Everything we know about Tesla’s Cybertruck after first cars are finally delivered

Tesla repeats botched demonstration of Cybertruck’s toughness that went viral in 2019 – albeit with a softer ball

Tesla has revealed the prices and features of different versions of its highly-anticipated Cybertruck at a delivery event in Austin where the company finally handed over to customers the first 13 electric pickup trucks.

The deliveries to a select group of customers come six years after Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted about building a truck, and 4 years after a version of the Cybertruck was unveiled for the first time in 2019.

At the short livestream of Thursday’s delivery event, Tesla also redemonstrated the toughness of the Cybertruck after its 2019 demo awkwardly shattered the windows of the truck.

The event started with the Tesla boss driving the truck on a stage in darkness and hopping out to talk about it.

The electric pickup truck’s angular body is made of a stainless steel alloy developed by Tesla with Mr Musk calling it the “most unique thing on the road”.

“Finally the future will look like the future,” he told the attendees, consisting of Tesla investors.

The Cybertruck, dubbed “an armoured personal carrier from the future,” will eventually be available in three different configurations with the cheapest version starting at a $60,990 base price, Mr Musk said.

He said the pickup truck can carry over a ton in its bed and tow over 5,000kg (11,000 pounds).

However, this ”rear-wheel version” with a range of 250 miles and acceleration from zero to 60mph in about 7 seconds, would not be available until 2025, the company said.

An all-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck, Tesla announced, would have an estimated 341-mile range, top speed of 112 mph, and a starting price of $79,990.

The third version announced on Thursday is what’s called the “Cyberbeast” – slated to arrive in 2024 – with a range of 320 miles and 845 horsepower, travelling from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds at an estimated price of $99,990.

All these models are much more expensive than the $39,900 starting price Tesla announced for the base version in 2019.

Tesla also announced that it would offer a range extender to push the all-wheel drive Cybertruck to about 470 miles and the Cyberbeast to a range of over 440 miles.

The range extender, Mr Musk explained later in a post on X, is an “optional pack” that fits in about a third of the truck’s bed.

“Still room for plenty of of cargo. It’s meant for very long trips or towing heavy things up mountains,” he said.

“Massive congrats to the incredible Tesla team, from design through to manufacturing, for making Cybertruck real! I love you,” the multibillionaire said.

At the event, the Tesla boss also invited the electric vehicle company’s chief designer Franz Von Holzhausen to re-do the demonstration of the toughness of the Cybertruck that was botched in 2019.

This time, instead of throwing a metal ball at the vehicles glass, Mr Von Holzhausen threw an ordinary baseball – rather weakly – showing the glass could the projectile. Tesla has said the glass will not shatter in the face of a 70mph baseball strike. This definitely wasn’t that.

The livestream event ended after about 30 minutes, once Mr Musk had listed the features and performance capabilities of the Cybertruck’s different versions and its bulletproof exterior.

It was followed by the Tesla boss assisting some of the first customers in driving off in their trucks.

Mr Musk has played down hopes that the Cybertruck would revive profits for the carmaker in the near future.

He told investors and analysts in an earnings call in October that it could take at least 18 months for the truck to become profitable.

“There will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with Cybertruck and making the Cybertruck cash flow positive,” he said.