The pieces of the Tesla truck puzzle are falling into place, so let’s have a look at what’s known.
Outside of perhaps the Tesla Model Y, the electric pickup truck from Tesla is surely the automaker’s most anticipated upcoming electric vehicle.
UPDATE 11: Adds Musk’s comment on polarizing truck design: “Whoa, what’s that thing?” (details here).
UPDATE 10: Debut date officially set for November 21 (details here).
UPDATE 9: Adds new exclusive all-black Tesla truck render. Images below (link here).
UPDATE 8: Adds new exclusive InsideEVs render inspired by Musk’s Mars tweet and compared to Ram pickup for scale. Image below (link here)
UPDATE 7: Adds a new Tesla Cyber Truck render seen directly below:
UPDATE 6: Adds information that suggests Musk tweeted out the image of the Tesla truck on Mars back in April (see image directly below).
UPDATE 5: Adds new and most realistic Tesla truck render yet. Check it out in detail here and directly below:
UPDATE 4: Includes info on the appearance of the truck. It’ll look like a futuristic, armored people carrier.
UPDATE 3: Includes new comment from Elon Musk.
UPDATE 2: This post has been updated to add information on the potential for the Tesla truck to be equipped with the much-hyped million-mile battery.
UPDATE: This post has been updated to include a new reveal date for the Tesla truck. Info further down below.
Over time, mostly via Tesla CEO Elon Musk, we’ve bit by bit learned more and more details on the Tesla truck, so we think it’s now time to highlight everything we know in regards to Tesla’s pickup.
4 Photos
Price
This Tesla truck topic is perhaps the most controversial.
The only mention of pricing was made by Elon Musk and it’s so low it’s somewhat unbelievable.
According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the upcoming Tesla truck will have a target price of under $50,000. Musk stated:
“You should be able to buy a really great truck for $49k or less.”
We find it hard to believe that this price point is even possible, but that’s the target. Here’s more from Musk on the price topic:
“We don’t want it to be really expensive. I think its got to start at less than $50,000 – it’s got to be like $49,000 starting price max. Ideally less. It just can’t be unaffordable. It’s got to be something that’s affordable. There will be versions of the truck that will be more expensive, but you’ve got to be able to get a really great truck for $49,000 or less.”
11 Photos
Performance And Specs
The Tesla truck will make the Ram seem toy-like and will beat the Ford F-150 too. Lofty goals, but Tesla really never fails to deliver on the performance front.
In top-level trim, the Tesla truck should boast a range of between 400 and 500 miles, possibly more. As one might suspect, it will be all-wheel drive with a motor for each axle. Musk also noted that the suspension will dynamically adjust according to its load. Being electric and a truck means it will have gobs of torque. Musk once tweeted that it could tow 300,000 pounds.
Some additional features include 240-volt power for all of your work tools, a unique drop-down tailgate and it will parallel park automatically & have 360-degree cameras & sonar.
UPDATE: There’s now some speculation that the Tesla truck will be the first Tesla equipped with the million-mile battery that’s being developed by Tesla researcher Jeff Dahn and Jessie Harlow. Read more on the battery from an entry in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society here.
Trucks are known for reliability and dependability. In fact, reliability often tops the list for truck buyers. Performance and other aspects generally rank much lower. How can Tesla assure electric truck buyers that the Tesla Truck will be reliable? Quite simply by offering a million-mile battery with a warranty to back it up.
Appearance
Elon Musk previously mentioned that the Tesla Truck will not look out of place in the set of the sci-fi Blade Runner franchise.
***UPDATE: It seems Musk may have shown the tesla truck to the world back in April of this year. More details here.
***UPDATE: Tesla CEO Elon Musk just announced (October 13, 2019) that the upcoming Tesla electric pickup truck actually resembles some sort of armored military personnel carrier.
***UPDATE: Musk comments that the Tesla truck is special. See embedded tweet below:
In addition, one lone teaser image was released (see above).
But outside of this, really nothing is known in regards to its looks other than it will be radical and perhaps a bit polarizing, like this always controversial Tesla-Ram render featured above.
Model Name
Won’t you B my neighbor.
This is highly speculative, but there’s some indication the Tesla truck will be called the Tesla Model B.
Could B actually be connected to Elon Musk’s Blade Runner reference?
Could the truck be called the Model B just so that the result is B S3XY? That’s not outside the realm of what Elon Musk would do. What do you think? If not B, what will the Tesla truck be called?
Reveal Date And Launch/Production Plans
The reveal is still supposedly on track to happen sometime this year, though there’s no concrete info beyond that.
***UPDATE: Elon Musk says the unveiling will most likely occur this November:
As for production plans and availability? Those are both complete unknowns at this point in time. Tesla still has to get the Model Y into production, plus it’s working on both the Tesla Roadster and Tesla Semi. The Tesla truck could be fast-tracked, but there are no details available right now.
Best-case scenario, in our opinion, is that production could begin within 2 years. That still puts Tesla well behind Rivian with its R1T electric pickup truck slated for production next year.
3 Photos
Closing
We’ve included a ton of renders of the Tesla truck in the various galleries throughout this post and more down below. It’s still anyone’s guess what the actual truck revealed by Tesla will look like, but surely one of these renders will be close.