Tesla has delivered the first 10 Cybertruck to actual customers. After an extensive development period, it has made it out to the real world. Pricing, performance and availability details are now public.
Cybertruck uses hard stainless steel and can withstand a large hammer hit and bullets. The stainless steel finish is not painted and Tesla gets cost savings from not having to paint it. It uses thicker glass that reduces noise and able to not break when hit with steel ball as Tesla chief designer Franz von Holzhausen famously demonstrated in its first public unveiling. Cybertruck’s triangle shape is unique and gets a lot of attention as there is nothing like it out there.
While Cybertruck unit volume will start low, it will drive a lot of interest to the Tesla showroom and create a halo effect and potentially generate sales of Tesla’s other models. Lines form at showrooms that has Cybertruck on display. Tesla is offering $1,000 discount for Cybertruck reservation holders towards a purchase and delivery of a Tesla cars before year end.
Below is table comparing Cybertruck to Rivian’s R1T electric truck.
| Rear-Wheel Drive | All-Wheel Drive | Cyberbeast | Rivian R1T Dual Motor | Rivian R1T Dual Motor Performance | Rivian R1T Quad-Motor | |
| Delivery | 2025 | 2024 | 2024 | 2023 | 2023 | 2023 |
| Price | $49,890 | $68,890 | $96,390 | $69,900 -89,000 | $78,000-94,000 | $87,000 |
| Range | 250 miles | 340 miles | 320 miles | 270-410 miles | 352-410 miles | 328 miles |
| 0-60 mph | 6.8 | 4.1 | 2.6 (w/ rollout time subtracted) | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.0 |
| 1/4 miles | 11.0s @ 119 mph ( by Hagerty) | 11.7s @ 110 mph | ||||
| horsepower | 600 | 845 | 533 | 665 | 835 | |
| torque | 7,435 lb-ft | 10,296 lb-ft | 610 lb-ft | 829 lb-ft | 908 lb-ft | |
| towing | 7,500 lbs | 11,000 lbs | 11,000 lbs | 11,000 lbs | 11,000 lbs | 11,000 lbs |
The 1/4 miles times are from Hagerty’s Youtube review of Cybertruck. As comparison, 2023 Rivian R1T Quad Motor’s 1/4 mile is 11.7s @ 110mph.
Cybertruck has some key innovations. It uses 800v architecture and this reduces current to produce equivalent power. Power = Voltage (V) x Current (I). Thus with an increase in voltage, the current can drop. Current is the determining factor in how thick wires have to be. Cybertruck uses thinner and lighter wires and reduces weight and cost. It also allows it to charge at Supercharger V4 speed of 350kW. It uses 48v accessory electrical system vs current industry 12v standard. Communication and interconnect use ethernet with deterministic packet scheduling.
The higher 48V lower voltage system enables Cybertruck to steer by wire. The front uses two motors and the back is steered by a single motor. At low speed the rear wheels steer in opposite direction from the front to have tighter turning radius.
Coefficient of drag (cd.) is 0.34. The Rivian R1T is 0.30 for comparision.
Cyberbeast edition uses two induction motors in the back and 1 permanent magnet motor in the front. Permanent magnets are more expensive than induction motors and uses rare earth metals. The induction motors become magnetic by running electricity and can be disabled by stopping electrical flow to it and this eliminates need for clutches to disengage the motor.