Issue 06

 

Tesla's Cybertruck Reveal
November 2019
With an August 2023 update

And if you painted this one area black, look how it changes the look of the vehicle

 

 

 

Size comparison with a Model 3... Much larger! A total of just under 19 feet.

 

Here's the truck's designer, Franz von Holzhausen, hitting the door with a sledge hammer.
First he hit the door of a Ford F-150, and as expected, it made a dent in the door
(you can see the Ford door in the background)

This shot is after he hit the door.
Not a dent. The body panels are made out of rust-proof cold-rolled stainless steel.

 

Next, a video was shown of a tug-'o-war between a Ford F-150 and the Tesla Cybertruck...

The Tesla truck smoked the F-150, literally... the Ford's tires were smoking as it was towed backwards.
(The audience went wild.)

You'll notice in the photo above of the Cybertruck pulling the Ford F-150
that it looks like the bed of the Tesla truck isn't open, like a normal pickup truck. It is closed.
But that hard top retracts into the truck to make the bed accessible like a normal pickup!

Here's a shot of the bed open...

And here's Elon standing on the bed cover when it's closed.

And when this came up on the screen, the audience went wild...

You'll notice the rear side window has a large "stone ding".
After the ball drop demo, Franz threw the steel ball at the window,
and the window suffered a large stone-ding.
Unflapped by this, Elon commented, "Hmm, that shouldn't have happened... but at least it didn't shatter."
I expect the short-sellers will plaster this photo all over the place.
And sure enough, the next day all the corporate-sponsored news media headlines were:
"Tesla falls after its Cybertruck's shatterproof windows break in a live demonstration (TSLA)"
And the stock did lose $7 a share over all the hype.
Never mind that this is a fantastic pickup truck with side windows that won't
break into many hundreds of tiny pieces like all current truck side windows would.
(And the reason it broke was because of previous testing and hitting the door with a sledge hammer.)

 

Nice camping package option.

And here is how I would use it, with a 24/7 cap.

This is actually the trailer I want.

 

Nice tail lights!  And a great space for advertising.

 

Vaulted all-glass ceiling!
(And no, it won't be made with that steering "wheel")
The final production version will not have that center front seat.

 

Three models, with the top model having 500 miles of range and a 0-60 of 2.9 seconds.

Comes with rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and a 3-motor version.
(Won't do a tank turn.)

Towing capacity / range / 0-60 / price
(as of November 2019)
7,500 pounds with rear wheel drive / 250 mile range / 6.5 sec 0-60 / $39,900
10,000 pounds with all-wheel drive / 300 mile range / 4.5 sec 0-60 / $49,900
14,000 pounds with tri-motor drive / 500 mile range / 2.9 sec 0-60 / $69,900

100 cubic feet of storage, plus a huge frunk (front trunk).

Rear bed is a 6.5 foot bed! (Yes! Car camping!).

Wicked tight turning radius for a vehicle this long (rear wheels steer also).

Automatic adaptive air suspension (when an ATV was driven into the bed, initially the rear of the truck became a lot lower than the front, but after about 20 seconds, the truck was level again).

And it's got the feature I requested about a year ago: backup assist when towing something.

Production begins late 2021.  $100 deposit secures your spot in the production run.
(This didn't happen. Actual deliveries didn't start till November of 2023 due to Covid interuption.)

Hmmm, add a flux capacitor, take it up to 88 MPH, and you're gonna see some serious shit.

 

If you want to see a short 7 minute video review of the unveiling,
and see Franze actually hitting the door with a sledge hammer,
and him throwing the infamous steel ball that damaged the window,
and how the bed hard top rolls into body (I love that!),
check out my fav Tesla review YT channel.

 

 

 

 

*and is able to charge at 250kW

 

 

 

 

 

Aerodynamics. You be the judge.

 

 

Lego Cybertruck!

 

Total Cost of Ownership Comparison (over 5 years) Ford F-150 vs Tesla Cybertruck It is estimated that the total cost of ownership for a Ford F-150 in CA would be around $72,459 over five years, while one in TX stands at about $65,467. Thanks to low charging and maintenance costs, the Cybertruck would likely have a TCO of $53,379 in CA and $46,610 in TX, respectively. That’s a difference of $19,080 and $18,858 over the course of five years. (The breakdown is here)

 

 

 

To date, over 650,000 order reservations for it!
(As of August 2023, 1.9 million)
(so I guess it's not that ugly)

 

Here the conclusion of a recent poll...

But in order to be able to come to this conclusion so they could print this headline
(in an effort to say something negative about electric trucks),
look at how they had to frame the question...

