Tesla Unveiled Its First Electric Powered Cyber Truck

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk have unveiled the first electric battery-powered Cyber truck at a launch event in Los Angeles. The cyber truck is partly influenced by the Lotus Esprit sports car, which is doubled as a submarine as shown in the James Bond movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’.

However, the tech entrepreneur had to face an awkward moment during the launch. After the introduction of the cyber truck, displaying how the truck’s stainless steel exterior and metal windows, could withstand bullets and sledgehammers, when Musk invited Tesla’s lead designer Franz von Holzhausen to throw a large metal ball at the window on the driver’s side to demonstrate the strength of the vehicle’s armored glass windows the stunt backfired, the window promptly cracked. Elon Musk then asked Holzhausen to test the window on the passenger side, again the window broke.

He later addressed the audience and said that in the earlier tests, the window of the cyber truck did not break. He said, “We threw wrenches, we threw everything. We even literally threw a kitchen sink at the glass, and it didn’t break. For a little weird reason it broke now, I don’t know why”. He also assured saying, “We’ll fix it in the post production”.

The Tesla Cyber truck has a starting price of $39,900 with a maximum range of 250 plus miles, while the most expensive model is available at $69,900, which has a range of 500 miles. The truck will have the seating capacity of up to six adults and haul a payload of 3,500lbs. Production of the truck is expected to begin by late 2021.

The pickup market now will have significant opportunity for Tesla, as it improves its battery technology, which means carrying heavier loads over long distances is now practical.

According to Edmunds, large trucks have accounts for 14.4% of new vehicle sales up until October this year, compared to 12.6% in 2015. Elon Musk has also said that the pre-orders would start immediately, with production starting by late 2021. 

 

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX has successfully launched its first batch of 60 small satellites recently into the low earth orbit for the new Starlink Internet service. His aim is to launch nearly 2,000 satellites every year, with the ultimate goal of placing up to 12,000 satellites into the orbit for the project.