Through the Cybertruck occasion final 12 months, Elon Musk confirmed off a fairly spectacular demo that pitted its 6,600-lb EV pickup towards a Porsche 911 on a quarter-mile drag strip. The Cybertruck got here out on prime — with the twist that it was towing a Porche 911, too.
Tesla claims the $99,990 tri-motor “Cyberbeast” went from zero to 60 miles per hour in simply 2.6 seconds and accomplished the quarter-mile race in lower than 11 seconds. However was that actually the case? In a video posted final week, YouTuber Engineering Defined calls out Musk for pedaling what seems to be exaggerations in regards to the Cybertruck’s capabilities.
For one, channel proprietor Jason Fenske says the Cybertruck doesn’t truly full the complete quarter-mile race within the demo — as a substitute, Tesla ends the race on the one-eighth mile marker. Fenske factors out that each autos are solely “midway to the timing boards” when Tesla exhibits the view of the Porsche and Cybertruck crossing the end line facet by facet.
That implies they solely accomplished one-eighth of a mile, because the timing boards are usually positioned on the finish of the quarter-mile strip. Fenske discovered some extra proof supporting this, too, and even measured the size of the monitor on Google Maps utilizing landmarks from the video.
This isn’t the one potential discrepancy Cybertruck house owners have discovered to this point, now that the automobile is being delivered to consumers. One other YouTuber, Kyle Conner from Out of Spec Motoring, held a livestream to check the Cybertruck’s vary. On the finish of the five-hourlong stream, Conner discovered that the Basis Collection dual-motor mannequin solely acquired round 254 miles of vary after a full cost — fairly decrease than the 320-mile vary promised by Tesla. The chilly would possibly’ve had one thing to do with the lower-than-expected vary, although, as Conner took it out on a freeway in round 45-degree climate. Chilly climate can considerably cut back an EV’s vary.
In the meantime, over on the Cybertruck House owners Membership discussion board, one person has discovered that towing a heavy load severely limits the vary of the automobile, which is predicted. Of their checks, they used their all-wheel drive Cybertruck to tow a Tesla Mannequin Y on a trailer weighing in at a complete of round 6,000 kilos. The driving force acquired simply round 111 miles on an 84 p.c cost earlier than the Cybertruck’s battery petered out
Tesla mentioned it would finally launch a variety extender that’s supposed to supply a further 130 miles of vary, however these findings don’t precisely go together with Tesla’s portrayal of the present Cybertruck as a towing powerhouse. The supply occasion final 12 months closely promoted the truck as in a position to do all of the issues regular vans do, together with towing heavy objects resembling a SpaceX rocket engine.
The Cybertruck won’t be as rugged as Musk describes it, both. A submit on Reddit affords a glimpse of the Cybertruck’s proprietor’s guide, which notes that the Cybertruck’s exterior “doesn’t have a transparent coat on the floor of the outside physique panels” — one thing most automobiles have to assist shield the paint towards injury from the solar and minor scratches.
As an alternative, Tesla notes “any scratches that seem are within the chrome steel panels themselves.” All of this doesn’t fairly add as much as the Cybertruck being the otherworldly beast able to going off-road and being “constructed for any planet,” particularly when obvious software program points stranded this Cybertruck within the snow. The Cybertruck won’t even be essentially the most sensible pickup for right here on Earth.