There have been slight changes for the better in the 0-60 specs and the tri-motor towing has lowered from 14k lbs to 11k lbs while the dual-motor got a +1k bump in towing instead.

Before we continue, I’d love to hear your thoughts:

I’m also very curious about your thoughts about the Cybertruck itself. We also now have a new comment section, which you can find at the bottom of our web version of this newsletter.

Here’s the front drive unit that produces over 300hp and features an electro-mechanical differential lock for off-roading, seen on the factory tour (link):

I haven’t found a better image of the rear unit with the two motors yet, so we’ll settle with this one, briefly detailed on carwow’s video (which is worth checking out for a brief tour with Mat Watson's usual (massive) energy: timestamped video).

• Less wiring needed — going 48V results in over 70% (some even claim its over 93%) less wiring needed inside the vehicle, saving the automaker in material and labor cost, saves a little bit of weight and space, and reduces overall complexity.

• Performance — 48V supports the efforts like Tesla’s new steer-by-wire system, which we’ll cover below and which would’ve been much, much harder to implement without.

• It increases overall efficiency.

• It’s future-proofing — the automotive industry switched from 6V to 12V in the mid-50s, but the cars are (naturally) becoming more power-hungry due to the new technology (both driving and computing-related hungriness).

I’ll also note that to those of us paying attention, this didn’t come unexpected. Tesla has been on the quest of reducing complexity for over a decade, and we got a great showcase of the latest plans in the detail-heavy Tesla Investor Day in March this year.

There was a segment on Electronic Architecture by Pete Bannon — the VP of Low Voltage & Silicon Engineering at Tesla — who explained where Tesla is moving.

I timestamped his appearance for you here: (video), I highly recommend checking it out if you want to get a quick and easy overview of the why & how. David Lau, VP of Software Engineering at Tesla joined in too.

Tesla had already improved the 12V system architecture with the Model 3 by merging the controllers (ECUs) together, reducing wire count and reducing wire harness weight by 17kg (37.5 lbs). Doesn’t sound like much? Saving 17 kg in every car is a big deal in the auto industry.

Tesla has also designed more and more of its controllers over time, with the Cybertruck having ~85% of the controllers designed in-house. This will enable Tesla to have full control of the supply chain, and actual control over its hardware.

With that control of the supply chain with in-house controllers, comes complete control over software (it doesn’t have to make changes through suppliers and can merge redundant/duplicating ECUs), which will further improve Tesla ability to “instill intelligence, context awareness, and context-specific behavior into what otherwise would’ve been a piece of hardware that had to get optimized for just one type of scenario.” David says: “We get more of everything.”

This might be the best way to visually show why going from 12V to 48V matters:

This is how the power demand of vehicles has increased over time in amps. Which in turn increases large wires, mass, complexity. Notice the last 6V → 12V jump in ~1960, and the now-possible 12V→48V reduction jump shown in the last column, reducing the current needed by a factor of four.

Reducing the current by 4x leads to → 16x reduction in power loss while distributing energy in the car — that’s what allows for the smaller wires, smaller e-fuses, smaller controllers, and to remove or reduce heat sinks.

Tesla leaves no doubt — everything they design starting with Cybertruck will run on 48V from now on. And they only could’ve done this in-house, because no major Tier 1 suppliers provide a complete 48V solution

And looks like Tesla meant it. Jason Camissa said on his podcast that although he is under NDA to share it with others, he got a copy of a document that Tesla literally sent to the CEO of every other car company and supplier, titled “How to engineer a 48V vehicle”. A simple document with best practices and what Tesla has found working and not working.

I can almost picture the CEOs now frantically searching their inbox for the “How to engineer a 48V vehicle _final (2).pdf”

Now, Pete and David went on to give us more glimpse into the Cybertruck 48V architecture too, and went into further details that… also go over my head (timestamped here).

I’ve stumbled upon two patents from Tesla from 2019 that might be of interest if you’re smarter than me and want to dig deeper.

• High-speed-wiring-system architecture (published 15th July 2019), which also relates to this other one from 2020.

