Elon Musk Could Reveal the Tesla Pickup Soon; Says It's "Close" to Being Ready

Tesla has been quite hush-hush about its electric pickup truck. Other than a few details that Musk lets out through his tweets, we have nothing. However, those tweets are worth their weight in gold. The latest tweet from the EV czar is about its launch date. A twitter user asked when the truck would be revealed, and Musk replied saying we could see it in two-three months. This is a big revelation because this is one of the most anticipated EVs to date.

Let The Countdown for the Tesla Pickup Begin

We have seen renderings, powertrain specs, and pricing of the Tesla truck. But there was no word on the launch or debut date other than Musk mentioning at an interaction previously that, “(As for the) Tesla pickup truck, we might be ready to unveil that this summer. It will be quite unique”. If we were to speculate where the reveal would be, I would say Tesla will have a standalone event, like most of its other launches so far. However, if by some miracle Tesla decides to launch it at an auto show, it would most likely be at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show. This will be held in the last week of November, which is pretty close to the two-three months' ultimatum that Musk announced. Another aspect playing in favor of this is that California is Tesla’s home ground - Tesla’s factory is in Fremont, whereas its headquarters is in Palo Alto. It should be noted, however, that Tesla has historically avoided auto shows.

The Tesla Pickup Truck Just Got Towed By The Electric Ford F-150 Prototype

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The Tesla truck, as I mentioned earlier, will start retailing under $50,000 and will have a towing capacity ten times more than the so-called Super Duty combustion trucks sold today. The price undercuts the Rivian R1T pickup by a very big margin. The Rivian R1T, which is expected to be launched in late 2020, will start around $69,000. Tesla is focusing on higher towing capacity, reasonable cost, etc. This will be a result of some mind-boggling torque figure that we can't wait to hear about. As if this was not enough to create hype, Musk also announced that the Tesla pickup truck will be able to tow 300,000 pounds! This is almost 10 times more than what the current crop of combustion-engined heavy-duty trucks can tow. However, Ford quickly diffused the situation by releasing a video of the electric F-150 prototype that towed 1.25 million pounds! To get back on the top, Musk tweeted the tentative launch period for the Tesla pickup truck. The Ford electric truck, on the other hand, is not coming anytime soon. So, Tesla will look to capitalize on it before the king of the truck segment arrives.

What We Know About The Tesla Pickup Truck So Far

The company has not unveiled any official pictures yet, but Musk announced that it will be a "futuristic like cyberpunk, Blade Runner pickup truck” and unlike anything on the market. So, I guess we're looking at a funky design that will be an attention-seeker. Not to mention, Tesla is known to offer some amazing gizmos and features in its vehicles, so at that price point, you can expect it to blow the competition out of water. Even in terms of autonomy, Tesla has billions of more real-world miles of data when compared to Rivian's infant steps in the same department.

Can the Tesla Pickup Truck Be As Good As The Porsche 911?

The Tesla pickup truck will feature dual motors and a suspension that dynamically adjusts for the load as standard. It will most likely come with a range of 500 miles on a single charge. The new teaser image appears to show a wraparound taillight on the lift-gate of the truck bed. From what we can see in the teaser, the truck will be boxy and will bear a rather retro, contemporary look. The other finer details were discussed in the 2019 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting held in June. Apparently, Musk discussed the Tesla truck in the meeting and compared it to the base Porsche 911. This means the Tesla pickup truck should be able to do the 0-60 mph sprint in around the four-second mark. This sure is impressive, but it is far behind the Rivian R1T’s three-second claim to sprint to the 60 mph mark from a standstill.

What Actually Plays For Tesla? – The Good Signs

Tesla is arguably the biggest EV player right now. The Musk-led company fought all the odds and did not get steamrolled by other automakers. Tesla has a very strong fan following, and the same is seen even in social media. According to Autowise, the Tesla Pickup is the most talked-about truck on Twitter, beating even the mighty Ford F-150. Need I stress the importance of strong social media presence? Tesla has also been giving its 100-percent into building electric powertrains, unlike Ford, which has a variety of six different combustion engines just for the F-150! So, it goes unsaid that Ford does not have the expertise of Tesla when it comes to electric powertrains. Ford has been investing heavily in this electrification, but it will take years to be on Tesla’s level in terms of technical know-how. The same goes for Rivian as well. It may have created a furor by releasing two ravishing products – the R1T pickup truck and the R1S SUV – but, it has a long way to go to beat Tesla’s fan base.

What Can Cause Tesla’s Downfall? – The Not-So-Good Signs

Tesla is ruling the EV segment and has not let any other automaker come close to it, and that includes all the mainstream automakers as well. However, companies are catching up fast and they have an answer to whatever Tesla has to offer. Rivian has come out with a product that makes you go ‘Woah!’ The biggest factors playing in favor of Tesla right now are the price and the launch date. If you talk about the performance aspect, Rivian is the clear winner from what we’ve seen up to this point. Tesla decided to take on Ford by increasing the towing capacity almost 10 fold. Ford eventually beat that figure by a huge margin and it looks abysmal for Tesla right now. We have already seen Rivian and Ford electric trucks (yes, Ford’s electric F-150 was a prototype), but all we have for Tesla’s truck are renderings. So, it’s not going to be as easy as it feels for Musk’s company to be the Apex Predator.

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