Tesla launches Cybertruck with up to 470 miles of range, starts at $61,000
Tesla launched Cybertruck with up to 470 miles (756 km) of range and starting at $61,000 for the base version.
But we are getting more questions than answers despite deliveries starting.
We have been waiting four years for this, and it is finally here.
After several delays, Tesla has officially started deliveries of the Cybertruck, and with the first deliveries, Tesla has released the official specs and pricing for its first electric pickup truck.
Let’s get right into it.
Tesla Cybertruck Specs and Pricing
The specs are pretty close to the original announcement for the first two versions of the Cybertruck, but the top version got a significant downgrade.
Here are the main specs:
| Rear-Wheel Drive | All-Wheel Drive | CyberBeast | |
| Price | $60,990 | $79,990 | $99,990 |
| Range | 250 miles | 340 miles | 320 miles |
| Range with extender??? | Not mentioned | 470+ miles | 440+ miles |
| Acceleration 0-60 mph | 6.5 sec | 3.9 sec | 2.6 sec |
| Drivetrain | rear-wheel drive | All-wheel drive | All-wheel drive |
| Top speed | 112 mph | 112 mph | 130 mph |
| Towing | 7,500 lbs | 11,000 lbs | 11,000 lbs |
The prices are way up from the original unveiling in 2019, but that was to be expected.
The biggest changes are to the range since the top version of the truck was advertised at 500 miles of range.
Now, Tesla is advertising 340 miles of range for the dual motor version and 320 miles for the tri-motor version, which is now called “Cyberbeast”.
However, the automaker is now talking about a “range extender” that can add range for those two versions, but the company hasn’t explained what this range extender entails.
In the past, other automakers have used the term “range extender” for small gasoline generator, like in the BMW i3. I doubt that Tesla is going to use any kind of fossil fuel. It’s most likely going to be a battery add-on, but it would have been nice for Tesla to explain.
Update: Elon has since explained the range extender:
Tesla confirmed that the Cybertruck’s bed is 6′ by 4′ and the truck has a 6,859-lb curb weight
The electric truck also out pulls a Ford F-350 in a test that they shared during the launch event:
The design might be polarizing, but it does deliver on aerodynamic performance with a 0.335 drag coefficient, which is better than I and most people expected.
The vehicle comes with 35″ all-terrain tires and has 17″ ground clearance throughout the whole truck, thanks to a flat belly.
Tesla also confirmed that the Cybertruck is its first steer-by-wire vehicle, which we suspected following a recent patent.
Another first is the 48-volt system. Congrats to Tesla for having the guts to move away from 12-volt. It’s going to result in 70% less wire inside the vehicle.
In terms of performance, the Cyberbeast version can do a quarter mile in less 11 seconds and CEO Elon Musk even claimed that the truck can beat a Porsche 911 on the quarter-mile while towing another 911.
The vehicle’s bed is equipped with both 120 and 240-volt power outlets, which should cover all your needs on the go.
- Outlets: 4 x 120V
• 2 cabin outlets (up to 20A)
• 2 cargo bed outlets (up to 20A) - Outlets: 1 x 240V
• 1 cargo bed outlet (up to 40A)
As expected, the vehicle is also capable of vehicle-to-home functionality that Tesla calls “Powershare”. We are going to have a whole separate article digging into that in a few moments.
The 240-volt outlet in the bed can also be used to charge other electric vehicles fairly easily.
Tesla shared this image as an example:
As for the interior of the vehicle, CEO Elon Musk didn’t spend much time on it during the event, but it hasn’t been updated much since the original unveiling.
Tesla took some cues from the Model 3 refresh and added an ambient lighting strip all along the dash.
Here’s an official picture of the Cybertruck’s interior:
Electrek’s Take
The event in itself was really disappointing. It was basically a redo of the original event in 2019 with a few deliveries.
Elon even claimed that they were going to remake the infamous steel ball test, but they did it with a baseball, which is hardly the same as a steel ball.
I can forgive that, but what was weirder is the fact that Elon didn’t even discuss range and pricing during the event. We had to wait until Tesla updated the configurator to know about those.
Then we have even more questions after the mention of a “range extender”. You can’t write that without going into more details and we are trying to learn more about it as I write this. (Update: Elon has clarified on Twitter – see above).
That’s stuff that needs to be clarified.