• Wiring System Architecture filed in Dec 2018. As far as I can tell, this one would propose that with going 48V Tesla could also automate manufacturing of the wire looms (which would save a lot in labor).

I can see the OEMs starting to push the 12V → 48V to the suppliers now. It justmakes so much sense. And Tesla is yet again the one that will redirect the old inertia that kept the industry on the same route.

My bet is you’ll see the shift incoming real soon. And the automakers making big announcements out of it, hailing their leadership along the way in press releases that will use the words “industry-leading” and “breakthrough”. You know, the words I always cut out before I write our newsletters. 🙂 

Also, you know how the world was supposed to be just about catching up to Tesla? I’ll go ahead and just call it out now:

That isn’t happening.

For further reading on the 48V approach and what it means to the industry, I happened to find this great thread right after finishing this section. It’s written by Larry Goldberg, I think seems to confirm most of what I’ve put here, and he explains the background smarter than I ever could (link 👋).

Ok, enough of this 48V side-quest, let’s get back on track:

CYBERTRUCK CHARGING

POV: This is what your phone screen will look like when charging. It’s taken by one of the first owners of the truck (Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of Reddit link):

The official specs say the Cybertruck can charge at max 250kW (adding 128-136 miles in 15 minutes).

This seemed weird to me. I believe it is listed like this because it’s the max a V3 Supercharger can give out, as the V4 Superchargers haven’t rolled out completely yet.

In the Top Gear design & engineering interview (timestamped here) with Lars Moravy (VP of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla) and Franz von Holzhausen (Chief Designer), we saw the claim that it can actually charge at the 350kW that the V4 Superchargers offer. This would charge the Cybertruck from 15% to 85% in 18 minutes.

The biggest question here is if the Cybertruck has a charging curve that doesn’t drop out from the peak power fast — much like we’ve seen on the current 4680-cell Model Ys. As we know, the 4680 cells are still under constant development and we might see the true performance unlock over time.

How will the 800V Cybertruck accommodate to the existing charging network? Drew Baglino confirmed that the battery pack “splits into two to charge natively on existing 400V charging infrastructure, no costly/lossy booster required.”

The charge port is, as usual with Tesla, again hidden in plain sight:

CYBERTRUCK STEER-BY-WIRE

Cybertruck is one of the first production cars ever to use a complete steer-by-wire system, where there is no physical connection between the steering wheel and front wheels. Highlighted in green here:

The only thing the steering wheel is connected to is basically a bunch of sensors & force feedback unit. You can see it when turning the steering wheel easily while the car is not powered up — the wheels won’t move.

The front wheels are turned using a pair of redundant electric motors mounted directly to the steering rack, with the rear wheels turned with a third motor in the back. Here’s another angle:

How does it affect the driving feel? It will take some learning for sure. MKBHD calls it the Tesla’s remapping-the-brain effect, which it has created with each new model in one way or another.

At higher speeds, the steering slows down and feels normal. And at lower speeds, it is so responsive that you max the motion out at 170° already. Jack Rix from Top Gear called it the over-caffeinated, energetic steering.

You don’t have to take your hands off the wheel even when turning around completely (link):

Based on you turning the steering wheel, the electronics decide how much to turn the front & rear wheels (yes the rear wheels also turn) to get you there.

This causes the Cybertruck to have the same turning radius as the Model S (something that Tesla has communicated to all reviewers it seems).

Details: Rear axle steering goes up to 10° in the opposite direction of the front wheels, at low speeds <45 mph (72 km/h). Between 40 and 50 mph is the ‘transition point’ where the rear wheels turn in phase with the front wheels to give added stability when for example doing lane changes.

I invite you to check out the maneuverability demo (phew what a word) of Camissa on an actual racing kart track (timestamped here).

For some of you familiar, Randy Pobst on the kart, swearing behind a Cybertruck, might be a sight on its own.

We’ll see how the comments on the actual driving of the Cybertruck will be outside of these few reviewers, but so far they all say it’s surprisingly car-like, a cushioned and smooth ride with agile steering.

