she is a very artistic person who appreciates the “cinematographic look” of the Cybertruck’s design.
If anything, she is proof that some people do like the design.
Cybertruck’s Design
Personally, I’m still ambivalent on the design. I commend Tesla for departing from traditional vehicle and pickup designs and trying something novel.
Sometimes, I think it looks quite sharp, but I also can’t really argue with the people who say it looks like a dumpster.
Considering it is objective, I’ll focus instead on what Tesla’s novel design for the Cybertruck enables and what it forced Tesla to do.
In some ways, I feel like the Cybertruck is a great example of a product engineered from its design. I wouldn’t be surprised if the vehicle program were born from a Tesla designer going up to CEO Elon Musk with the Cybertruck’s design and Musk going: “I love it, let’s figure out how to build this.” Then Tesla’s engineers and designers had to make this thing a reality
There are quite a few characteristics in support of that. For example, Tesla first claimed that the Cybertruck would be built with an exosketlon and its website still mentions that today. However, teardowns and pictures of the truck’s body makes clear that you have to stretch the definition of “exoskeleton” to its very limit to still call it that. The Cybertruck’s built is much closer to a traditional unibody than anything else.
Tesla does have a point that the body panels add to the structural integrity of the vehicle, but they are certainly not the main structural part of the pickup. The panels are also thinner than originally planned.
Nonetheless, Tesla built the first stainless steel vehicle since the DeLorean and that’s cool by itself.
Many people like the idea of a rugged truck that doesn’t rust, doesn’t ding easy, and that’s it, but there are some downsides too.
It does get dirty with pollen and fingerprints quite easy. With the clean look with sharp lines, Tesla didn’t want any door handles. Instead of going with an embedded door handle that pops out, automatically like Model S, or manually like in Model 3/Y, Tesla instead went with a button that pops the door open and then you have to reach inside of it to pull it fully open – similar to the system in the Mustand Mach-E.
I feel like Tesla could have implemented that better. It could have had auto presenting door, it’s a $100,000 vehicle after all, but it could have also implemented simpler things to make the experience better.
Something like a rubber piece inside the door where you grab it would have been great to avoid touching a steel panel and could be use to swing the door close without having to touch the outside.
The ridiculously big windshield wiper in a vertical resting position is also something that was forced by the Cybertruck’s design.
If you want a straight line from the front end to the roof, you are going to lose the traditional indentation between the hood and windshield where you can hide the windshield wiper.
Personally, I don’t have much of problem with the wiper other than the fact that the auto mode works as bad as in other Tesla vehicles with vision-based automatic wipers.
The design also results in an extremely short overhang in the front, which means a relatively small front trunk or frunk. I was still able to fit two carry-on luggage after a few tries:
That’s certainly an area where the Cybertruck is lacking over the competition with Rivian R1 and the Ford Lightning both having much bigger frunks.
But the Cybertruck’s frunk is still useful and with the tonneau cover coming standard, the bed is still useful for everyday cargo that you want to keep clean.
Speaking of the bed, that’s probably where the Cybertruck’s design comes together the best.
The sides provide better aerodynamic performance, and you have the tonneau cover, which is super satisfying to use, as you can see in my video review, and also helps with aerodynamic performance.
At 6′ by 4′, the bed is useful, but the main downside is the shape of the sides, which means that some off-the-shelve pickup accessories won’t work and you will have to work with Tesla more to get some roof and bed accessories.
My favorite feature in the bed is the power outlets (two 120v and one 240v):
It is conveniently located on the left side of the bed near the tailgate.
Moving to the interior design, that’s where I think that Tesla had to compromise a lot to make the exterior shape of the Cybertruck work.
The first thing you notice is the dash, which looks as big as a twin bed. It looks odd, but it’s not really the problem. The problem is that it creates super long A pillars, which do create a blindspot on the driver’s side.
The small window in the middle does help a bit, but there were a few occasions at T intersections where I’d lose visibility on vehicles if there were a certain timing for them arriving at the intersection. Then, they would surprise me when turning.
The B pillars are also huge, but that’s not much of a problem, especially with the side cameras covering the blind spots.