But that's the thing, when Ford and GM come out with an electric pickup truck,
the specs won't be the same as the Tesla's.
Even Rivian's specs are already not the same.
And by the time Ford and GM do come out with one
(because they're forced to, not because they wanted to),
Tesla will be so far ahead of them, it will be game over for the legacy automakers.
As it is, look how well the Tesla Cybertruck rated in this poll.
Let's take this poll again after lots of them are seen driving around.

 

 

And can you imagine, a Tesla CyberVan!
If it had enough towing capacity, I'd prefer it to the pickup truck.
Great for "car camping", with plenty of roof room for solar panels.

 

Or how about a CyberSUV?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE

August 2023..

Four years later...
The first production Cybertruck produced at GigaAustin
with deliveries to start in November.

Elon at the wheel of a production Cybertruck just prior to the delivery event
(it's hard to see, but he's smiling, and with good reason)
Is it my imagination or does he look small inside this beast of a truck?

 

Deutsche Bank sits down with Tesla
to talk about how things are going

One of the things they talked about was Cybertruck.
Here is Deutsche Bank's takeaway of that conversation.

Note: Using 48 volts instead of 12 volts allows for a lighter vehicle and a lower build-cost (and Tesla passes cost decreases onto customers in the form of lowered retail prices). Over decades past, other car companies thought about using 48 volts, but none were willing to take a chance on it, because all of their 12 volt accessories were outsourced – bought from outside suppliers – so they'd have to make their own 48 volt components, and they weren't willing to do this... they had become so dependent on their outsourcing. Tesla, being very vertically integrated to begin with (making a lot of the things they need themselves), took on the challenge.

And an 800 volt battery pack will charge faster than a 400 volt pack. And stainless steel can't rust, doesn't need to be painted so no paint to scratch, and the stainless steel body panels are almost three times as thick as the body panels of all other cars, so, much harder to dent. Nice.

 

But there are those who hate the Cybertruck

I was sent this photo as proof of the ridiculousness of the Cybertruck.

I replied...

"That's silly, because you can get the entire bike into that top vehicle's bed (6 foot bed). And the safety record of that bottom vehicle is horrible in comparison. And the top one can seat 5 and get 120 MPGe and has no spark plugs, fuel injectors, muffler, high temp/pressure water pump and radiator, no engine, no transmission, and it never needs a brake job, and I can fill it up at home, and from the sun if I so desire. Can't do all that with the bottom one, but you can pollute the air with it. Plus, the top one has a built-in tow hitch receiver that can accept a bike rack." [And that bottom one is sold in China and could never be sold in the U.S. for safety reasons.]

 

Big Mouth Jim Cramer Puts Foot in Mouth Again

Jim Cramer is an NBC commentator who's known for his boisterous comments. Everything he has said about Tesla has turned out to be wrong, yet he keeps saying them. Maybe he says them because they get views/clicks. Or maybe he's just an idiot. But here he goes again regarding Cybertruck sales. Remember, there are over one million pre-orders for the Cybertruck...

 

Ten Cybertrucks in the Austin TX factory parking lot 16 days before the delivery event

Cybertrucks on their way to Tesla showrooms located in malls...
just before the holiday shopping season!
About 30 Tesla stores will have one on display.

Now that the Cybertrucks are in Tesla stores that are in malls, and the malls are getting crowded, and the word is getting around, the malls are having to put up stanchions and rope lines so a line can be formed outside the Tesla stores because the stores were exceeding their maximum occupancy limits! And Tesla staff has to make sure that no more than the maximum number of people can be inside the store, and when a person comes out, a person can be let in! And Tesla is smart... not only are there staffers around the Cybertruck to answer questions, but there are staffers by the Model Y and 3 also, because the husband and wife come in, and he is drooling over the Cybertruck, and she says, "Not happening... but what about this one?"

This is what it looked like before the doors opened

And the line is "around the block".
And this is all courtesy of word-of-mouth advertising.

And a line "out the door" in Langley, Canada

This placard was next to the Cybertruck.
I hope the spelling mistake is the only mistake that Cybertruck will have.

 

Can you imagine; you're driving along on the highway,
and you see this vehicle coming up on you in your side-view mirror!

 

The high-tech method of testing the Cybertruck for water leaks

STEP 1: Place an employee with a flashlight inside the bed and close the tonneau cover.
STEP 2: Place the Cybertruck in a WITR (water incursion testing rig).
STEP 3: Turn the dial to "very heavy downpour"
If you look carefully, you can see the Cybertruck in the testing rig.
There are also employees in the front and rear seats checking for leaks during the test.
There are jets pointed at the front of the car to simulate driving at 70MPH into a downpour.
The windshield wiper is also tested.
NOTE: Every effort is made to recover and reuse the water used in testing.
And how do we get these photos? Elon Musk has no problem with people flying their drones around Tesla factories. Thanks to Austin resident Joe Tegtmeyer for the photos.