Cammisa from Hagerty went as far as saying on a separate podcast that the Cybertruck “rides like a f*cking dream” and “I would hang myself if I worked for a traditional car company right now.” (video)

CYBERTRUCK PERFORMANCE

Tesla calls the high-performance drive mode the Cybertruck the Beast Mode. When selected it will automatically drop the truck into the ‘Cheetah’ stance: nose down, rear up.

There are also two off-road drive modes, called the “Overland” and the “Baja”. The engineers have told Jack they’ve done some jumps on the Baja for example.

Here’s the video of the Cybertruck vs Porsche 911 drag race shown on the event (49s video), with… a little twist in the end.

And here’s a random YT comment that cracked me up:
“It's faster cause it doesn't need to render as many polygons.”

Tesla also showed its power through a truck pull against a diesel Ford F-350, Lightning and a Ford R1T in this 3-minute video. Now, I know next to nothing about truck pulling, but if you’re like me the brief explainer helps you out there:

Here’s the results (keep in mind that Tesla organized this test):

CYBERTRUCK EXTERIOR, STAINLESS STEEL “EXOSKELETON”

I won’t talk about the Cybertruck design in this report. So everyone can comfortably stick to their opinion. :)

However, we’ll talk about the engineering details, the aerodynamics, the problems and features. The only design-related drop I’ll make here is this early sketch from Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen that I found fitting:

Cybertruck runs on 35″ all-terrain tires and has 17.44″ (443 mm) ground clearance, throughout the whole bottom of the truck (since the bottom is flat and no ‘tangly bits’).

The 4-corner adaptive air suspension offers 12’’ of travel, by compressing 420 liters of air into the 17.4-liter reservoir to allow for that up-to 17.44’’ high ride height. See how the suspension looks like here (link).

Cybertruck has a 35-degree approach and 28-degree departure angles. Tesla says it is built for any planet.

If you’re into this kind of stuff, here’s the Cybertruck Bullet Test (4-minute video):

I love the slow-mo impact shown in the video. They go through a Tommy Gun (.45 cal 935 ft/s), Glock (9mm 1100 ft/s) and MP5-SD (9mm 950 ft/s), M4 Shotgun (00 Buck 1200 ft/s). Moravy says they can stop any subsonic or non-armor piercing rounds.

Wes, the Lead Cybertruck Engineer, says that they didn’t design the truck to be bulletproof, but “if it works out in the end, that’s just icing on the cake”.

Tesla officially claims the Armor Glass can resist the impact of a baseball at 70 mph (113 km/h) or class IV hail. The acoustic “Gorilla Glass” helps make the cabin ”insanely quiet.”

Although the glass can resist the baseball at 70mph, allegedly, it seems steel balls are now out of the question. In fact, Tesla did this weird stunt where it decided to (weak)throw a baseball into the glass on the delivery event instead of replicating the unveil event. Sure, people were a bit too close this time. But still.

They also threw, again the baseball, outside — the video of which (by Brandon here) Elon shared on X for some reason. It does make for a good meme:

It’s also likely that this is one of Tesla’s intentional guerilla ways to gain publicity again — I mean they even uploaded this image to the official Tesla Gallery:

Whatever going on with the glass, the stainless steel body panels are something else. They are dent-proof and corrosion-resistant, and

Tesla says it had to create a custom “Super Alloy” to make it more ductile and make it actually corrosion-proof. Lars Moravy explains the ‘airbending’ they had to do to bend the full hard stainless steel well here.

If the panels do get damaged, they’re “simple and quick” to repair because there are no folds or unusual shape-molding to deal with. Tesla calls the material HFS, for Hard Freaking Stainless.

The panels are up to 1.8mm thick, which Tesla claims actually carry structural load, not being there just for aesthetics (that’s likely why they are still calling it an ‘exoskeleton’). Tesla says the material is so tough it doesn’t even need side-impact door beams.

Moravy says that the sail panel that goes out from the C pillar back out to the rear, adds like 25% of the torsional stiffness of the vehicle.

Tesla says its torsional rigidity is 43,200 NM per degree, also thanks to the two massive gigacastings used to make up the vehicle. That rigidity is about at a supercar level.