As for the pricing, which is probably the biggest new piece of information from this whole event (even though it wasn’t even discussed during the presentation), it is a bit disappointing.
It basically starts at $80,000 (just under the limit for the $7,500 federal tax credit) for the all-wheel drive and that’s before the range extender option, which we don’t have pricing on.
That’s not an easy sell in my opinion. It’s basically a 50% price increase across all versions of the truck compared to the 2019 prices.
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In a joint statement, French and German economists have called on governments to adopt “a common approach” to decarbonize European trucking fleets – and they’re calling for a focus on fully electric trucks, not hydrogen.
France and Germany are the two largest economies in the EU, and they share similar challenges when it comes to freight decarbonization. The two countries also share a border, and the traffic between the two nations generates major cross-border flows that create common externalities between the two countries.
At the same time, the EU’s transport sector has struggled to reduce emissions at the same rate as other industries – and road freight in particular is a major contributor to harmful carbon emissions issue due to that industry’s heavy reliance on diesel-powered trucks.
And for once, it seems like rail isn’t a viable option:
While rail remains competitive mainly for heavy, homogeneous goods over long distances. Most freight in Europe is indeed transported over distances of less than 200 km and involves consignment weights of up to 30 tonnes (GCEE, 2024) In most such cases, transportation by rail instead of truck is not possible or not competitive. Moreover, taking into account the goods currently transported in intermodal transport units over distances of more than 300 km, the modal shift potential from road to rail would be only 6% in Germany and less than 2% in France.
That leaves trucks – and, while numerous government incentives currently exist to promote the parallel development of both hydrogen and battery electric vehicle infrastructures, the study is clear in picking a winner.
“Policies should focus on battery-electric trucks (BET) as these represent the most mature and market-ready technology for road freight transport,” reads the the FGCEE statement. “Hence, to ramp-up usage of BET public funding should be used to accelerate the roll-out of fast-charging networks along major corridors and in private depots.”
The appeal was signed by the co-chair of the advisory body on the German side is the chairwoman of the German Council of Economic Experts, Monika Schnitzer. Camille Landais co-chairs the French side. On the German side, the appeal was signed by four of the five experts; Nuremberg-based energy economist Veronika Grimm (who also sits on the National Hydrogen Council, which is committed to promoting H2 trucks and filling stations) did not sign.
You can read an English version of the CAE FGCEE joint statement here.
Electrek’s Take
MAN Trucks’ CEO famously said that it was “impossible” for hydrogen to compete with BEVs, and even committed to building 200 hydrogen-powered semi truck to prove out that hypothesis.
He’s not alone. MAN’s board member for research and development, Frederik Zohm, said that the company is the one saying hydrogen still has years to go. “(MAN) continues to research fuel cell technology based on battery electrics,” he said, in a statement quoted by Hydrogen Insight, before another board member added that, “we (MAN) expect that, in the future, we will be able to best serve the vast majority of our customers’ transport applications with battery-electric trucks.”
With companies like Volvo and Renault and now Mercedes racking up millions of miles on their respective battery electric semi truck fleets, it’s no longer even close. EV is the way.
SOURCE | IMAGES: CAE FGCEE; via Electrive.
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GE Vernova has produced over half the turbines needed for SunZia Wind, which will be the largest wind farm in the Western Hemisphere when it comes online in 2026.
GE Vernova has manufactured enough turbines at its Pensacola, Florida, factory to supply over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of the turbines needed for the $5 billion, 2.4 GW SunZia Wind, a project milestone. The wind farm will be sited in Lincoln, Torrance, and San Miguel counties in New Mexico.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Pensacola’s new customer experience center, GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik noted that since 2023, the company has invested around $70 million in the Pensacola factory.
The Pensacola investments are part of the announcement GE Vernova made in January that it will invest nearly $600 million in its US factories and facilities over the next two years to help meet the surging electricity demands globally. GE Vernova says it’s expecting its investments to create more than 1,500 new US jobs.
Vic Abate, CEO of GE Vernova Wind, said, “Our dedicated employees in Pensacola are working to address increasing energy demands for the US. The workhorse turbines manufactured at this world-class factory are engineered for reliability and scalability, ensuring our customers can meet growing energy demand.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will create US history’s largest clean energy infrastructure project.
Read more: The largest clean energy project in US history closes $11B, starts full construction
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