No surprise! Tesla Cybertruck is $21,000 more expensive than promised

We now know that you should keep Elon Musk’s promise with a dose of Jozo. So it’s no surprise that the Tesla Cybertruck costs $21,000 more than Musk promised.

When the Tesla Cybertruck was unveiled to the press and public four years ago, Musk announced that the starting price would be $39,900. The actual price is significantly higher at $60,990.

“Cheap” Tesla Cybertruck

However, we must add an important caveat here. The $60,990 version of the Cybertruck is still a long way from being available to order. Not before 2025, says Tesla. So that will be – wink – sometime in 2029.

The first ten were delivered

On November 30th, Tesla delivered the first ten trucks to “customers”. We intentionally put this word in quotation marks because few Tesla employees and investors received one.

Three versions of Tesla Cybertruck

There are three versions of the Tesla Cybertruck, only the last two of which are available immediately. The entry-level model costs $60,990, has a range of 400 kilometers and accelerates to 96 km/h in 6.5 seconds.

The base model has rear-wheel drive, the two versions above have all-wheel drive. The middle one costs $79,990, covers 547 kilometers and sprints from 0 to 96 km/h in 3.9 seconds.

The Cybertruck’s top speed is 180 km/h, while the top model reaches almost 210 km/h. The device has three motors, is called Cyberbeast (because of course…) and travels 515 kilometers on one charge.

The Cyberbeast costs $99,990 and sprints to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 2.6 seconds. Funny: Tesla released a video in which a Cybertruck with a Porsche 911 on a trailer accelerates faster than a Porsche 911.

Additional battery

It is noteworthy that the Tesla Cybertruck is available with an additional battery. This reduces the cargo space, but gives the pick-up more range: 756 kilometers for the 80 Grand version and 708 kilometers for the Cyberbeast.

Weight and payload

When the Cybertruck was unveiled in 2019, Musk claimed the behemoth could tow 6,350 kilos with a payload of 1,587 kilos. In practice that’s less: a towing capacity of 4989 kilos and a payload of 1133 kilos.

The weight of the Tesla Cybertruck is interesting. In the Netherlands you are not allowed to drive it with a B driving license because the Cyberbeast variant weighs more than 3100 kilos.

Excellent guarantee

All more expensive Cybertrucks have air suspension and all-wheel steering. That’s a good thing, otherwise the turning circle of the 5.6 meter long pickup truck wouldn’t be good. Yet it is 22 centimeters shorter than a Ford F-150, the best-selling truck in the USA.

Inside, we see a rectangular steering wheel with no instruments behind it and an 18.5-inch infotainment system. Special feature: Tesla offers an 8-year and 240,000-kilometer (!) guarantee on the Cybertruck’s battery.