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The Sales Titans
Apple, Samsung, and Huawei dominate the smartphone market in terms of sheer sales volume. Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler on the other hand dominate a completely different kind of market: pickup trucks. All of these companies bestselling products are the Ford F series, Chevrolet Silverado, and Ram pickups respectively. Not only are pickup trucks the bestselling vehicles of these companies, but are also the #1 selling vehicles in the United States, Canada, and other markets. It is not wonder that even Japanese companies such as Toyota and Nissan, have decided to enter this segment long ago.
Startups Springing Up
All-electric vehicles are not entirely new. But, it was only since the 2010s that all-electric vehicles have started taking off tremendously. Nissan’s Leaf and Tesla’s Model S, 3, and X can be largely credited for this. It was not until closer to the end of the decade that automakers started eyeing North America’s most lucrative segment: pickup trucks. When startup Rivian felt the timing was right, they unveiled themselves to the world back in November 2018 with their all-electric pickup trucks. The specifications and capabilities of these trucks impressed investors so much, that Ford and Amazon invested 500 and 700 million respectively into it. From that moment and onward, both legacy and startup automakers having been gearing up quickly to get their pickup trucks onto the road by 2020-2022. Rivian, Atlis, Bollinger, Ford, and General Motors are taking part in the competition. It was only natural that the world’s most famous and best selling all-electric company, Telsa, would enter the competition.
Enter The Tesla Cybertruck
Elon Musk had Tweeted about his desire to build a radical pickup truck all the way back in July 2012. Looking back then, and looking at now, 2019, it turns out that he had been serious about his idea of a super truck the whole time. After years of Tweets and ideas, Tesla’s pickup truck was officially unveiled on November 22, 2019, 8:00 PM PST, at Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne, California.
Cyber Girl
The stage is lit with red and white lights, before a holographic cyber girl appears on the stage’s screen. Despite being the introduction, she oddly remains one of, if not, the least talked about subjects of the event. She expresses environmental concerns about how there will be no stars, the skies polluted, and the world’s addiction to oil. Her solution is the Cybertruck: fashion and function as she puts it before introducing her creator, Elon Musk in this case. While the overwhelming majority of people dismissed her, not everyone did. Some people were curious about who exactly this cyber girl was. Tesla did not respond, but fans pointed out that her tattoo looked just like the one on Claire Boucher’s leg.
The Hype Show
Highly predictably, the audience was very thrilled to see Elon on stage. This is evidenced by the number of people that shouted “I love you!” only to have him tell the audience that he loves them as well, before carrying onto his serious point: pickups being the same for 100 years. Both in terms of aesthetics, and the type of fuel they consume. Once he is finished showing the audience the historical and present day appearances of the Ford F-series, Chevrolet trucks, and Ram trucks, he presents the Cybertruck. Stage smoke blows, and flames go up, creating intense hype as the Tesla Cybertruck enters the stage.
The Shock Factor
At this point, the world has both seen, and for some people, physically entered the Cybertruck. This truck has been Tweeted, Instagrammed, blogged, and covered across all spectrums of the media extensively. The results? Millions of varying opinions, jokes, memes, ridicule, praise, videos, and more. The two most discussed aspects of the Cybertuck are its design, and its glass breaking during the presentation.
Cybertruck Design
The Cybertruck’s design is widely regarded as extremely polarizing, due to the fact there is nothing on the present day market that looks anything like it. Some critics have compared it to a cross of a Honda Ridgeline (2004 – 2015) and Pontiac Aztek. Others cite the DMC Delorean. Even with the comparison between these vehicles, they still do not quite resemble it all that closely. For the Cybertruck, its combination of the single, cyclops glasses-style headlamp, and entirely polygonal body puts it into an entirely new category.
Broken Glass
Elon stated that the glass of the Cybertruck was supposed to be bullet-proof to 9mm rounds. To simulate its strength during the presentation, he allowed his chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, to slam a hammer into the body, and then chuck steel balls at the glass. Unfortunately, the steel balls cracked the glass, causing Elon to react with shock. Franz then suggested to do the rear windows. Upon carrying out the same act, it also cracks, but still did not go through. Elon himself admitted there was room for improvement. This caused much criticism, ridicule, laughter, memes and other forms of reactions on the Internet. Sometime after the presentation ended, it was then revealed that the glass shattered because the impact of slamming the hammer into the doors, caused the glass to drop a little. This resulted in reduced strength, thus causing it to break. Some people also added that it also could been the fact that they were throwing too many balls at it, before the presentation. This could have reduced its strength, regardless of whether the windows parted or not. Concerns were expressed that for safety reasons the glass should not be too tough, because it would make rescuing its occupants challenging in an emergency.