For the rest of the interior, the design is solid. The all-glass roof looks awesome. The seats are comfortable. The UI is best-in-class, in my opinion – though I’m biased on that front since it’s similar to the one in my daily driver, my Model 3 Performance, which makes me quite used to it.
There’s a quick tour of the interior at 11:00 in my video review.
Cybertruck Driving Experience
That’s where the Cybertruck shines despite a few drawbacks. When I first sat in the truck, I couldn’t believe how small the steering wheel was. It didn’t even make sense in my head.
My feeling was that it had to do with the drive-by-wire with progressive steering.
Sure enough, it took some time to adapt, but once I’ve found good seat and steering wheel positions for me, I started to get it.
The steering is so responsive thanks to the progressive steering that the size of the wheel barely matters. In fact, the Cybertruck’s steering wheel could have been a joystick. Now that I think about it, it makes sense that many airplanes use a joystick, or a variation of it, to steer since they do use fly-by-wire.
You do certainly lose some road feel, but I think it’s worth it for just how responsive the steering is in the Cybertruck. I hope Tesla brings this to other vehicles.
The steering combined with the vehicle’s electric powertrain with instant torque makes this 6,000 lbs vehicle feels like a much lighter, smaller vehicle.
Then, you combine all that with the rear-wheel steering making the turning radius equivalent to a Model S.
On top of all of this, I found the Cybertruck’s cabin to be extremely quiet, which to me is one of the main things that makes a vehicle feel luxurious.
It’s not all great with the driving experience though.
Some of the previously mentioned design constraints do negatively affect the driving experience, but none more than the rear-view mirror situation.
When you have the tonneau cover on, which you want to for aerodynamic reasons, the rear view mirror is useless other than to keep an eye on your kids in the back if you have some.
Instead, Tesla uses its rear camera and feeds it to the center display. I don’t get why Tesla is not at least offering a rear-view mirror that doubles as a screen and send the feed there. It’s an exciting technology and this is a $100,000 vehicle.
It would be a much better experience than having to look at the screen and taking some screen real estate there.
But the biggest downside to driving the Cybertruck right now, at least on the highway, is the lack of Autopilot. Tesla has been delivering these trucks for 6 months now and while they are all sold with Autopilot and Full Self-Driving included, Tesla has yet to adapt its ADAS systems to the truck yet.
The automaker says that it is working on it, but it’s not a priority since improvements to the existing system for other vehicles that exist in higher volumes are more impactful. Not a bad point, but you can’t use that excuse for so long when you are selling the features on these new trucks.
Cybertruck Range and Charging
The vehicle was showing about 318 miles (511 km) of range when full and I felt like I would be able to get something close to that in my travel in fairly good conditions in Washington if I was optimizing for range, but I was having some fun with the truck.
That result in getting an average of 429 Wh per mile:
That results in closer to 286 miles (460 km) of range
Of course, you can expect that range to drop significantly if you use some of the truck’s 11,000 lbs towing capacity. We previously reported on Cybertruck towing range tests.
It is a bit disappointing that the Cybertruck’s range announced at the original unveiling is only achievable through an upcoming additional battery pack that will fit in the back of the bed, but at the same time, I think it’s an interesting solution and I’m curious to see how it will be implemented and used by customers.
The bigger bummer for me is the Cybertruck’s charging capacity.
It does have a peak charge rate of 250 kW like Tesla’s other vehicles, but that charge rate drops much faster than in Tesla’s other vehicles, resulting in fairly long “fast-charging” sessions.
In my own experience, you can get 130 miles in just about 10-15 minutes at a Supercharger if you are at a low (<20%) state of charge, but the top 50% charge can take up an hour at Supercharger.
Tesla says that it is working on improving that charge curve through a software update. The automaker is talking about as much as a 20% improvement, which is much needed.
Electrek’s Take
Overall, I have a positive view of the Cybertruck. I love that Tesla was bold enough to finally bring a 48-volt architecture and steer-by-wire to a high-volume vehicle program.
In the long term, I think it will prove impactful on the entire industry.
