Meghana KandraIn the recent shareholder meeting, Musk said that Cybertruck specifications and price will be different. Then the first stated specifications of the Cybertruck back in 2019, priced at $39,900, is going to vary. However, there aren’t many details that have been revealed yet. Earlier it was known that the company will launch three specifications, and now many details remain unclear.
Image credits- Electrek
The specifications stated in 2019 are single rear-wheel drive, dual motor all-wheel drive, and triple motor all-wheel drive. The single motor rear-wheel drive will have 250 miles of range and zero to 60mph capabilities in under 6.5 seconds. It is priced at $39,900 and has 7,500 pounds towing capacity. The dual motor all-wheel drive has 300 miles of range and can go up to zero to 60mph in 4.5 seconds. It is priced at $49,900 and has 10,000 pounds towing capacity. Triple motor all-wheel drive has 500 miles range and can go up to 60moh in 2.9 seconds.
Furthermore, the reservation numbers kept increasing. In June 2020, it was around 650,000 according to reports. The reservation tally by the Cybertruck forum was known to be crowdsourced with over 28,000 entries. With that, the reservation reached over 1 million by May 2021, according to Electrek. Now it is estimated to be over 1.5 million reservations for electric pickup trucks.
Tax credits
It is known that Tesla has recently raised prices (again) for its non-vaporware lineup of EVs, except for the Model 3. And the company caught a bit of good news when it was revealed that the new climate deal was put forward by Senate Democrats. If passed, would eliminate the cap of 200,000 vehicles sold to trigger a phaseout of the $7,500 tax credit. Tesla was the first automaker to sell 200,000 EVs, triggering the phaseout back in 2018.
However, the legislation would restrict eligibility for the credits to EVs priced no higher than $55,000 for new cars. Also, $80,000 for pickups and SUVs, which means Tesla will need to price the Cybertruck accordingly if it’s to be eligible. During the meeting, the CEO again said that Tesla is tracking to start Cybertruck production in the middle of 2023, though this time he specified “volume production.” Musk said that Tesla was targeting a start off of manufacturing for the electric powered pickup truck in “late 2022” at Gigafactory Texas. With the concentration evidently on bringing the Model Y to output at the factory, that got delayed even more. It was evident that the timeline would slip, but the registrations kept increasing regardless. Over years the CEO, Elon Musk appeared to keep up promotions indirectly by showcasing the vehicle often over the past year.