Tesla Cybertruck deliveries finally kicked off at a big event on Thursday. The company only delivered a handful of pickups, so it’s not like you’re going to see them all over your town this week. Tesla also got rid of its press department a few years ago, so not many publications have had a chance to get behind the wheel of the stainless steel beast. The few that did, though, seemed to come away impressed. Let’s see what they think of the Cybertruck.
“It’s exterior is actually the least outrageous part of Tesla’s new creation.”
Jason Cammisa’s ultra-deep dive into the Cybertruck is a must-watch. If you thought the truck was just a lifted Model S with a metal body, you’re mistaken. His look into the battery tech, the steer-by-wire system, and the Cybertruck’s update to a full 48-volt architecture show that this is much less a striking design and more a striking vision of the future of the truck. Not only that, but it’s faster than a quad-motor Rivian R1T and a GMC Hummer EV SUT in a drag race, even on mud tires. Cammisa seems deeply impressed with how it drives and how agile it is, and has no qualms about the possibility of a steer-by-wire failure, even if this is the first vehicle to have the tech with no physical backup. Then there’s the steel construction, which makes it beyond stiff and safe in a crash.
“The Cybertruck is a rolling sci-fi film prop from the dark recesses of Elon’s brain that makes little sense but takes edgy and wedgie to a whole new level.”
In addition to reporting all the stats, Top Gear sits down with Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy to dig into the Cybertruck’s development process. Elon Musk famously owns one of the Spy Who Loved Me submarine Lotus Esprits (one that he said he was going to make functional), and von Holzhausen says it was one of the inspirations for the design. And while it can stop subsonic bullets, Moravy won’t say it’s fully bulletproof, some good restraint compared to Musk’s claims of how robust it is. The stiffness of the construction seems to be TG‘s biggest takeaway, other than the ludicrous acceleration for a near 7000 pound vehicle.
“There are some surprising things about it; some features that are really cool; things I think truck people are really going to like, but also some concerns I have, some surprises.”
Marques Brownlee got to drive a pre-production Tesla Cybertruck well before the pickup’s debut. He addresses the issues with large or uneven panel gaps and notes that this seems to vary between each vehicle partly because stainless steel is so hard to form. He also wonders about how the handle-less doors would work in icy conditions. Tesla told him there was enough force to break through an inch of ice.
