Tesla Cybertruck Unveil Liveblog, Photos, & Video

4 years ago Frugal Moogal 0 Comments
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Watch the Tesla Cybertruck along with me at https://livestream.tesla.com/.  Stream starts 8pm PST / 10pm CST. (My timed updates are from CST!)

12:38am — Zach Shahan

More detailed and coordinated thoughts here: Tesla Cybertruck: The Spaceship Has Landed

https://twitter.com/AlterViggo/status/1197764995674558465

12:08am — Zach Shahan

Here are some press images of the truck:

10:50pm – Frugal Moogal

I’m probably going to write a full article about this either tonight or tomorrow, but here’s my quick rundown…

It definitely looks different.  I think it’s mostly good to look so different.  The pointy peak in the center of the car is a really interesting choice to me.

I’m really surprised they showed nothing from within the car.  We’ll get that later tonight as they give people rides in it, but I’m wondering how many people it fits, how, and what the interior space looks like.

The pricing is far under what I expected.  This puts the single motor RWD at a price point that is the same as the Model Y, but with better range. I feel like this may be the first product that takes advantage of Maxwell tech to increase the batteries.  350 miles of range for dual motor is under the price of Model Y with more range.  This really shows how far Tesla ahead is on battery tech and efficiency.

I’m curious if they all come in only stainless steel.

The design will be extremely polarizing.  It is so ridiculously angular, yet when I was a kid, this was the sort of thing I imagined I’d be driving today.  I’m not sold on getting one, at least not yet, but it’s the most interested I’ve been in a truck.  It will definitely turn heads.  It won’t win over a huge segment of the pickup truck drivers, but I can definitely see this selling well for the company.

I think of the three things I was looking for at the beginning, they definitely nailed it. It has a distinct look, and if someone rolls up in this to fix my dry wall, it would be memorable.  It has the useful charging bays and air compressor I hoped for.  And it has a relatively affordable entry level pricing.  It’s slightly more than $10,000 more than the most stripped down F150, but the difference in fuel and the features and distinctive style should win some people over with it.

Wow, so much of this I wasn’t expecting at all.  I’m surprised nothing was mentioned about the current line up from Tesla.

I think the regular media is going to slam it as Musk’s folly tomorrow, focusing on the completely different look and the broken glass. The pricing works heavily in it’s favor, however, and I think once people see the capabilities, well… I think this could be a pretty massive success.

With that, goodnight everyone from Clean Technica’s CST HQ!

10:36pm – Frugal Moogal

Cybertruck page is now live.  Pricing is $39,900 for single motor with 250 miles range, $49,900 for dual motor with 350 miles of range, and $69,900 for tri motor with 500 miles of range.  Those are absolutely outstanding prices.  Production expected 2021.

10:32pm – Frugal Moogal

I’m really surprised that they didn’t talk about the ATV much at all.  Is that a product?  What’s up?  Also, Cybertruck link isn’t yet active. Definitely not the smoothest reveal they’ve ever done, but very, very interesting.

10:31pm – Frugal Moogal

The one more thing is an ATV.  The truck can fit it in the bed.  I like how the bed works.  A lot.

10:30pm – Frugal Moogal

Order now at tesla.com/cybertruck/

10:29pm – Frugal Moogal

$39,900 starting!!!!!

10:28pm – Frugal Moogal

On board outlets and air compressor confirmed. 250, 350, or 500 mile range.

10:25pm – Frugal Moogal

Just saw the first shot of the bed, and it shows a cover to it for aerodynamics.  Makes sense.

10:24pm – Frugal Moogal

They just showed how strong the glass is, and they managed to break the glass right after showing how strong it was. Whoops! That will be seized upon tomorrow, and it does make a weird backdrop for Musk now that he’s standing in front a of a prototype with two broken windows.  You can tell that he’s a bit more nervous now too.

10:21pm – Frugal Moogal

I apologize for the low quality of this, but here we are…

 

10:16pm – Frugal Moogal

Stainless steel construction like the DeLorean, Franz is about to take a sledgehammer to the prototype. Well, not like the DeLorean, they dent.

10:14pm – Frugal Moogal

It’s here.  It’s… holy crap, it is definitely not what a truck looks like. I can see the FUD already starting, but…  I kind of dig most of it.  “It doesn’t look like anything else.” – Musk.