I just don’t understand the decision to package it in this way. Like I previously reported, it feels like the Cybertruck is more of a marketing tool than a standalone vehicle program. You could argue that it is better as a tech test bed and marketing tool than anything else.
Some people love it and I’m not there to be a party pooper. I’m not one of those who judge for loving the way the truck looks.
But I do wonder if Tesla would have had a bigger impact on its mission if it had packaged this technology in a different-looking truck. I’m not saying that it has to look just like all other pickup trucks on the market. It could have still had stainless steel, a rugged look, but in a less dramatic form factor.
With all its incredible tech inside and a form factor easier to adopt, Tesla could have more easily gone after the huge pickup truck market, which is badly in need of electrification. That’s its mission, after all.
Instead, I now feel like the market is mostly existing Tesla owners who don’t even really need a truck, but they are getting one because Tesla is making this. I am sure some of them do need one, but I feel like there’s a lot of that going on.
Either way, the thing I loved the most about the Cybertruck was the smiles. It’s a smile-making machine. I couldn’t tell you how many times I saw people walking in the street looking at their phones and looking up after catching a glint of the sun reflecting on the Cybertruck.
The reaction was always the same: a big smile.
Now, as I said in the “attention grabber” section, this will likely fade as Tesla delivers hundreds of thousands of Cybertrucks over the next few years. People will get used to seeing them, and the smiles will fade.
However, I think the Cybertruck drivers will be the ones who keep smiling because it is such a fun vehicle to drive.
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European automakers asked the EU Commission to review and potentially modify the bloc’s 2035 all-EV target at an auto summit on Friday, but the commission is reportedly standing firm despite the industry’s big push this week for more leniency.
In 2021, Europe announced a target to go all-electric by 2035. It was part of a greater package of climate reforms designed to target a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 and full climate neutrality by 2050.
But a lot has changed since then. European EV sales and market share have continued to rise, but even more importantly, Chinese EV sales have accelerated rapidly… much faster than those in Europe. In 2020, Europe had 11% plug-in (BEV + PHEV) market share and China was at 5%; but in the interim, China leapfrogged Europe by hitting 47% plug-in share in 2024, while Europe only reached 24%. BEV-only numbers are lower, but BEVs still outsell PHEVs significantly.
This has been accompanied by a significant rise in Chinese EV exports as well. As China’s EV manufacturing effort ramps up rapidly due to forward-looking industrial strategy and encouragement of EV startups, the country has started to produce advanced EVs so cheaply that slow-moving Western automakers are finding it hard to compete (after putting in little effort to do so).
And so, what are the automakers to do? They’ve already tried nothing, and they’re all out of ideas. So they’re doing what they usually do: going to the teacher to beg for an extension.
Automakers make a final push for leniency on EU emissions
Friday’s auto summit was reportedly the third and last “crisis meeting” between automakers and the EU Commission, timed at the end of the largest European auto show, IAA Munich. Automakers and some governments spent the week agitating for leniency on CO2 targets and to extend the life of the internal combustion engine.
The EU reportedly agreed to an early review of its 2035 targets, but otherwise stood firm, stating that “no matter what, the future of cars is electric.” The reforms included a mechanism by which the EU could review its progress towards its targets, with the review set to happen in 2026, but that review will reportedly now happen this year.
The argument is that automakers don’t have enough time to get up to 100% EV sales by 2035, having only advanced from 11%->24% between 2020 and 2024. But despite automakers’ protestations, China’s move from 5%->47% in the same time frame shows that a lot more is possible than European automakers are letting on.
The review comes after Europe already loosened rules for automakers earlier this year. In March, the Commission gave automakers “breathing room,” slightly extending the deadline for emissions compliance for the 2025-2027 model years (which they now seem on track to meet).
Ironically, this “breathing room” for automakers would result in less “breathing room” for actual humans with lungs, who will have to breathe more pollution as a result of the automakers’ inability to stop poisoning everyone.
Despite that Europe is reportedly standing firm on its targets, it may offer some minor flexibility in its review.
What form the reviewed targets might take is not yet clear. But some automakers and government entities like Germany’s CDU (whose leader, Friedrich Merz, said the auto industry should “not limit itself to a single solution”) are asking for “solutions” that still rely on combustion, and extend the lifespan of polluting, complex and wasteful gasoline engines.
