Tesla unveils Cybercab: a $30,000 electric robotaxi coming in the next 2 years
Tesla has unveiled a new vehicle called Cybercab; a $30,000 electric robotaxi coming in the next 2 years.
At an event at Warners Bros studios on Thursday night, Elon Musk took the stage to unveil the new vehicle.
Its name is still not clear. Prior to the event, Musk referred to it as both ‘Cybercab’ and ‘Robotaxi’.
Both terms were also used during the event.
Tesla only has a very short web page about the new vehicle (and Robovan) on its website and it refers to it as ‘Robotaxi’:
Despite having an actual launch event for the vehicle, the details are very limited. There are basically none on the previously mentioned webpage, so we have to go only for what was said and seen at the event.
As expected, the vehicle is a 2-seater with butterfly wing doors and no steering wheel or pedals.
Most, if not all prototypes shown appeared to have a gold finish. It doesn’t have a rear window.
Musk said that Tesla had 20 Cybercabs at the event. He also mentioned having “50 autonomous vehicles” at the event, but that number seemed to include Model Y vehicles.
Here are a few images of the exterior of the Cybercab that Tesla has released:
When it was driving around at the event, it seemed to have matrix headlights embedded into a front light bar similar to what is found on the Tesla Cybertruck.
It’s only a two-seater, but at least, it looks like it has a very large hatchback trunk:
The Cybercab will be the first Tesla vehicle to feature wireless induction charging as standard. As we previously reported, the Cybertruck appears ready to receive a wireless charger, but it will likely be a retrofittable option in the future.
Wireless charging has been around in consumer electric vehicles for a long time, but it never really took off. However, it is believed to become a more prominent feature with self-driving vehicles as it enables the vehicle to go charge itself without anyone having to plug it in.
Tesla also briefly showed a video of an automated system being able to clean the vehicle.
Here are a few images of the interior of the Tesla Cybercab:
Tesla didn’t release much in terms of specs for the new vehicle. There was no word on the electric vehicle’s range.
Musk mentioned an estimated cost of operation of $0.20 a mile, which appears ambitious.
He also mentioned that consumers will be able to buy it. It won’t be only for an autonomous ridesharing fleet, Tesla Network, which Musk has been hyping for years.
The CEO said that Tesla is aiming to sell the Robotaxi for less than $30,000. As for when it will enter production, Musk said it will come in 2026, but he did acknowledge that he is often wrong with his timelines, and it could come in 2027 instead.
How does the Tesla Cybercar drive itself?
That was the biggest question of the night. Tesla has been selling cars that it claims will become self-driving since 2016, and they have yet to become self-driving.
It doesn’t give much credibility to launching a vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals.
Some Tesla owners who bought Tesla’s up-to-$-15,000 Full Self-Driving package on current vehicles feared that Tesla would shift its strategy with Cybercab, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Musk said that Cybercab is equipped with Tesla’s AI5 onboard computer and based on a visual check, it appears to only use cameras, like Tesla’s existing vehicles.
The CEO reiterated that the plan was still to make Full Self-Driving work unsupervised on the current vehicle, which he now thinks will happen next year in Texas and California.
To be fair, he said that it was going to happen next year virtually every year for the past 5 years and the only data available shows that Tesla needs a roughly 500-100x improvement in miles between disengagement before it can make this a reality, and it only was able to do a ~2x improvement so far this year.
The Cybercab would then rely on the FSD system improvements to deliver its autonomous rides.
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Environment
Toyota the EV battery supplier? Honda will use them to power up its 400,000 hybrids in the US
Toyota is now a battery supplier? That’s the plan. Honda will use Toyota’s batteries to power up its around 400,000 hybrids sold in the US.
Toyota will supply batteries for Honda hybrids in the US
Toyota’s $14 billion battery plant in North Carolina is ready for business. The facility will begin shipping out batteries next month, and it looks like Toyota already has its first customer.
According to a new Nikkei report, starting in fiscal 2025, Toyota will supply batteries for the roughly 400,000 Honda hybrids sold in the US.
Honda currently uses batteries from China and Japan for vehicles sold in the US, but the company is (like most) preparing for changes under Trump.
Honda’s electrified vehicles, including EVs and hybrids, accounted for over a quarter of US sales last year. The company sold over 308,500 hybrids and 40,400 electric vehicles in the US in 2024. The batteries will likely be used in the CR-V and other Honda hybrid vehicles.
Earlier this month, an extra 10% tariff on imports from China took effect. And that’s on top of the 10% imposed in February.
With more expected, including a 25% increase in vehicles imported from Japan, automakers are tightening up their supply chains.
