Updated 11:30 pm ET: Meet the Cybertruck, Tesla's Ford-Fighting Pickup
Back in 2013, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his company might take on one of the most popular passenger vehicles in American history, the Ford F-150 pickup. But he said Tesla’s work on a pickup wouldn’t really, ahem, pick up for another five years or so.
Musk isn’t big on hitting deadlines, but in this case, he was pretty bang on. Thursday at 8 pm Pacific time, Tesla plans to unveil its all-electric Cybertruck from the Tesla Design Studio in Hawthorne, California. That “cyber” stands for—well, we actually don’t know. Musk’s statements about the truck thus far have been pretty fantastical, so go ahead: Expect the unexpected.
What Musk has said: The truck’s design is inspired by Blade Runner (which is appropriate, because the classic sci-fi film takes place in November 2019). In fact, he has warned that the truck’s design is so futuristic it may turn off some potential buyers. “I actually don’t know if a lot of people will buy this pickup truck or not,” he told Recode a year ago, “but I don’t care.” He’s said the truck will be “literally bulletproof” and that it will look like “an armored personnel carrier from the future.”
But looks will only be part of the fun. Musk has said the truck will come with an option to upgrade the battery to a 400- to 500-mile range. And he mentioned this summer that the truck will cost less than $50,000 and “be better” than the F-150. As for when you might be able to actually have a Cybertruck of your own? That’s one of the big questions Musk might answer Thursday.
Interested? Us too. We’ll be liveTweeting the unveiling as Musk hits the stage, and watch the official livestream right here. (If you miss the event as it’s happening, Tesla also tends to post a recording on its YouTube page.) And watch for coverage after the event at WIRED.com. Happy … cybering?