Tesla (TSLA)’s incredibly hyped and secretive electric pickup truck, which CEO Elon Musk teased as “Cybertruck,” is finally set to make its debut at an event on Thursday night in Los Angeles near the SpaceX rocket factory ahead of the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Despite being only hours away from Tesla’s big reveal, little is known about the electric pickup truck—we don’t know what it looks like, its specs, price or even its official name.
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So far, we only have a rough idea of how cool the new arrival is supposed to be. Musk has said the pickup is inspired by the movie Blade Runner and that “it looks like an armored personnel carrier from the future.”
As far as specs, the Tesla chief executive has promised that the “Cybertruck” will have a battery strong enough to support a range of up to 500 miles, longer than any of the range limits offered by existing Tesla models, and will have up to 30,000 pounds of towing capacity, making it “a pickup truck that can carry a pickup truck.”
All of these features will be available at an affordable price point. Musk has ballparked the starting price just below $50,000, a midpoint between Tesla’s entry-level Model 3 (starting at $39,400)and the high-end Model S (starting at $79,990).
“It’s got to be, like, $49,000 starting price max. Ideally less,” Musk said of the truck earlier this year. “It just can’t be unaffordable. It’s got to be something that’s affordable.”
About a minute in, we flashed a teaser pic of Tesla cyberpunk truck pic.twitter.com/hLsGsdyuGA
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2019
Several traditional automobile giants, including General Motors, Ford and Germany’s Volkswagen AG, are engaged in an arms race to challenge Tesla’s supremacy in the electric sedan and SUV segments. But no company has established a meaningful electric presence in the high-demand pickup truck segment just yet.
Tesla will likely face competition from Rivian Automotive, a company backed by GM and Amazon specializing in making electric trucks, and Ford, which has announced plans to make an electric F-150, the longtime best-selling pickup model in America.
