What can we expect from Tesla's Cybertruck?

Once again, during Tesla's recent first quarter earnings call, Elon Musk repeated his affirmation that Cybertruck production would be in full-swing by 2023. This echoed Musk's recent statements at the opening of the Texas Gigafactory. 

Above: Tesla Cybertruck approaching the Giga Texas Cyber Rodeo stage where Elon Musk is giving his remarks (Source: Whole Mars Blog / Twitter)

While production seems imminent (hopefully soon), it was inevitable that Cybertruck would be teased at Tesla's Cyber Rodeo. Not one but two prototypes of the Cybertruck were seen by the company's guests inside Tesla's new Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. 

Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen drove one of the prototypes onto the stage at Cyber Rodeo which caused plenty of buzz. And several Cyber Rodeo guests witnessed the Cybertruck first-hand and posted photos online to add to the hype. So what can we expect from this breakthrough (albeit unusual) pickup truck?

Twitter: Eva McMillan

As always, Tesla short sellers and naysayers were quick to spread rumors and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) before Cyber Rodeo.  However, the "haterade" was quickly drained by Musk at this gala event. Indeed, he confirmed that Cybertruck production will surely start next year.

However, it’s been a few years since Elon Musk unveiled the Cybertruck back in 2019. Tesla needs to start the production of this futuristic pickup truck soon because they have a backlog of well over 1 million pre-orders. And according to Franz von Holzhausen, "It’s worth it, it’s well worth the wait, it’s gonna be awesome!"

Above: Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen (left), Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right), Cybertruck behind both of them at the Cyber Rodeo (Source: Tesla)

The Cybertruck tooling and production lines will be quite different compared to Tesla’s other vehicles as it's made of 30X cold-rolled stainless steel. The entire underbody of the Cybertruck will be a single-piece casting for which an Italian engineering company named IDRA is developing 8000-ton Giga Press machines.

Other hurdles in production start include the addition of new features to the Cybertruck like the 4-wheel steering crab mode, no door handles, no rain wipers, etc. That said, I'm sure Musk and Team Tesla will figure it all out.

Twitter: Arash Malek

Some things have changed with the recent prototype. Tesla successfully removed the door handles from the Cybertruck prototype and Elon Musk explicitly showed this new feature during his keynote address at the Cyber Rodeo event.

“I think this will be [our] magnum opus, I mean you can see some of the changes we’ve made already, there are no handles, who needs handles. The car can tell that you’re there and it just knows that it needs to open,” Musk explained.

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Written by: Iqtidar Ali. An earlier version of this article was originally published by Tesla Oracle. Revised update edited by EVANNEX.