 

The Prime Minister of Thailand climbed up on top of the Cybertruck along with a Tesla exec for a photo op. That's one spry leader of a country (the video did show him hopping up there unassisted). And how 'bout that strong built-in tonneau cover! Most pickup truck stowable tonneau covers are not what you'd call "walkable".

 

Nice bed lighting!  Perfect for car camping.
(The tonneau cover is closed, which is why you don't see the rear window.)

 

A Cybertruck was driving by a family on the highway. It was in the very next lane, right along-side them just before exiting. The father and mother were commenting about it, the dad thought it was "amazing", the mom was videoing it and said it was "the ugliest thing she's ever seen", and their young son – maybe 10 – said, "No way!!! I don't think that's real! There's no way!" His astonishment was very real. And soon there'll be thousands of them driving around, eliciting those same reactions.

 

Check out the super tight turning radius!

Normally, a vehicle with such a long wheelbase would have a horrible turning radius. To make a U-turn, you might have to do a 3-point turn (stop, back-up, go forward, stop, back-up, go forward). But due to the steerable rear wheels, look how tight the turning radius can be! It's better than a shorter wheelbase vehicle! No problem with U-turns with this vehicle!

Thanks to Joe Tegtmeyer for the video these photos came from.

These comments from an "expert" will not age well

Is Adrian Clark one to talk about looks?

Jefferies is a full-service investment bank, and one of their analysts said the above.
If I had to guess, I'd say that Jefferies is "short" on TSLA stock;
then that comment would make sense. Idiot.

 

 

The Cybertruck assembly line in Austin TX

 

What did the CEO of Ford have to say about it?
(Their main source of income are their pickup trucks)

 

What we now know about the Cybertruck

* It has Steer-by-Wire. This helps keep costs down, and makes steering easier, and allows this long wheelbase truck to have a turning radius of a much shorter car! A photo explanation is below.

* It has PowerShare. This is known as V2L or Vehicle-to-Load. This means that the Cybertruck can power your home in case of a power outage. And there are two ways to do this. It can also charge another EV that's very low on power.

* It has a 48 volt low voltage architecture. Since 1960 it's been 12 volts for vehicles. But a higher voltage means less cost and less weight, and less weight means more range. No other car maker had the balls to do this, but Tesla did. Yes, this means that Tesla will have to make a lot of their own 48 volt electrical components (because suppliers won't have them yet), but that's fine by Tesla... they prefer making their own parts, for Quality Control purposes. They are already a very vertically integrated company.

* The body panels (the "body" of the vehicle") is 1.8mm thick stainless steel (a special formulation developed by SpaceX for their rockets that go into outer space). Twice as thick as other pickup truck body panels. This makes it "dent proof". And it's not painted, so no paint to scratch. And the windows are made of Gorilla Glass (many cell phone screens use this because it resists cracking). And the windows can withstand a 2-inch ice ball hitting it at 70 MPH. Other car widows will shatter from that.

* The rear seats have storage in them, and they flip up flat against the rear wall of the cab to create lots of storage behind the front seats. And someone sitting in the rear passenger side seat can make the front seat scoot forward with the touch of a button (unless someone is sitting in that front seat).

* It has electrical outlets in the bed area. Both 120v and 240v. And the 240v outlet is 40 amps. So, plenty of power to power things. There are 120v outlets inside the cab as well.

* The frunk hood is powered, both for opening and closing. It's the first Tesla to have this feature. ("frunk" = front trunk) The frunk is perfect for groceries.

* It comes with a bed liner already installed.

* In the bed there are two integrated L-Track rails and multiple tie-down points.

* It has a bed "trunk" for additional storage, and the trunk has a drain plug in case you wanted to turn it into an ice-chest/cooler.

* The entire bed of the Cybertruck can be locked securely. Just push a button and close the hidden tonneau cover. A burglar would need explosives to get in there. Do the other pickup trucks have this feature? None.

* When you drop a travel trailer onto the Cybertruck's hitch ball, the truck will self-level. When you normally drop a trailer onto a hitch ball, the rear of a pickup truck will lower and the front will rise. The Cybertruck will sense this and adjust its front and rear ride heights to compensate so the vehicle remains level. Nice!

