After two years of delays and anticipation, Tesla’s digital showroom offers the highly controversial Cybertruck. CEO Elon Musk handed over the first customers’ vehicles during a special event on Thursday at the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. Though the looks and specs are spectacular, the Cybertruck also puts dark accolades around its promised range and price.

Arriving on stage driving a Cybertuck, Musk described it as Tesla’s best product and, once again, emphasized its futuristic design, drawing inspiration from the film ‘Blade Runner’ and the amphibious vehicle ‘Wet Nellie’from ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’. In the real world, the often postponed Cybertruck arrives late at the party where Ford with the F-150 Lightning and Rivian RT-1 are already on the road.

Outperforming the 911

Tesla knows well. So, Musk showed a comparison chart demonstrating how the Cybertruck outperforms its rivals dominantly. Never shy of a bold statement, the CEO even mentioned that “the Cyberbeast (the top version, e.n.) can outperform a Porsche on the quarter-mile while towing a 911″.

The Cybertruck boasts impressive aerodynamic performance, with a Cd of only 0.33, which is unprecedented for a compact-sized pickup truck. As for drivelines, the vehicle is offered with dual or triple electric motors (the violent Cyberbeast) and ranges of 340 (547 kilometers) and 320 miles (515 kilometers).

That’s where the hitch sits. Customers must opt for a ‘ range extender ‘ to achieve the initially promised range of 470 miles. It is not a small gasoline engine but an extra battery pack occupying one-third of the load bed. Adding 20 000 dollars to the retail price will likely influence some of the commercial potential. But according to Tesla, this version, available with both drivelines, only serves for ‘very long trips’ and ‘towing heavy things up a mountain’. Isn’t that usual in the US?

Bi-directional charging

As for pioneering technology, the pickup truck offers a steer-by-wire system, a 48-volt electrical system (instead of 12 volts for the on-board functions like on the other Tesla models), and various power outlets in the bed, which serve the needs of powering the tools of professional workers or can charge other EVs. The Cybertruck also comes with vehicle-to-home functionality called Powershare.

The latter has an 11 kW output capability, meaning the truck can power a home in case of electricity fallout or perturbing grid fluctuations. Notably, this functionality requires a dedicated wallbox, adding 3 900 dollars to the overall cost. Remarkably, existing customers who purchased Tesla’s in-house wall connector should be able to use bi-directional charging without additional hardware.

Lightning is cheaper

The base model of the Cybertruck starts at 61 000 dollars (55 900 euros) and comes also in black and white, next to the exclusively spotted unpainted versions. That pricing is 10 000 dollars (9 170 euros) more than a Ford F-150 Lightning and significantly higher than the previously announced starting point of 40 000 euros (€ 36 780). The so-called ‘most exceptional object on the road’ is met by its price. Despite this threshold, Musk targets an annual output of 250 000 units by 2025.

As mind-boggling as it may look, Musk has been uttering doubts about the profitability of the Cybertruck, which also helps to explain that pricing strategy. A few weeks ago, he joked that at Tesla, “we have dug our own grave with the Cybertruck”.

True or false as that may be, the official release entails the beginning of an end of a four-year waiting period. The first concept version was shown in 2019, and the company received 250 000 reservations within a week. It is believed to have risen to 2 million as of this year. Considering the output, patience will still be a prerequisite for interested buyers.