Automakers want clean fuels which… aren’t actually clean
EU President Ursula Von der Leyen reportedly says that the EU will hold firm, but did not rule out potential exceptions for plug-in hybrid vehicles with primarily use electricity but have a combustion engine as a fallback.
However, allowing plug-in hybrids would be folly, given research released just this week from Transport & Environment showing plug-in hybrids emit five times as many emissions on average in the real-world as they do in testing regimes.
Another common request made by automakers has involved “biofuels” or “e-fuels,” clean-sounding names for something that is still inherently wasteful. The EU has already made an exception for these fuels in its 2035 rules.
While synthetic “e-fuels” created from renewable electricity are principally carbon-free and are obviously better than fossil-based fuels, internal combustion engines are still desperately inefficient, with 20-30% efficiency, as compared to ~90% efficiency for electric motors. Putting that electricity directly into a BEV is a far more efficient way to convert electricity to motion than using the electricity to create synthetic fuels, then shipping and inefficiently combusting those fuels.
For biofuels, which are also carbon neutral, the land and water required is an order of magnitude larger than what’s needed for renewable electricity sources used to fuel electric vehicles. In order to fuel all the world’s cars with biofuels, we would need about twice as much land and rainfall as is available on Earth.
And while it’s nice to think that all these combustion engines might suddenly convert to using biofuels, that seems unlikely to happen. So, continuing to build these engines means they will continue to combust things that, mathematically, must remain underground and uncombusted.
Meanwhile, climate change continues to accelerate as human emissions continue to rise. This is the largest and objectively the most important challenge that humanity has ever created for itself, and one that Europe needs to confront boldly.
Finally, one auto CEO speaks the truth
Thankfully, somebody pointed out the ridiculousness of this debate.
Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said this week that the constant bickering and begging by the auto industry is “counterproductive.”
“I don’t know of any better technology than the electric car for advancing CO2 reduction in transportation in the coming years. But even apart from climate protection, the electric car is simply the better technology,” said Döllner, who said that the constant debates over whether inferior combustion engines should be preserved are “counterproductive and unsettle customers.”
Meanwhile, Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius, who also heads the European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA), went exactly in the wrong direction with his comments, saying that “hybrids and efficient high-tech combustion engines should remain part of the way forward, otherwise we risk acceptance and jobs.”
The actual reality of the situation is that Europe will lose jobs if it fails on the EV transition… which it already is, and will fail even harder with the complacency that Källenius and Merz have asked for. Doubling down on combustion will result in failure in the face of superior competition from overseas.
At least one CEO, Döllner, actually seems to get it. Although, he did become CEO shortly before Audi tamped down on its EV push, so maybe he needs to listen to his own words.
An unnamed European official, quoted by Euronews, also injected some reality into the situation. After Friday’s talks, the person said “even if the Commission took down these targets, global competition would set them for the industry,” recognizing that superior Chinese EVs are already out-competing European brands and that competition may result in change regardless of any futzing about the automakers beg the EU to do.
A retreat would surrender to Chinese competition
The current situation in Europe involves rising competition from the aforementioned Chinese EV exports. While Chinese share of European EV sales is still rather low at around 11%, that share has been growing rapidly. And it’s growing because, despite the tariff Europe levies on Chinese EVs, these cars still offer quite a good value proposition, and some have better software features than those available from slower-moving traditional automakers.
This is one thing that has European automakers scared about the EV transition. But instead of recognizing that they are behind and need to catch up, they are falling back to the default mode for large businesses – begging government to slow things down so that they can maintain their dominant position. But that hasn’t worked before, and it won’t work now, and thankfully Europe seems not to be taking the bait.
The only way that European automakers can confront the rising challenge from Chinese EVs, and work to solve climate change which their products are the largest single cause of, and which the transportation industry specifically is not doing enough to fix, is by committing more seriously to the EV transition, not by begging the government to let them move more slowly.