CYBERTRUCK CRASH TEST

Here’s some actual Tesla-made crash test footage from Haferty (timestamped video), showing what happens when a 3,100-lb (1,400kg) cart comes in at 33.5mph (54km/h). It barely deforms it:

There’s no official test data out yet. But from the looks of it, Tesla might have — yet again — created the safest vehicle (to be driving) in the world. Of course, being hit by one would be a whole other topic…

Although I’m optimistic here, it’s clear Tesla has (or has had) a lot of work to do to ensure the safety of the Cybertruck passengers. As physics applies mercilessly as usual, it’s a whole other set outside of the problems when your vehicle is made up of steel panels. Very curious to see the full testing footage.

We did, however, get some brief shots out of the delivery event. I uploaded all 15 seconds of the frontal, side impact and rollover test here:

I’ll also share the screenshot of the most important part:

Here’s an image of (likely the same) crashed Cybertruck from the event, giving a bit of an idea of what’s going on behind that frunk too (link from Sawyer Merritt):

It also seems kind of fitting that Tesla seems to have taken at least some inspiration from an actual tank, which I spotted on their design board from one of the interviews (photo).

CYBERTRUCK AERODYNAMICS

The drag coefficient of the Cybertruck is 0.335 Cd. You’d think Cybertruck isn’t very slippery at all due to its bulky look, yet consider that 0.335 puts it between McLaren F1 (0.32 Cd) and Bugatti Chiron (0.35 Cd). 🤯 

I’m not entirely sure if the Cybertruck is more aerodynamic than the Rivian R1T (officially 0.30 Cd) or not, as Moravy says Tesla measures this drag with rotating wheels, which would add to drag somewhat. They say Cybertruck is the most aerodynamic truck of its size — but we’ll stay a bit skeptic on that and dig deeper into that some other time.

What is certain is they’ve done a lot of work on aerodynamics. Here’s a great walkaround with Franz and Lars explaining it all (timestamped video):

CYBERTRUCK HAS NO DOOR HANDLES

Yes, really. No, they don’t pop out from the doors either.

Instead, there’s an indented button, which opens the door just a few inches, then you grab the door and open it. Same for the rear door.

Will this work in the cold? Tesla says that the door opens with enough force to push through up to a half inch of ice (half inch to inch depending on review, looks like communication has been unclear on this here). 🤷‍♂️ 

Door handles would’ve also been a pain in the *** to cut into the steel door panels. I’m also rather certain Tesla will here use the possibility of opening the door itself when the driver is near, yet there’s no note anywhere on that yet.

If you’re one of those people who hates fingerprints on surfaces (I kind of am), don’t look at this picture:

Side mirrors are easily removable (Tesla has to ship it with mirrors from factory). Cameras are already there to replace them with video feed:

The windshield is, in their own words, the biggest automotive piece of glass on the market. Tesla had to invest with their supplier to build a new production line for it.

The windshield wiper is still huge, at about 4 feet long. According to MKBHD’s Waveform podcast talk (here), the wiper has a strong pump which after pushing the button actually takes a couple of seconds to fill with fluid before cleaning the windshield. As it goes up, 10 spray holes release cleaning fluid. They even managed to create the wiper in a way that helps the aerodynamics on that side.

There are almost no Tesla logos on the vehicle. Just a few ‘cybertruck’ inscriptions, a small Cybertruck silhouette on the wheel and this three-headed beast in the back, likely only for the CyberBeast version:

The headlights are lower down, with the bright LED signature lamp on the top.

There’s a camera on the front bumper (first of such in a Tesla), with a little button on the screen that sprays water on it to get it clean!

CYBERTRUCK INTERIOR

Interior is minimalistic, similar to Tesla’s earlier models — just no curvy details.

Pretty much the only semi-curved detail in the interior is the steering wheel. A squircle. Looks like they’ve skipped the yoke for now and adapted something between a joke and a regular wheel. Cybertruck is also stalkless, with turn signals as buttons on the steering wheel.

The dash seems to be big enough to lose something on there only to discover it years later. And even the seats look… angular.

Ambient lights run across the interior, changeable through the system.

In addition to the enormous windshield, Cybertruck has a Glass roof:

Looks like the manual gear selector and the hazard lights can be accessed as touch-sensitive buttons overhead, similar to the refreshed Model 3.