A 25% tariff on Japanese vehicles, up from 2.5% currently, is estimated to cost the six major Japanese automakers about $20 billion in the US.
Tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada could cost Honda roughly $4.7 billion alone. Teaming up with Toyota to use its batteries for its hybrids is part of Japan’s broader global plans to ween off dependence on China and others for batteries and other emerging tech.
The new US plant, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina (TBMC), is over seven million square feet, or about the size of 121 football fields.
As Toyota’s first in-house battery factory outside of Japan, the plant could be a game changer as Trump’s tariffs take effect. Securing Honda as a buyer will already help Toyota cut costs as it ramps up output.
Toyota plans to ramp up electrified vehicle (EV, PHEV, and hybrid) sales in North America from around 40% last year to 80% by 2030.
Electrek’s Take
Trump’s tariffs are already causing havoc, with nearly every automaker warning that they put the US further behind. Overseas automakers are not the only ones feeling the heat, either.
The “Big Three,” GM, Ford, and Jeep maker Stellantis all build vehicles in Canada and Mexico. GM cut output at its plant in Mexico in January, where the electric Chevy Equinox, Blazer, and Honda Prologue are made. Stellantis halted operations at its Brampton Assembly Plant in Canada last month, where it was expected to launch the Jeep Compass EV production. What’s next?
For Toyota, it looks like its $14 billion bet to build batteries in the US is already paying off. Now, we just need it to introduce more EVs.
After unveiling three new electric SUVs in Europe last week, including the updated bZ4X, Toyota hinted more is on the way for the US. Check back soon for updates.
What do you think? Do you want to see more Toyota EVs in the US, like the new C-HR+? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Environment
If Musk wants to sell Tesla cars to conservatives, Tesla needs stores and service in red states
Elon Musk wants to sell Tesla cars to conservatives, but if that’s the strategy, the automaker should start with having stores and service centers in red states and rural areas.
It’s no secret that Elon Musk’s approval ratings with progressives have been plummeting over the last few years and even more so in the previous few months.
Since he has control over Tesla and he is the only official spokesperson since he let go of the PR department in 2020, the CEO is dragging the automaker along for the ride.
This is a problem for Tesla as Democrats are much more likely to buy electric vehicles than Republicans:
Tesla’s sales have been crumbling over the last few months, and after the stock crashed 15% last Monday, President Trump held a controversial commercial for Tesla with Musk on the steps of the White House on Tuesday.
A day later, it was reported that Musk plans to give Trump another $100 million in political donations.
It was an apparent attempt to try to promote Tesla to Trump’s fans: conservatives.
Based on a Tesla inventory check and new order delivery timeline, we reported that the Trump ad appeared to have little to no impact on the demand for Tesla vehicles.
It could be that people see through Musk and Trump’s quid pro quo and, therefore, don’t value Trump’s “Tessler” endorsement seriously. Still, there’s also a more practical reason why Trump’s fans and conservatives generally don’t buy more Tesla vehicles: the locations of Tesla’s stores and service centers (hat tip to Ben).
Even if some Trump fans were interested in buying a Tesla after the White House commercial last week, they might have been turned off by the idea of having to drive several hours to a store or service center.
Tesla does not have stores or service centers in Alabama, Arkansas, North and South Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, or Wyoming.
In some cases, it’s not entirely Tesla’s fault, as some of these states have laws against Tesla’s direct sale models. They force automakers to go through third-party franchise dealerships. This is an abuse of old state laws aimed at protecting dealers against unfair competition from the automakers they represent.
Car dealer lobbies use their influence on state legislatures to use these laws to block Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, and other automakers who never had franchise dealerships from operating their own stores and service centers.
But on top of not having locations in several red states, Tesla also primarily has locations in urban areas, whereas conservatives disproportionally live in rural areas.
The automaker has several dead zones and doesn’t operate locations in smaller cities and towns where there are several Ford, GM, Toyota, and other car dealers:
While it certainly does happen, it’s hard to convince someone to buy a car if they have to drive several hours to pick it up and have it serviced.
Electrek’s Take
In short, it’s not only harder to convince conservatives, on average, to buy an electric vehicle, but Tesla is also not correctly set up to sell and service cars in conservative regions of the US.
Though, I think that’s a small part of the problem.
Cars are not supposed to be political.
Even if Tesla successfully converted a significant percentage of conservatives to electric vehicles, it wouldn’t stop the company’s brand destruction.
Tesla’s reputation amongst Democrats and independents has sharply decreased over the last few years, and especially over the last few months, and that’s thanks to Elon Musk alienating them.
It’s tough to be a successful consumer product company when you have alienated 50% or so of your market.
Tesla is basically becoming the MyPillow of Trump’s second term.
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