Notably, the same sort of begging is not happening in China. When new regulations threatened to destroy the market for ICE cars in China and leave millions of cars unsellable, Chinese auto dealers did ask for a reprieve… but only for six months, in order to sell off existing inventory, while also calling on all levels of industry and government to take the EV transition more seriously, rather than asking anyone to pump the brakes on it.
And none of these Chinese EVs are having any trouble with emissions limits, either. They are not poisoning the lungs (and every other organ) of Europeans – that’s being done by the combustion engine makers.
The only answer is to accelerate, not decelerate
All the above said, Europe’s target probably should be reviewed… because 2035 is not early enough. The faster we work to confront climate change, the better. No matter how expensive it seems it might be to solve the problem that we collectively have spent the last century and a half causing (and have supercharged in the last 30 years), that cost will only get higher as time goes on and as more damage is done.
Many studies have pointed out that the faster we solve this problem, the cheaper it will be to fix, so every moment lost as a result of the auto industry begging for more time only represents more cost, death, and disruption for humanity and for all species on Earth.
Lobbying to slow down the transition therefore does not just harm European industry, but also would harm all life on Earth. And, as Audi’s CEO pointed out, debate over the simple truth of electric drive’s superiority is counterproductive. The European Commission is right to hold firm on its targets, and should rebuff any further pleas to weaken them from the auto industry, the very industry that got itself, and all of us, into this problem in the first place.
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Drive Electric Month kicks off this week with nearly 200 online and in-person events celebrating electric vehicles over the course of the next month. Events will be held for the next several weekends all across the US, plus a few in Canada and one in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Drive Electric Month is an annual event organized by Plug In America, the Electric Vehicle Association, EVHybridNoire, Drive Electric USA, and the Sierra Club. This is the event’s 15th year. It started in the US as National Drive Electric Week, but for the last few years, some events have been hosted in other countries as well, and now the event has expanded to cover most of the month of September, with a few events in October as well.
These events are an opportunity for prospective EV buyers to talk directly with EV owners about the experience of owning an electric car, and EV owners to network with each other and share tips. The dealership experience is not ideal for many EV shoppers, so unfiltered conversations with EV owners can be a great way to learn.
Each event is organized by local EV advocates, and they range in size from small parking lot meetups and local EV parades to large festivals with lots of booths from nearby car dealers and green businesses. Many events have live music, family-friendly activities, food trucks and the like.
Drive Electric Month has a map and list of events happening over the course of the month. Most events are in-person, but there are some webinar-style online events that you can attend to hear about various topics related to electric vehicles if you can’t get to any local evels. You can also search for events near you.
Be sure to click through to each individual event’s page to see what your local events will look like, what types of EVs might be in attendance, and register your interest.
Here’s a sample of some of the events happening over the course of the month:
- Oregon Electric Vehicle Association (OEVA) Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, Oregon on September 13, 10am-4pm: Along with the standard test drives and car displays, this event will have a number of gas to electric conversions and antique EVs on display. It’s happening at the Daimler Truck North America headquarters, and some of the space will be used for seminars and presentations.
- Drive Electric Month Oahu in Aiea, Hawaii on September 13, 10am-2pm: The largest Hawaiian event is just outside of Honolulu, but there are events on four Hawaiian islands this year, with the others in Lihue on Kauai on Sep13, Hilo on the Big Island on Sep27, and Kahului on Maui on Oct11.
- Mesa EV Ride & Drive in Mesa, Arizona on September 20, 8am-12pm: A veteran group of organizers is bringing the EV experience to Mesa Community College on Saturday, Sept. 20. People can test drive a variety of models, talk to real owners and learn how and where to charge.
- Jimmy Buffett Son of a Sailor Festival in Mobile, Alabama on September 20, 2pm-7pm: There will be EV displays at this festival which celebrates Jimmy Buffett and Gulf Coast culture. The free festival features live music, local restaurants, parrot-head costume contests and EV drivers who can answer all your questions about driving electric.
- Electric Avenue at the Downtown Car Show in Grand Junction, Colorado on September 20, 9am-3pm: At the 23rd annual downtown car show, EVs will have their own block. Spectators will visit with drivers and can participate in a friendly competition for great prizes.