Looks like ample space in the middle console:

Tesla also went the drawer glovebox route with the Cybertruck, which we’ve already seen in quite a few other EVs as well:

Backseat: legroom seems enough. Note, that you can lift the bottom of the rear seats up (one or all) for extra space.

The back doors open up to 90° so the space is easily accessible.

Moravy says “it’s not exactly 6 feet, but it’s pretty decent for sleeping”, as he has found some engineers lying down just there on their test trips.

Two of the backseats can also be heated.

Sound: 15 speakers with 2 dedicated subwoofers & distributed amplifiers.

HEPA filter: Cybertruck also features the built-in “hospital grade” HEPA filter Tesla is known for, claiming to protect against 99.97% of airborne particles.

CYBERTRUCK SOFTWARE AND DISPLAY SCREENS

There’s a 18,5’’ display screen in front and 9.4’’ in the back.

The user interface seems to also be upgraded for the Cybertruck, with more interactivity on moving the vehicle in 3D.

It even shows you the windows rolling down in real time, lights, wheels, everything. It’s also very responsive (seen in this carwow video, timestamped for ya).

And you can also choose the ride height from the menu, which then adjusts immediately:

The tonneau cover and the frunk can also be opened & closed via just a touch on the screen.

The rear screen has options to move the front passenger seat, much like we saw in the refreshed Model 3.

Since the rear window is gone once you cover the bed with the tonneau cover, the rear camera will be visible on your screen while driving:

CYBERTRUCK BED

Cybertruck bed is 6’x4’, big enough to hold 4'x8’ Plywood sheets with the gate down. Closing the vault, it gives 67 cu ft (1,897 liters) of lockable storage.

Additional 54 cu ft /1,529 litres) available with rear seats folded up.

The bed has a bit of storage room under the main floor too, which the engineers call the “smugglers' bay”:

This also has a drain plug (so you can make a cooler out of it).

In addition to be able to tow up to 11,000 lbs, the Cybertruck can also hold max 2,500 lbs in the cargo bed.

Now, I’m no truckbedologist, but it seems important to note that since bed is made from sheet-molded composite (SMC), there’s no need to add an aftermarket liner.

The tonneau cover is motorized (slides up from a push of a button) and can support up to 300 pounds (136kg). Here’s Mat Watson from carwow jumping on it. (video)

Once the tonneau cover is ‘open’, it reveals the small rear window.

This means no direct rear visibility when the bed is covered — only through the camera that pops on the infotainment screen.

The L-track system on the sides allows for quite a lot of customizability:

I’m pretty sure I could never fit so many stuff in the Cybertruck, but here’s a GIF I made from the Tesla showcase images:

I’m not sure how common but I remember seeing Rivian doing a very very similar graphic after launching R1T.

There is no spare wheel/tire by default, and if bought as an accessory it’ll take up bed space (instead of fitting into smugglers’ bay storage or fitting underneath the vehicle.

The vehicle’s is equipped with both 120 and 240-volt power outlets:

• 2× 120V cabin outlets (up to 20 A)

• 2× 120V cargo bed outlets (up to 20 A)

• 1× 240V cargo bed outlet (up to 40 A)

You know, for actual work.

Most important: the bed also features a bottle opener (sold separately for $25).

Luckily, as our friend said, every corner of that truck is a bottle opener.

Here’s a brief video from the tour that shows what’s under (inside?) the bed:

FRUNK

Moravy says the trunk is designed to be OK to sit on for tailgating, and MKBHD video showed it can just about fit two carry-on bags.

Cybertruck is the first Tesla to feature a motorized frunk, and you can open/close it through the infotainment screen inside the car.

The frunk is significantly smaller than on other EV pickups, but then again, the whole front end of the truck is significantly shorter too.

POWERSHARE

Cybertruck is capable of up to 11.5kW of bi-directional charging, and can use the newly released Tesla Powershare — a system that allows you to use the Cybertruck to power your home with up to 11.5kW continuous power. This could power your home (assuming ~30kWh/day) for over three days.

