Recently at Tesla Investor's Day, the EV maker unveiled plans for expanded operations, wireless car charging, and a 50s-style diner charging station, but gave no information on their vehicles. Actually, that's not entirely true because they did casually mention that the long-awaited Cybertruck would finally go into production in 2023, but again provided no details. As luck would have it, a shareholder was in attendance and pressed Tesla executives for whatever Cybertruck info he could pry loose. We still don't know when it will be available or how much it will eventually cost, but there are certainly some interesting tidbits of information on the vehicle's specs and power plant.
The Incredibly Shrinking Cybertruck
Matthew Donegan-Ryan describes himself as "one of the 50 lucky retail [Tesla] shareholders invited to attend Tesla Investor Day 2023." Unlike the others, he used the occasion to dig deep and find some useful information about the highly anticipated and enigmatic Cybertruck. Mathew says he was able to meet with multiple Tesla execs and squeeze them for details. He initially leaked this info in a series of tweets, but so many people were bombarding him with questions, that he made a YouTube video to address everyone all at once.
The first piece of big news is the Cybertruck is getting smaller. It will be five-percent smaller than the vehicle Tesla debuted in 2019. Mathew explained that execs told him the Cybertruck was simply too large for most people's garages and its excessive size made it a bit unwieldy. Because of this diet, the Cybertruck will be just a bit smaller than the Ford F-150 Raptor, but will still have a similar-sized cabin and a bigger truck bed. Specifically, the Cybertruck is 1.5 inches shorter and 2.5-inch narrower, but has a six-inch longer bed. Without getting into specifics, Tesla says this will be much lighter than the Rivian R1T.
The interior will feature an 18.5-inch infotainment screen, the biggest Tesla has ever offered, but no gauge cluster or heads up displays. It will also have 5 seats, which is one less than the prototype had. Apparently shrinking the size of the vehicle means losing the front middle seat. The doors will not self-present the way they do on the Model X, instead opting for door-popping buttons that extend out of the B and C pillars. Mathew also says the massive windshield light bar will make it to the production model.
Powering Up The Cybertruck
Elon Musk had indicated in 2021 that the Cybertruck would have a quad-motor setup available as an option, but that idea has apparently been scrapped. Mathew reports that there will be two variants available, a dual-motor and a tri-motor on the trim he calls the "Performance." It will have the same powertrain as the Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid, with an efficient motor in the front and two motors in the rear on each wheel. The Cybertruck will also be the first Tesla built with 48v architecture, which basically means it will consume electricity more efficiently to deliver more power.
According to Mathew, all trim levels (both of them) will have rear-wheel steering, and thankfully no yoke. The steering wheel is round, but flat on the top and the bottom, so it's like the yoke only more functional. All Cybertrucks will also have air suspension, which execs told Matthew has been tested in Baja-style racing and performed well. Even Mathew had a hard time buying that one because of the amount of force put on the suspension in that type of racism, but Tesla swears it will hold up to the abuse.
Another piece of information gleaned by Mathew is that Tesla has a "Secret Cybertruck Accessories Team" that is developing add-ons like winches and off-road light kits that will be compatible with the vehicle's 48v architecture. Additionally, the secret team will be coming up with non-electric accessories like steel bumpers, bike racks, and camping gear. The advantage of this over after-market accessories is that Tesla-created ones will be "plug and play" requiring no hard-wiring or retro-fitting.
The Cybertruck Sounds Amazing, But Also Expensive
With masses of people lining up to get one of these unique and impressive EVs, the most important piece of information is pricing. Try as he might, Matthew couldn't get the Tesla execs to nail down a price, but he did get a few clues. He tried to get a retail price by coyly suggesting that the Cybertruck would be higher than a loaded Model X and was told, "don't be too sure about that." Mathew speculated that Tesla would try to price the base model at under $80,000 to take advantage of the EV tax credit, and the top model somewhere around $100,000.
A lot of this is speculation and nothing has been confirmed by Tesla, but Mathew has no reason to make things up, and he did get a lot of this info straight from the company's executives, so it seems sufficiently solid. If you need a concrete piece of info, Fox News reports that Elon Musk has confirmed the Cybertruck will have a big honking mono-blade windshield wiper. Combined with the more interesting info compiled by Matthew Donegan-Ryan, the Cybertruck is shaping up to be the amazing Tesla that fans have been waiting four years for. Now if only someone could get an exec to spill the beans on when they will start delivering this EV beast.