- Knoxville Drive Electric Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee on September 27, 10am-3pm: This event bills itself as the largest NDEM event in the Southeast. Along with EV displays and ride-and-drive, the live music stage will be powered by a Ford F-150 Lightning using its vehicle-to-load capabilities.
- Plug In America Ride and Drive at Space Coast Pride Parade & Festival in Melbourne, Florida on September 27, 12pm-4pm: Plug In America itself is hosting a ride-and-drive at the Space Coast Pride Parade & Festival on Saturday, Sept. 27. The public can test drive EVs from different manufacturers, engage with local EV owners and ask questions of the organization’s EV experts.
- National Drive Electric Month Waterloo 2025 in Waterloo, Ontario on October 4 from 11am-3pm: This will once again be the largest event in Canada. There are 5 other Canadian events scheduled (all at different times), in Winnipeg (Sep13, today!), Courtenay (Sep14), Saskatoon (Sep21), Toronto (Sep27), and Regina (Sep27).
- ELECTRATON DEM’25 in Guadalajara on October 4 from 9am-5pm: This is once again the sole event in Mexico, hosted at Oscar Casillas Karting Track, where there will also be a 4th annual race of student-built electric karts alongside the EV exhibition and test drives. (Here are some photos from last year’s event, including the student kart races and a Cybertruck on track).
Not all the events are large or hosted in big cities. There are also smaller events happening in town centers, church parking lots, and so on, often with just a handful of EV owners who are typically happy to stand around and have a frank discussion with members of the public about what it’s like to own an EV, or to network with other local EV owners.
Many of these events are happening in conjunction with Sun Day, a global day of action calling for a sun-powered planet on September 21 this year. These events will focus on how solar has become a drastically cheaper form of energy, and highlight ways that everyone can benefit from more solar and by electrifying whatever uses energy in our lives – whether that be vehicles, appliances, etc.
On that front, one notable Drive Electric/Sun Day event will be in Whittier, CA on Sep. 20th (not the 21st) from 11am-3pm, with test drives, an electrified home tour, and an eco scavenger hunt. It’s being organized by one of the original founders of National Drive Electric Week, so expect to see some EV oldtimers at this one.
If you’d like to attend any of these events, either to show your vehicle, to volunteer to help run the event, or just to show up and look around, you can check out the list of events, then go to each event’s page to find more information. Remember to click the “RSVP” or “Volunteer” links near the top to register your interest (or register at the links mentioned in the event description).
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Tesla has discontinued the cheapest version of the Cybertruck just a few months after launching it.
No one wanted the gutted electric truck.
There’s no hiding it. The Cybertruck is a commercial flop.
Tesla claimed to have over 1 million reservations for the vehicle. It planned for a production capacity of up to 250,000 units per year, and CEO Elon Musk even said that he believes it could increase to 500,000 units per year.
Meanwhile, Tesla is currently selling the Cybertruck at a rate of roughly 20,000 units per year.
The primary reason for the significantly lower-than-anticipated sales is that Tesla launched the Cybertruck at a higher price and with worse specifications than initially announced.
To address this, Tesla introduced a more affordable version of the electric pickup truck, the Cybertruck rear-wheel-drive, in April 2025.
Instead of starting at $80,000, like the Cybertruck AWD, the Cybertruck RWD started at $70,000.
However, it was an even worse deal because Tesla had essentially stripped the vehicle of its most valuable features, including active air suspension, a motorized tonneau cover, and even the power outlets in the bed, in addition to removing a motor.
Less than 5 months after launching the new vehicle, Tesla has discontinued the Cybertruck RWD.
The automaker updated the Cybertruck’s online configurator to remove the option:
Tesla hasn’t replaced the variant with a new one. It just stopped taking orders.
Electrek’s Take
I don’t know of anyone who ordered this. It was such a bad deal. There’s already only a small pool of potential Cybertruck buyers, but none of them want to lose all those essential features for $10,000.
Where does the Cybertruck go from there? Does Tesla keep the vehicle program at just ~20,000 units per year?
I think they may try to do an upgrade next year to bring it closer to what they originally promised and see if there’s more demand as a result.
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