* It has two different types of motors that propel the vehicle, one at the front and one at the rear, and one is optimized for cruising and the other for power, and the computer chooses how much of each to use depending on driving conditions which allows for super fuel economy. And the front and rear differentials have "lockers" which activate in "Snow Mode" making for much safer winter snow driving.

* The on-screen User Interface displayed on the 18-inch screen is a thing of beauty. Tesla has industry leading software. And the fact that all Teslas can get Over-The-Air software updates means that the Cybertruck will get improvements and new features over time. What other car do you know that improves over time.

There's a 9-inch rear screen so the rear passengers can play games, watch videos, and adjust their HVAC setttings. And rear passengers can also connect their own Bluetooth headphones to listen to music independently of what's playing on the car's sound system.

* Speaking of the sound system, it's first class. But it's also used as part of the Noise Reduction System. There are small microphones near each speaker, and when a mic hears noise, it creates that same noise but in the opposite phase, and pipes it into that speaker. The effect is a far quieter cabin. Think of noise canceling headphones people wear on airplanes.

* An auxiliary battery pack is available that adds about 140 miles of range. The pack sits in the truck bed, where a large bed tool box would normally sit. This is great for those doing a lot of towing. And it can be added at any time after buying the truck.

* The reviews are in: It rides like a very comfortable car, and not like a typical pickup truck. But it's a pickup truck. And it handles like a car, but it's a truck. And when racing a Porsche 911, it beat the Porsche... while the Cybertruck was towing a Porsche 911!

* About 90,000 will be made in 2024, and much more in 2025. Can't wait to get mine.

THE ADVANTAGE OF STEER-BY-WIRE
and FOUR-WHEEL STEERING

Here's what the above looks like from the driver's seat.
(I've placed a yellow dot on the bottom of the steering "wheel" to make it
easier to see how the "wheel" turns. Since it's not round, it's not a wheel.)


Driving straight.


Turning the wheel all the way, as far as it will go, to the right, to make a U-turn.


Back to straight ahead.


Turning the wheel all the way, as far as it will go, to the left to make a U-turn.

And their hands never left the "wheel".
The amount that the tires turn for a given amount of
steering wheel input depends on how fast you're going.

 

THE ADVANTAGE OF 3mm THICK BODY PANELS

These two photos are from a video showing a hammer hitting the door of the Cybertruck. The top photo is the moment the hammer hits the door, and the bottom photo is after the hammer bounces off the door. See? No mark! So, no worries about "door dings" from people opening up their door and hitting the Cybertruck, or dents from runaway shopping carts. By-the-way, try this with any other vehicle door, and you will see where the hammer landed.

If you want to see the 4 second video, it's here.

And speaking of shopping carts, here's the Tesla crew
throwing a shopping cart at the Cybertruck... and again, no mark.
The arrow is pointing at a high speed camera used to
make a slow motion video of the cart hitting the vehicle.

 

Here the Cybertruck is giving a charge to a Rivian EV that needed one.
(The actual charger is off-camera at the bottom.)

 

Since the delivery event, there has been about 250,000 new orders for the Cybertruck.
This is in addition to the over 2 million pre-orders made since its unveiling in 2019.
This means it's sold out for at least five to seven years!

 

But after all the positive, unbiased, and honest reviews of the Cybertruck, there must be the negative, biased, "anti-Tesla" "anti-Elon Musk" reviews. The best one of this segment has to be the one from Vice Magazine (known for its biased BS "reporting").

1. It will not be a "nightmare" to repair (from an accident).
It was designed with repairability in mind.

2. Elon Musk does not "embrace anti-Semitism". This is objectively false.

3. Elon Musk does not embrace conspiracy theories. Also objectively false.

4. Elon Musk does not endorse or embrace racism... the opposite.

5. There are about 2 million pre-orders for the Cybertruck.
I think Elon Musk will be able to find 250,000 people who want one.
I'm one of them.

These above remarks from Vice will not age well, as is the case with many other remarks they've made in the past about Tesla products. But Vice does not care about that. Their mission is to denigrate and discredit Tesla and Elon Musk on behalf of all those who stand to lose money due to Musk's and Tesla's existence. Vice is one of the many minions who serve the truly evil people in our society. How to combat them? Unbiased research and a desire to know the truth.

 

And then there was this...

 

Thank you to Farzad Mesbahi for not bothering with "top speed"

 

For what it's worth... My Take on Specs First let me say that when comparing EVs, I don't give a rat's ass what the top speed of the EV is. And I couldn't care less what its 0-60 time is. I care about range, type of lithium battery, its fuel efficiency, can it tow what I need it to tow, and how safe it is. I also don't care what it looks like on the outside. When I'm inside the truck, I can't see the outside of the truck, and when I get out of the truck and walk away from it, I can't see it. The only time I see it is when I'm walking up to it, and even then I don't care what it looks like. All I care about is its utility; its functionality. Is it one of the safest cars made? If not, I don't want it, even if someone were to gift it to me. The depths that people get into with things like top speed, horsepower, color, and 0-60 time baffles me. But I'm a pragmatist.