10:11pm – Frugal Moogal

Tesla promises the biggest evolution in vehicular function. Musk has taken the stage. We see a bunch of similar trucks to note that they are all very similar. This is what Tesla trucks won’t look like.

10:08pm – Frugal Moogal

Woo-hoo, they’re hosting the stream on Youtube, which we all just got passed to, so I can find out how many people are watching.  We’re already at 132k, and we’re all just standing by again.  And here we go!

10:05pm – Frugal Moogal

It’s weird not having sound on the countdown…  hope my speakers are good.  Here we go…

10:03pm – Frugal Moogal

I’m about to drop off monitoring this unofficial stream because my computer doesn’t like to stream multiple things at once, but it’s up past 45,000 watchers now. If that doesn’t scare the legacy automakers, I don’t know what does.

9:59pm – Frugal Moogal

Unofficial stream up to 34,000 watchers.  Also realized that the countdown on the Tesla page starts about five minutes past 8pm (10pm CST for those following along with me here in ye olde Central Time Zone).  Maybe they baked in a delay?  I think they delay on purpose to ensure that people who wanted to watch but tune in a little late can get there.  It makes a lot of sense, actually, to start a bit late.  It isn’t like the people watching drop out much if at all.

9:53pm – Frugal Moogal

The unofficial stream on Youtube now has over 18,000 watchers (It was 15k when I started writing this!!).  I’m not going to link to it because you should go to https://livestream.tesla.com/ to actually watch the real thing. But I’m fascinated that some random person live streaming the, uh, live stream could easily have 1/3rd of the viewers of the Ford Mustang Mach-E reveal.  And obviously Tesla isn’t promoting this unofficial stream.

9:43pm – Frugal Moogal

If you aren’t sure what to do with yourself for the next 17 minutes, I wrote an article earlier today about what happened when pinball underwent a major change in the electronics that controlled the games in the 1970s.  You can find it here. I feel like it’s a really interesting comparison about what happened to an industry when one company went all in on a new technology while the market leader tried to cling to the old for too long.

It’s not a perfect comparison of course, but we won’t know exactly how this transition moves… until it does.

My gut says that we need 10 options in the EV market with starting points of at least $50,000 or less. Within those ten options, we need at least one of each major body type (sedan, crossover, SUV, truck, and van), and we need at least three options to come in under $25,000. Right now, we are on track for there to be at least 4 of these covered by 2021 with the Model 3, Model Y, Mustang Mach-E and ID.4. If you’re in Europe, replace the Mustang Mach E with the ID.3.  This could be the fifth 2021 Model that I’m looking for.  The Ford F150 Electric and VW ID.Vizzion could be two more in that category.  The ID.4 is expected to start around $25k by the way.

Hoping this truck makes it in my list above by the end of tonight too!

9:30pm – Frugal Moogal

Is interest in this reveal high? An unofficial live stream of the unveil on Youtube is hovering around 8,000 people watching it right now, 30 minutes before the stream starts. I can only imagine how many people will be watching the official stream from Tesla, as we won’t be able to see the number of people streaming it, but I feel pretty confident now saying that it will eclipse the 75,000 viewers that the Ford Mustang Mach-E reveal had.

It is fascinating how much buzz Tesla can get without traditional advertising. Heck, our Tesla articles here at CleanTechnica usually dominate the top articles every month.

I think it comes down to innovative tech, and people wanting to know about what they are doing. Tesla’s bleeding edge tech doesn’t just give them advantages in their product, it gives them a built in promotional advantage too.

9:15pm – Frugal Moogal

45 minutes until we find out.

Or an 76 minutes if my 16 minute late to start prediction is correct.

8:54pm – Frugal Moogal

Just sayin’, if the Cybertruck doesn’t drive into the reveal pulling some sort of SpaceX rocket, it feels like an opportunity will be missed.

8:48pm – Frugal Moogal

I apologize for any typos tonight.  I’m trying to take photos, post photos, update text, read comments, reply to comments and will eventually be watching the livestream too.  Chances are strong I will be just writing during that time, and if you notice an error, I’ll go back and fix it ASAP.  Stacy caught that I typed in CST for the stream for a minute, but it’s PST.

