On August 28, 2024, a Tesla Cybertruck parked in front of a graffiti mural in Detroit.
Michael Weiland/CNBC
DETROIT – Spaceship. Dream car. UFO. Trash can. Cool. Stupid. Extraordinary. disgust.
These are all words used to describe Tesla Cybertruck during 24 hour car rental in Metro Detroit. These sentiments were echoed by strangers, friends, family, and automotive industry experts and employees.
An uncommon word? “truck.”
This is because the Tesla Cybertruck is more like a “network” than a “truck.” It does have some truck features, like a pickup bed and other practical features, but it’s not a truck in any traditional sense.
This is a unique product that only appears occasionally. Similar to the first SUVs, minivans or “convertible pickups” such as the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino, it created a new segment in the automotive industry that it owned exclusively.
That’s both a boon and a detriment to Tesla and its competitors, especially Detroit’s truck-reliant automakers, which have spent decades improving their trucks to meet customer demand. This includes things like bed access, door handle size, seat height and interior components.
The Cybertruck isn’t a direct competitor to traditional automakers’ electric trucks. The Cybertruck is a Tesla fan/owner’s “truck” and the company’s experimentation with many aspects of its technology, including new electrical architecture and steering systems.
Ford F-150 Lightning, Tesla Cybertruck and GMC Sierra Denali electric vehicle fronts (from left to right).
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According to Edmunds.com, the top vehicles cross-shopped for the Cybertruck were four other Tesla models, followed by the Ford F-150 Lightning in fifth place, accounting for 7.4% of potential buyers.
I drove a roughly $100,000 all-wheel-drive version of the Cybertruck in normal driving and traffic conditions in Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, including a brief downpour where the vehicle’s large wiper blades behaved very good.
I did not test the vehicle’s towing or hauling capabilities, and recent reports of durability issues with the vehicle’s aluminum frame have called that capability into question. Most notably, in a viral video YouTube channel WhistlinDiesel.
I wanted to get a better first-hand knowledge of the vehicle and compare it to other automakers’ electric trucks, but that was harder than initially expected. I also purposely did not watch or read any reviews about the vehicle in advance before driving it.
Drive a Cybertruck
The Cybertruck is unlike any other vehicle I’ve driven. This includes every all-electric truck sold today General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Rivian Cars.
The only vehicle that comes close to a similar driving experience is General Motors’ Hummer EV. Both are large, flashy and quirky vehicles whose reputations outweigh their utility. But the Hummer EV still feels like a truck with its driving dynamics, seats and overall functionality. Not so with the Cybertruck.
A Tesla Cybertruck near the GM Renaissance Center global headquarters in Detroit.
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The Cybertruck features a compact steering system that includes a joystick and a “steer-by-wire” system; a rigid sports car-like chassis; and although casual, the design is more form than function, which has historically been one of the top reasons to buy a pickup truck. one.
The seats feel more like a car than a truck. Even when the vehicle is on the “high” setting (which can only go below 25 mph), it’s still several inches lower than most electric trucks.
That’s not to say it’s not “tough.” as seen on YouTubethe company and owners fired bullets at it, threw steel balls through its windows and conducted other tests that were below industry standards. That being said, the vehicle I was driving had just over 2,000 miles on it and I noticed two pieces of trim peeling off the sealant/rails of the roll bed cover.
Potential issues with frame durability are cause for concern. It is the foundation of the vehicle and everything is built on it. If the frame breaks, Even under harsh test conditionsis a serious problem.
It’s on another level in terms of its polarizing design. This makes GMC’s Hummer look normal. Heads turned, jaws dropped, a few even yelled, and one driver aggressively gave me a thumbs up as I passed (some Cybertruck drivers reported More explicit gestures). The responses came from young children and schoolchildren, construction workers and police officers.
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Inside the Cybertruck’s doorstop-shaped stainless steel alloy exoskeleton is where things get more interesting.
Like its other Tesla siblings, the car’s interior has been described by many as “minimalist.” I think it’s sparse and, on some of the material choices, cheap for a $100,000 vehicle. The vehicle’s interior also feels more like a car than a “truck” given its size.
Inside the Tesla Cybertruck
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There’s about 3.5 feet of unusable space from the driver to the base of the vehicle’s windshield, and the back seat is fine for a car but a bit lacking in space compared to regular cars. Today’s full-size pickup truck.
The heart of the vehicle’s interior is a large, centrally mounted 18.5-inch touchscreen and minimal controls on the steering wheel or joystick.