 

Car design legend dubs Tesla Cybertruck as the “Picasso of automobiles” Tesla set out to make something different when the company decided to release the Cybertruck. And with the all-electric pickup truck now being delivered to customers, one could state that the company really did make something special – and the world’s roads will never look the same. It takes a certain level of guts and unsoundness of mind, after all, to release a vehicle like the Cybertruck to the market. In a way, one could argue that designing and creating the Cybertruck was an exercise in deconstruction. It’s designed to do pickup truck things, but it comes in a package that does not look like a traditional pickup truck at all. And this, as per Italian design legend Giorgetto Giugiaro, effectively makes the Cybertruck the “Picasso of automobiles.” In a comment to Italian daily la Repubblica, Giugiaro noted that Picasso revolutionized the world of art because he had enough courage. “He was the artist of decomposition of reality,” he said. In this same light, Tesla also completely destroyed all expectations of how a pickup truck should look like when it released the Cybertruck. Giugiaro’s praise is a notable nod of recognition for Tesla’s stainless steel beast. The legendary automotive designer is behind the only other stainless steel production car that’s ever been released to consumers – the DeLorean DMC 12, a gull-winged, sporty-looking car that became iconic in movie history as the time machine in the Back to the Future franchise. Overall, the legendary car designer noted that the Cybertruck has what it takes to become a notable success, its rather different design notwithstanding. “It will be hugely successful because it does not represent the search for harmony and fitting in, but for emotion and robustness,” he said.

 

 

Here's a GREAT review of the Cybertruck
The only inaccuracy in the above video was comparing the 2019 single motor Cybertruck's price to the 2023 tri-motor price. Jason saying "it more than doubled" (between 2019 and 2023) is inaccurate because it's not an apples-to-apples comparison. The single motor model increased about $20,000, going from $40,000 to $60,000. But with inflation, the higher price of steel today, and the added innovations which equal added costs, I fully understand that price increase. Plus, that'll likely come down as the cost of making the truck comes down over time. Plus, the Cybertruck does come with a rear-view mirror, but an image from the rear camera can appear on the 18" screen if the tonneau cover is closed and you can't use the mirror.

 

Oh no! Cybertrucks are rusting!
(says the mainstream media and the anti-Elon alternative media)

No, they are not. The tiny surface rust spots we're seeing on some Cybertrucks is caused by metal particles from the environment, not the surface itself. Important distinction. This is very common on stainless steel. Various metallic specs land on the surface and rust. Happens to cars that are painted too.

Dust from metallic brake pads is an example. But since these rusting particles don't cause the underlying stainless steel to rust, in reality it's a nothing burger, but it is the stuff FUD is made of (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt), and the media loves to spread FUD about Tesla and Elon Musk (they'd stop doing it if Tesla spent lots of money on advertising, but because Elon is also disrupting the Censorship Industrial Complex, FUD about him will continue).

So simply use the liquid Barkeeper's Friend and a microfiber cloth to remove those spots, followed by some Windex or SprayWay, which is great for removing fingerprints.

 

News on Cybertruck's real-world fuel efficiency

Almost exactly as Tesla stated it would be!
The screenshot is from GreggerTruck on Youtube.
With all-season tires the efficiency will be better.
For comparison, the Tesla Model Y gets an average of 340 wh/mi.

 

"But that stainless steel will get
super hot in the summer sun!!!"


Cybertruck is upper left. Other Teslas are shown.
The Cybertruck looks as cool as a white Tesla.

 

A rant about stupidity by Don Bennett The image you see on the side of this Cybertruck below is not part of the wrap; it's a reflection! And it's also a demonstration of stupidity. There is, up in the sky, a very bright object that, at certain times of the day, is at such an angle that it will reflect off this wrap into the eyes of another driver, possibly causing an accident. Brilliant. Where is NHTSA with creating a regulation that reflective wraps are prohibited in the U.S.? Since they can't even pass a regulation that all horn buttons must be in the middle of the steering wheel for all cars sold in the U.S., I don't hold out any hope they will get off their asses and address this issue. Why do we need them to do this? Because people are not smart/wise enough to know not to wrap their cars with a reflective wrap.

 

More on the Tesla website's Cybertruck page

More about Tesla and its CEO