Tesla Cybertruck locked in for 2023… maybe

Elon Musk has set another production date for the incoming Cybertruck, this time promising that full-scale production will ramp up next year with the Tesla Cybertruck locked in for 2023.

Close followers of the Cybertruck story will recognise that this isn’t the first time the Tesla boss has made a promise about the brand’s first and futuristic pick-up. When revealing the prototype version in late 2019, Tesla suggested production would begin late in 2021.

Earlier this year, the brand suggested 2022 would be the green-light year for the new truck, but that has now also been pushed back, this time to 2023.

While most Tesla news comes from Musk’s Twitter feed, this nugget emerged from an inventor conference, where he told listeners the EV truck will reach “volume production” by 2023, and will be joined by the Tesla Roadster and Semi Truck.

Keep in mind, of course, that the Cybertruck is not yet confirmed for Australia, despite Tesla taking $150 deposits.

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The delay, Musk says, is supply-chain related, but he also suggests the brand will have those issues sorted by then.

The US$69,900 Cybertruck Tri Motor AWD is claimed to have upwards of 805km of EV range, tow more than 6350kg and complete the 0-60mph (96km/h) dash in 2.9 seconds.

The US$49,900 Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD claims upwards of 483km of EV range, more than 4535kg of tow capacity and the ability to hit 96km/h in 4.5 seconds.

The most affordable US$39,900 Single Motor RWD version of the Cybertruck – which had always been scheduled to enter production late in 2022 – now gets the same estimated production time. In other words, production is due to near in 2022, possibly later.

That Cybertruck Single Motor RWD has an estimated 402km-plus range, 3400-plus-kiliogram tow capacity and 0-96km/h time of less than 6.5 seconds.

While Tesla has gone a little quiet on the number of pre-orders its holding for the Cybertruck, fan-launched order trackers suggest the company is now sitting on a whopping 1.2m pre-orders, which would mean – should they turn into actual orders and deliveries – some US$80b in revenue for the company.

Better get a wriggle on then.