I’m in CST currently, so it’s natural.  But wrong.

Speaking of which, I was hoping to attend this reveal but didn’t. The tech geek of me is disappointed.  The business side of me is not. I have a few contacts within the company who had extra invites for previous unveils and didn’t even get one for this one. I have a hunch a significant portion of tonight’s attendees will be “mainstream” media, that probably doesn’t cover Tesla that often.  While we here at CleanTechnica would have loved like 20 passes, it’s better to have wider coverage on more sites.

Besides, if I got a pass, I wouldn’t be able to run this blog right now. And this is fun!

8:38pm – Frugal Moogal

Easier to see how wedge-shaped DeLoreans are here…

Angular.

Curious to see how they handle the aerodynamics if the design looks similar.

8:32pm – Frugal Moogal

Another wedge shaped vehicle.

8:28pm – Frugal Moogal

When Tesla unveiled the Semi Truck, they surprised everyone by revealing an updated Roadster. For the Model Y, there was no surprise.

I think we’ll have a surprise tonight, but my guess is it won’t be a new product. Makes sense to surprise the media with something people can buy today to get them to look at.

My guess – we’ll see the first Model Y built on the line.

8:19pm – Frugal Moogal

These make me think that the front of the truck is going to be a giant wedge.  Also, was the Blade Runner prop on display at some amusement park?  I feel like I have seen it, but I may just be remembering the Back to the Future II cars in the Universal Studios backstage tour.

8:13pm – Frugal Moogal

Livestream just posted by Tesla:

And a view of the proceedings so far!

 

 

7:57pm – Frugal Moogal

If you’ve watched any other Tesla reveals live, you’re probably aware that they usually start late.  My guess is tonight’s reveal will actually go live at 8:16pm PST.

Also, if you haven’t also watched this 58375 times, enjoy:

7:24pm – Frugal Moogal

F5… F5… F5…

Hey, something changed! Johnna commented!  I agree it’s going to be an awesome night!

Well, while I’m waiting, let me note a few things that I’m looking for in the reveal tonight:

  1. I want the truck to look significantly different than a regular truck.
  2. I want the truck to have a set of features that specifically appeals to business owners that use trucks. Built in outlets to use power tools, a built in air compressor, and places that things can easily be mounted in the cab are just some of those features I’m looking for.
  3. I want the entry level to be priced as competitively as possible.

If Tesla can pull this off, where the truck with the additional features is close in cost to a standard truck with the additional things you’d need to buy and maintain, I think businesses would benefit from the strange looking spaceship truck that just appeared to quote them on their drywall repair or whatever. I see tons of trucks every day with business logos on them, so many that they blend together and I don’t even look at the business names any more. Put that business name on something that looks wild, and I’ll stare at it long enough to remember it.

At least until everyone gets one. But I think they have a way to give their buyers a real competitive edge with a truck that stands out, and if it can be more useful than a standard truck, we’ll have a real winner.

6:44pm – Frugal Moogal

Tesla is unveiling its Cybertruck tonight, and if you’re out there waiting like I am right now, refreshing the Tesla Twitter account over and over to try to find out where the stream will be hosted, you can join me here and refresh this page over and over too.

F5… nope. F5… nope. F5… nope. *sigh*

The stream is set to go live at 8pm PST. I’ll post a couple of updates between now and then about what I’m looking for, and then if you want to watch along with me and the CleanTechnica crew, I’ll be posting my thoughts as they happen, updates from our reporter in LA at the reveal, relevant tweets, reader comments, and whatever else comes to mind.

With that, what are you most hoping to find out at the reveal tonight?  I’ll type up the three things I’m looking for with this reveal soon, but I’d love to hear what you’re looking forward to first!

Keep hittin’ F5…  F5…

While we’re waiting, here are also some initial thoughts from Paul Fosse and pictures from related Tesla gatherings today:

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Frugal Moogal

A businessman first, the Frugal Moogal looks at EVs from the perspective of a business. Having worked in multiple industries and in roles that managed significant money, he believes that the way to convince people that the EV revolution is here is by looking at the vehicles like a business would.

Frugal Moogal has 88 posts and counting. See all posts by Frugal Moogal