Dimensions and Specs
On March 10th, Tesla investor Matthew Donegan-Ryan uploaded a video break-down of his time at Tesla’s Investor Day on March 1st -And the largest chunk of information gained during the showroom tour was about the dimensions and specifications of the Cybertruck.
Aside from the bed being a full 6 inches longer than its Ford F150 competitor - the overall size of the Cybertruck has actually shrunk by over 5% in all dimensions. Design staff on the floor say that this was done to allow the truck to fit inside the average American garage, so fair enough.
However, the truck is still wide enough to require amber lighting in the front and rear by law - and the design team confirm that the windshield light bar will be a standard feature of the Cybertruck at launch. Matthew believes they will end up looking a lot like the Tesla Semi’s lights, and that’s a pretty solid bet. Tesla’s been working to increase efficiency in their vehicles by using the same parts across multiple models, so this just seems like an easy instance to do that.
Unfortunately, due to the downsizing of the vehicle, it looks like the Cybertruck won’t be getting a six-seat option - a move which was likely driven by safety constraints as much as the smaller vehicle size. The sixth seat had been facing the touch screen - which would make it harder to find a good airbag solution.
The site does still advertise six seats, but the team on the floor at the event very bluntly confirmed that the Cybertruck will only be coming with 5 seats once production begins.
However, while taking a look at the seats, Matthew was able to get a couple of questions answered about the interior.
It looks like the standard steering wheel will be an interesting combination of a normal wheel and that racing yoke that’s been so popular in other Tesla models. It’s rounded on the sides and flat on top - but like with all the other details here, it’s still subject to change before production.
The display is one of the largest in Tesla’s fleet at 18 point 5 inches, and there’s a rear-seat screen too for passengers. Designers confirmed that there’s not going to be any gauge cluster, center display, or HUD for the Cybertruck - at least in the beginning.
Moving to the exterior, we got confirmation about the packages for tire packages that will be available at launch. According to floor staff, there will be both an All-terrain and a standard, all-season package for the 18 inch tires - which are being custom made by GoodYear for those wondering.
But those wheels are mounted on one of the most interesting parts of the Cybertruck - the air suspension. These are those big cylinders you can see behind the tires, and can raise the truck higher to avoid obstacles while off-roading - or lower it for more efficiency while highway driving.
Industry veteran Sandy Munroe was on site and apparently commented that these were the biggest air-suspension cylinders he’s ever seen - which is impressive, but makes more sense when we hear that the designers tested the Cybertruck on Baja-style terrain. The Cybertruck should be able to off-road very well.
Especially with dual-motor as a standard. The Cybertruck will have two variants, that being dual-motor and tri-motor - despite a December tweet from CEO Elon Musk discussing a 4-motor variant. Matthew says that the design staff were pretty clear on this one, so it’s likely they decided to drop the quad-motor variant in favour of getting to production this year.
Both of these variants will also have rear-wheel steering according to staff. Apparently the components for this are between the wheel well and the cab - likely taking up the space where some storage space was proposed in the bed’s side sails in earlier mock-ups.
The last thing that Mathew discussed with the team was pricing. He guesses that it’s going to be somewhere near the same price as a fully loaded Model X, but the staff there told him that he shouldn’t be so sure about that.
And that raises a pretty interesting thought - with the Inflation Reduction Act looming over the market, Tesla has been making lots of price adjustments on their vehicles to keep them inside certain grant brackets. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that they would price the Cybertruck so that the rebates given out through the IRA would knock it under the $80k range.
But that’s one question we didn’t get a specific answer to - but luckily we won’t have to wait too much longer to find out. Cybertruck is due to go into production in just a couple of months, and by then we should know the price, as well as the definitive numbers behind all these specs.