“Battery Day” 2020 unearthed a few interesting pieces of information from Tesla. CEO Elon Musk spoke for much of the three-hour event, wherein the EV manufacturer focused primarily on new battery technologies and production methods to bring costs down over the next five years. Apart from making the batteries more affordable, though, he also shared some production figures for the Cybertruck.
During the Q&A session, one attendee asked: “I’m sort of curious about what you see [for the Cybertruck] in the production front. Trucks are so popular in America, do you see its volume equalling the Model 3 or Model Y in the future?” Musk responded, “It’s hard to say exactly what the volume will be for the Cybertruck. The orders are gigantic.” He noted a figure between 500,000 and 600,000, though he quipped “we stopped counting”, in reference to the explosive demand for Tesla’s upcoming pickup. At any rate, he referenced that it’s currently over half a million orders.
He then said, “So, I think there’s probably room for at least a unit volume of 250 to 300,000 per year, maybe more.” Tesla will build the Cybertruck at its new Austin, Texas plant, which is currently under construction as of late 2020.
The Cybertruck will be a U.S.-market vehicle
One question circling Tesla Cybertruck production has been whether it would be a global market vehicle, as other Tesla models are, or a U.S.-specific model. “We are designing the Cybertruck to meet the American spec. If you try to design a car to meet the set of all global requirements, you can’t make the Cybertruck,” Musk said. “It’s impossible.”
That revelation refers to Tesla’s ability to build one harmonized vehicle that meets various safety regulations in different markets. Musk ended the point by acknowledging North America’s dominance when it comes to pickup market share and saying, “I think we’ll probably make an international version of the Cybertruck that’ll be kind of smaller.”
In its current form, the Tesla Cybertruck is set to go into production near the end of 2021. However, in light of the other battery day news, bringing further improvements may affect the timeframe for various models in the next two years. In the meantime, here’s our look at the truck against the Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Electric below:
