The Tesla Cybertruck: Everything You Need to Know

Cybertrucks have been delivered, officially. We still don’t know how much they cost.

Published November 30, 2023

Updated December 1, 2023

Tesla officially launched the Cybertruck back in 2019. It has not hit full production yet. But when it does — around four years after its debut — it should be the most striking vehicle on the road.

Piecing together reports, rumors and Elon Musk tweets — the closest thing Tesla has to an official PR department — it’s clear the production Cybertruck will be markedly different from the initial release. Here’s what we know about it as of this writing.

What we know after Tesla’s Cybertruck Delivery Event

Tesla held a Cybertruck delivery event at its GigaFactory in Texas, delivering the first Cybetrucks to owners. Musk did reveal some specs for the new truck.

Top Range: 340 miles
Tow Rating: 11,000 pounds (same as the Rivian R1T, less than the 14,000-plus pounds estimated)
Payload: 2,500 pounds (815 pounds less than the max rating for a Ford F-150)
0-60 Time: 2.6 seconds (faster than the 2.9 estimated)
Curb Weight: 6,850 pounds (about 300 pounds less than Rivian R1T)
Lockable Storage: 67 cubic feet (Tesla had claimed 100 cubic feet)
Tires: 35-inch all-terrain
Ground Clearance: 17 inches
Drag coefficient: 0.335

So the Cybertruck is officially in production?

first production cybertruck shrouded by employees

That’s not entirely clear. Tesla tweeted that it built its first Cybertruck at its Giga Texas facility. The brand did purportedly deliver trucks to real customers at the event. However, Elon Musk said that the Cybertruck will not hit “full volume” production until 2024.

Musk clarified during Tesla’s Q3 2023 earnings call that “we dug our own grave with the Cybertruck,” acknowledging that there will be difficulties ramping up to full production and it may take 18 months before the Cybertruck is cash flow positive.

How much will the Cybertruck cost?

Tesla unveiled Cybertruck pricing in the configurator on its website. The All-Wheel-Drive trim starts at $79,990. The Cyberbeast trim starts at $99,990. Both trucks will be available in 2024. The base Rear-Wheel-Drive trim will start at $60,990 and be available in 2025.

The Cybertruck does not appear to have exterior door handles

The production Cybertruck made a nod to convention with door mirrors. But it does not appear to have exterior door handles (or at least easily accessible ones). Elon Musk was letting passengers into their trucks by reaching inside a rolled-down window — offering a preview of how that may work in practice.

What will the Tesla Cybertruck look like?

light display showing silhouette of the cybertruck

Prototypes have been out testing (and being towed) in the wild. The Cybertruck looks broadly similar to the truck Elon Musk initially revealed with an angular, Blader Runner-inspired silhouette and an unpainted stainless steel “exoskeleton.” The ginormous windshield wiper blade will be making it to production.

Tesla has started offering pricey wrap options on other vehicles. So we may see that with the Cybertruck too at some point.

The Tesla Cybertruck will have an adaptive air suspension

Tesla says the Cybertruck will have an adaptive air suspension, which it says allows for up to 12 inches of travel. The truck will be able to raise or lower four inches in either direction. It will also offer a self-leveling function.

The Tesla Cybertruck will borrow a cool feature from the Hummer EV SUT

Elon Musk said the Cybertruck will offer four-wheel steering. This feature will allow the Cybertruck to Crab Walk diagonally like the Hummer EV SUT.

More importantly, the rear wheels will be able to turn the opposite direction from the front wheels, allowing the Cybertruck to make tighter turns and, like the Hummer be more maneuverable than it should be in tight spaces given its size.

Elon Musk said the Cybertruck can function “briefly” as a boat

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Elon Musk tweeted that the Cybertruck will be “waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat.” Musk noted the truck should be able to cross “rivers, lakes and even seas that aren’t too choppy.” Musk wants the truck to be able to cross the channel from the SpaceX Starbase to South Padre island (theoretically cutting down on employee commutes).

It’s not entirely clear what that means yet. EVs and EV trucks in particular have excellent waterproofing; allowing water and salt into the battery compartment would be catastrophic and costly to fix. And the high-riding Cybertruck should have a formidable wading depth.

A reminder that — as the Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources noted — anything that claims to “serve briefly as a boat” is not a boat.

Does the Tesla Cybertruck come with a yoke?

Sort of of. Tesla’s chief designer confirmed the brand was looking at a yoke for Cybertruck steering. And production models appear to have an apparatus similar to the yoke but with an enclosed top.

Can you buy the Tesla Cyberquad?

cowboy hat guy riding a tesla cyber quad

Not in America. For the initial Cybertruck launch, Tesla built the Cyberquad, a quad-bike ATV that could fit in the Cybertruck’s bed. Tesla was selling a scaled-down Cyberquad for Kids that could accommodate riders older than eight and less than 150 pounds with a 15-mile range and a top speed of 10 mph.

Tesla had to pull the product from the U.S. market as it did not meet ATV safety regulations. But as Bloomberg spotted, Tesla is selling them in China.