You can use the features remotely via the app:

When it comes to just using outlets on the truck, it gives out 9.6 kW of max continuous real power instead, to power your tools or, for example, charge other EVs:

This basically makes your Cybertruck a mobile generator. Not new for an EV truck exactly, but a very useful feature nevertheless.

Important to note, that if you have already have a Tesla Powerwall installed, no additional equipment is required to leverage your truck's battery to backup your home. If you don't, you'll need to install a Tesla Universal Wall Connector and an Energy Gateway. (link)

CYBERTRUCK ACCESSORIES

With the Cybertruck, Tesla also launched accessories in the Tesla shop (link).

I’ll show you some of ‘em:

Basecamp tent for the bed ($2,975) that can be inflated in minutes,

Cybertruck Color Paint Film, aka a wrap ($6,500), available in satin black and satin white, or the Satin Clear paint film ($5,000).

Tailgate ramp ($400):

Crossbars ($800), bumper protectors (thin rubber liner) ($80) for the exterior, some floor mats, storage bins, glass roof sunshades for the interior. And then cargo dividers ($350), molle panels ($250), cargo bins, hooks and other stuff for the vault. A spare tire + toolkit will set you back $1,250 and plenty of bed space.

If you’re into this kind of stuff, there’s a 1:18 scale Cybertruck diecast now on their shop too, for $225.

The last but not least one is a (very public) inside joke: Cybertruck “OMFG” decal, inspired by the best marketing stunt ever made in a car unveil. Just $55.

There was a Cybertruck with the light bar on top at the event (link), yet there’s currently no light bar offered in the shop.

Now, if all this leaves the owners wishing for more, Unplugged Performance has unveiled their own product line for the Cybertruck as well (link). Because if you can make your Cybertruck look like this, why shouldn’t you:

By the way, Tesla also reportedly has its own “secret” accessories team dedicated to developing products specifically for the 48-volt architecture, such as lighting, winches, and air compressors. (link)

CYBERTRUCK PRODUCTION & DELIVERIES

Per someone going through the website source code, Tesla has (or will?) take reservations for a limited-edition Foundation Series version of the Cybertruck with exclusive badges, fully optioned. Price unknown. (link)

There seemed to be 22 Cybertrucks that were delivered on the delivery event (not all on camera).

In November, Musk said it would take around 18 months for the company to hit its production target of 250,000 trucks per year. Your guess on how the ramping up will go is as good as mine.

Cybertruck can now be reserved for a refundable $250 (was $100). Musk has confirmed over 1M reservations recently, with unofficial online reservation trackers putting the total over 2M. There is, as expected, some waves of cancellations already seen around online forums. How many will be left and turned into actual vehicle orders, we’ll see.

The biggest question about the Cybertruck actually is: how much does it cost Tesla to build it? We are seeing automakers still making a loss on every EV they sell, with Tesla being king of the margins so far.

Meanwhile, to direct people to a Tesla they can buy right now, Tesla offers $1,000 off any other Tesla model when customers have reserved a but take delivery of a different Tesla instead, before December 31.

Cybertruck Warranty

Tesla offers the following warranties for the Cybertruck:

• Basic vehicle warranty is four years or 50,000 miles

• Battery & Drive unit warranty covers eight years or 150,000 miles. This is 30k miles more than for the Model Y.

CYBERTRUCK COMPARED TO: F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, GMC Hummer EV

Here’s the best chart I’ve found so far without making one myself, comparing the Tesla dual-motor Cybertruck, Rivian R1T AWD and Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat. This is done by @Xil_llix (link to spreadsheet that’s being updated continuously).

Here’s an EV Pickup truck width comparison with mirrors folded (by Sawyer Merritt link):

• Tesla Cybertruck: 86.6"

• Ford F-150 Lightning: 83.6"

• Rivian R1T: 81.8"

• Chevy Silverado EV: 81.6"

And also max ground clearance comparison for EV trucks (link).

• Tesla Cybertruck: 17.44"

• Hummer EV: 16"

• Rivian R1T: 14.9"

• Silverado EV: 10.7"

• Ford F-150 Lightning: 8.9"

Aaaand breathe out. Enough of the Cybertruck for now.

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