Specifications
The opinions on the styling of the Cybertruck vary tremendously. If there is one thing that the majority of people have agreed on, is that its specifications are very good for its price point.
Single Motor
- Price $39,900 USD
- 0-96 Km/H <6.5 Seconds
- RANGE 402+ Kilometres (Estimate)
- Rear-wheel Drive
- Storage 2.83 Cubic Metres
- Vault Length 1.98 Metres
- Towing Capacity 3400 Kilograms
Dual Motor
- Price $49,900 USD
- 0-96 Km/H <4.5 Seconds
- RANGE 482+ Kilometres (Estimate)
- Dual motor All-wheel Drive
- Storage 2.83 Cubic Metres
- Vault Length 1.98 Metres
- Towing Capacity 4535 kilograms
Tri Motor
- Price $69,900 USD
- 0-96 Km/H <2.9 Seconds
- RANGE 804+ Kilometres (Estimate)
- Tri motor All-wheel Drive
- Storage 2.83 Cubic Metres
- Vault Length 1.98 Metres
- Towing Capacity 6350 kilograms
Standard Across All Motors
- Payload 1587 kilograms
- Autopilot
- Adaptive Air Suspension
- 35 Degrees Approach Angle
- 28 Degrees Departure Angle
- Up to 40cm of ground clearance
* Notice: Tesla stated that the international specifications may change by the time the truck is ready for the global market.
Safety And Legality
The Tesla Cybertruck’s futuristic look is without a doubt the most attention-grabbing aspect of the vehicle. They also happen to be the most illegal, according to both professional critics such as the SGS-TÜV, and commentators on social media platforms.
Headlights
The slim, singular strip of lighting is said to be illegal, because it is not a proper headlight cluster. It is true that many countries such as Canada, require daytime running lights (DRL) to increase the visibility of vehicles in motion during the day. It also true that if the lamps can single left, right, and be able to go from high beam to low beam, or vice versa, that it should allow it be legal. Some countries also have spacing requirements between the headlights. Tesla should be able to get away with it, by fitting in the clusters to perform the lighting functions mentioned, splitting the beam in two, or making the middle dimmed out.
Taillights
The taillights are rather slim, and are not on a static surface. This problem can be fixed by moving them to a static surface area on the vehicle’s rear profile.
Dangerous Exoskeleton
The 30X Cold-Rolled stainless-steel used to make the Cybertruck highly resilient to damage, makes it dangerous to both the occupants inside it, and anything else its strikes outside. The following are paraphrases of SGS-TÜV’s statements:
“The toughened shell endangers passengers. In an accident there are enormous forces acting on the occupants such that airbags no longer help. We have not seen a Cybertruck in a crash test, so we do not know if or how Tesla has addressed this concern . The occupants feel safe, but they are not.
“Pedestrians will take hard knocks as well, which is a huge no-no in Europe. National regulations say that the front of the vehicle must not be stiff. The bumper and bonnet must be able to absorb energy to protect the pedestrians. If a sledgehammer swing will not leave a dent in the Cybertruck’s bodywork, pedestrians and cyclists will get bounced off the pickup like squash balls.
Since the Cybertruck does not have a crumple zone, is is true that it would not only endanger pedestrians, but also send the force of a collision straight to its occupants, likely causing legal issues in North America, and other regions as well. Time will tell how Tesla will address these structural safety problems.
No Windshield Wipers And Side Mirrors
In Europe, vehicles are allowed to use cameras in place of side mirrors. Such is not the case in the United States, as well as other countries. Regulators could approve this before launch, but if not, adding side mirror would not be a difficult thing to do. The same goes for the windshield wipers, which would not be a painstaking engineering challenge.
Missing Automotive Badge
The Tesla Cybertruck prototype does not have a Tesla Badge anywhere on its exterior. While not a critical issue in terms of safety or legality, it was something that was hardly, if ever, mentioned talked about within the media. Tesla will likely have it in place for the production model.
Will It Be Successful?
Despite all the opinions on the Tesla Cybertruck, and how extraterrestrial it looks, it appears that it may very well be successful. Not only has Elon Tweeted that they received 250,000 preoders as of November 26, 2019, but consumer, commercial, and media interest outside of the preorders has been very high. This should not be too surprising considering that most of the world loves Tesla, despite the controversies and faults they have faced in the past. Tesla has garnered a major fanbase, and North America’s love for pickup trucks — be it small, mid-sized, stylish, rugged, have been proven to sell in voluminous numbers. Particularly, full-sized pickup trucks.
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