Tesla Cybertruck’s shortcomings in “truckiness” and interior quality can be said to be made up for through technology and the human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle and driver.
These include the long rectangular gear lever in the upper left corner of the screen, used for drive, parking and reverse. It works well and I didn’t miss having to use a traditional gear lever, even though such a button is hidden above the roof screen.
The “shift lever” on the Tesla Cybertruck is the long rectangle on the left side of the vehicle’s central control screen.
Michael Weiland/CNBC
The processing speed of the infotainment system is impressive, especially compared to other non-Tesla electric vehicles from traditional automakers. Although the amount of information displayed on the screen is large, it is also very manageable.
I would still prefer a screen or heads-up display in front of the driver to show speed and other basic information projected onto the vehicle’s windshield, but it didn’t bother or distract me as much as I thought it would.
The car’s rearview mirrors are also largely unusable and will likely only meet federal safety standards. The Cybertruck’s camera system, which replaces useful rearview mirrors, takes some getting used to, but works well (some automakers have available rearview mirrors as well as camera systems that can show the rear and sides of the vehicle).
technology-centric
I was able to use the vehicle’s adaptive cruise control system, which Tesla infamously calls Autopilot, but not the more advanced systems like “FSD,” which Cybertruck customers can order but aren’t yet available.
The system’s ability to spot and display other vehicles, streetlights, pedestrians and even traffic cones, stop signs and trash cans on the screen is impressive, but it’s little more than standard adaptive cruise control while driving. It also stops at every traffic light, whether it’s green, yellow or red.
Another surprising feature is that the yoke replaces the traditional steering wheel. Again, this feature is more popular in race cars than pickup trucks, but it works well. It doesn’t rotate completely, but rather a full turn of about 180 degrees or so. Minimal input is required when changing lanes. This sense of ease also comes from the vehicle’s four-wheel steering and steer-by-wire systems.
The Tesla Cybertruck was unveiled at the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019.
Both steering features are emerging technologies that other automakers are using or researching.
Four-wheel steering allows larger vehicles like the Cybertruck or GMC Hummer (which also have four-wheel steering on the rear wheels) to steer more tightly than a traditional truck. It’s more similar to a car’s turning radius and helps maneuver the vehicle into tighter spots and parking spaces.
Steer-by-wire is harder to describe. The system uses electronics and software to control the vehicle’s steering, with no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and wheels. It feels almost like a racing joystick for a video game or airplane, rather than a traditional vehicle.
“You can make it behave very differently…it gives you more performance bandwidth,” said Terry Woychowski, president of the automotive business at engineering consultancy Caresoft Global.
A Tesla Cybertruck next to a GMC Hummer electric SUV.
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Woychowski, a former GM executive whose company Testing and benchmarking the Cybertruckindicating that the steer-by-wire function is “discretionary.” But he described changes to the vehicle’s electrical architecture that powers all its systems as “fundamentals, engineering efficiencies” that have been necessary for years.
The Cybertruck uses a 48-volt architecture to power vehicle components. Doing so provides additional electrical bandwidth to the vehicle and eliminates the need for traditional 12-volt batteries to power devices such as windows, seats and headlights.
Tesla is the first company to offer such a 48-volt system in a pure electric vehicle. Tesla CEO Musk infamously sent a “how-to” guide to developing such a system to rivals such as Ford and General Motors.
The benefit of using a higher voltage for auxiliary equipment is that the same power can be delivered at a lower current. Since the wiring is approximately half the size, weight and cost savings are achieved.
On August 28, 2024, a Tesla Cybertruck parked in front of a graffiti mural in Detroit.
Michael Weiland/CNBC
However, the system would require a complete rethinking of the vehicle’s electrical architecture, which could be costly. It remains to be seen whether other automakers will follow Tesla’s lead.
“The cost of making changes is huge,” Wojchowski said. “This is really, really good technology. It’s long overdue. From a cost and quality perspective, there are direct cost savings, and for electric vehicles, that’s gold.”
Clearly, this car appeals to a segment of Americans who can afford it…and likely several other vehicles. It was the best-selling electric “truck” in the second quarter of this year, beating out the segment-leading Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and General Motors’ Hummer EV and Chevrolet Silverado EV.
But how attractive this polarizing vehicle will be in the long term will be decided in the coming seasons and years. The Chevrolet El Camino and Ford Ranchero last for decades.
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