2024-10-19T10:55:45 Status: #blog Tags: #tesla #cybertruck #ev #technology #society #blog Links: [[Technology]] | [[Society]] | [[EV]] | [[Tesla]] # Tesla Cybertruck (updated: [[2024-10-19]]) Back in 2019, when the Cybertruck was originally announced, I was very excited to make a reservation early on, since I've been an avid Sci-Fi reader all my life and loved the futuristic look *and* the name. At that time I drove a Ford F-150 Raptor as my pickup truck and knew immediately that it needed an upgrade: ![[F150CYBR.jpg]] So my F-150 was the first CYBR truck in Massachusetts and beat all the others by several years... 😄 Fast forward to the end of December 2023 when I was finally invited to place my order, and in early June 2024 I took delivery of my Cybertruck, traded in the F-150, and transferred the plates: ![[PickingUpCybertruck.jpg]] Obviously, customers in CA and TX (as well as celebrities and influencers) got their Cybertrucks a lot earlier, but they started arriving in MA finally in the late April to early June timeframe. And on the first weekend that I had the truck, I just had to drive to the top of Mt. Washington, which was socked in the clouds that day, but that just made it look even cooler - like my Cybertruck was somewhere on Mars: ![[CybertruckOnMars.jpg]] So here are my thoughts about the Cybertruck after ~~2 ½~~ ==5 months== of ownership... ### TL;DR The short answer is: I love, love, love it! 🥰 And if you like this review, I'm sharing my referral link for when you order your Tesla. You’ll get $1,000 off the purchase of a Tesla product: https://ts.la/alexander15067 > [!Update] Update > It's now another few months later (≈ 5 months of ownership) and I still love it. It's the most fun car to drive, and the best car I've ever owned. I've now had FSD for close to a month, and it is as good as in all the other Tesla models, so I can essentially have the truck drive me to NH and back. Continue reading below, or listen to this new [XML Aficionado Podcast](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/xmlaficionado) episode to learn more: ![[TeslaCybertruck.wav]] ### Review There are so many other reviews and videos out there already that I wanted to make sure I approach this more from a personal perspective of what I like specifically, and to support each section with photos of my actual usage these last few weeks: 1) **Turning radius** is so incredibly tight due to the rear wheel steering. You can do a 90 degree turn in about 1 ½ lengths of the truck. In fact, it has a tighter turning radius than the Tesla models S, 3, X, Y. And sooooo much better than the F-150, by a mile! ![[MtWashingtonAutoRoad.jpg]] 2) **Acceleration**: it accelerates like a Tesla. The F150 with its 6-speed transmission took forever to get up to speed. By contrast, the Cybertruck handles and feels like a sports car rather than a lumbering truck. And I just have the AWD version, so the tri-motor Cyberbeast variant is probably even more ludicrous. When you think about the fact that the truck weights 6,600 lbs (≈ 3,000 kg), this kind of power and acceleration is just slightly insane! But definitely a lot of fun to drive!! 3) **Tonneau cover**: I had the backflip tonneau cover on the F150, which is one of the more popular covers and an aftermarket part (as was the spray liner for the truck bed). The [electric tonneau cover](https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/cybertruck/en_us/GUID-F46A4E66-35C3-4F4E-B587-4D11A164A734.html) on the CT is sooooo much better, and the cargo bed already comes fully protected, so you don't need to buy all that extra 3^rd party stuff you need for the other trucks out there. Oh, and it has lights in the cargo bed, too: ![[TonneauClosing.gif]] 4) **Adaptive air suspension**: it's just mind-blowingly good. It makes for a super-comfortable ride (way better than even the Model X or S, and much, much better than the F-150!). The fact that it auto-adjusts to low at highway speeds to reduce wind resistant is very clever. And it can even auto-lower to *entry* level in park, to make it easier to get in and out of the truck without running boards. And for off-roading you have both medium, high, and very high levels. And if you need to load anything into the truck from a loading dock, you can easily match the height of the dock and then e.g. roll this printer/copier onto the truck bed and secure it with straps: ![[SuspensionMatchingToLoadingDock.jpg]] 5) **Range**: comparable to other Teslas. I'm getting about 320 on a full charge. Have not had any problems with either charging at home or superchargers. 6) **Second row**: just like in the F-150 you can fold up the seats and then transport more things if the truck bed isn't big enough for you. And you can install an under-seat storage bin for additional stuff that you want stored out of sight. ![[MovingBackrow.jpg]] 7) Under-cargo-bed-storage: This sub-trunk area under the cargo bed is sealed and perfectly fits all my tools, tie-down straps, and even the compressor: ![[SubTrunk.jpg]] 8) **[Frunk](https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/cybertruck/en_us/GUID-F2E1AC08-A176-4A97-ACB2-F5C215F93BEB.html)**: this may be by design, or it may be a happy accidental coincidence, but it perfectly fits my golf bag... ![[Frunk.jpg]] 9) **Truck-bed divider**: I bought the extra truck-bed divider, so that when we just go grocery shopping, the bags don't roll all over the truck bed. And the divider can be easily moved or removed, as needed. ![[CenterDividerAndMollePanel.jpg]] It also nicely prevents bags full of leaves and other garden waste from falling over when driving them to the local transfer station: ![[Gardening.jpg]] 10) Having **power-outlets** in several places in the truck is great, for using power tools, charging batteries, or even using [Starlink Mini](https://www.starlink.com/us/roam) in the middle of nowhere: ![[AdAstra.jpg]] You could technically even charge another EV from the [240V outlet in the cargo bed](https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/cybertruck/en_us/GUID-DA020526-B42E-4C0E-AE1E-BB22072D48B6.html), if they ever needed a jump. 11) **Accessories**: There is already a crazy array of accessories available not just from Tesla, but also many 3^rd parties, including storage options, tires, roof racks, light bars, and some of them are super useful, for example this [gun safe](https://ev-vida.store/products/safe-for-cybertruck) that you can build right into the center console: ![[CenterConsoleSafe.jpg]] > [!Update] Update > These additional points were added in October 2024 - about two months after the original blog post had appeared: 12) **Full Self Driving (Supervised)**: I was very lucky to be one of the early people to get FSD v12.5.5 in the Cybertruck already on September 30. And the very first version in the Cybertruck did, surprisingly, require a lot more interventions than the same FSD v12.5.5 in my Model S or Model X. However, they quickly came out with an update that must have done something to address this disparity. Maybe an adjustment for the camera angle image transformation code? In either case, the latest version works just as beautifully as FSD v12.5.5 on any other Tesla. I've had the truck drive me to the White Mountains in NH and back twice already - it is such a relaxing way to go to our mountain home. ![[FSD12.5.5.jpg]] 14) **More after-market upgrades**: There is now a plethora of after-market upgrades available from various sellers, and some of them really increase the utility of the truck (although they may, arguably, lower the electric range slightly due to increased wind resistance). Two upgrades that I got recently are roof rack cross-bars and running boards: ![[RooftopCrossbarsRight.jpg]] ![[RooftopCrossbarsLeft.jpg]] Makes the truck look a lot cooler and instills some serious Mad Max vibes, if you ask me... 😎 So, you may ask: "But it can't be all fabulous, right?" Honestly, I'm trying very hard to think of whether there is anything I really truly dislike about it at all.... Well, here are three things that are probably slight negatives, but none of them unexpected or a big deal: 1) Due to the larger mass of the vehicle, and thus the larger battery capacity required, **charging takes a bit longer** than for my other Teslas. Sometimes I need a 25-30 minute charging stop, instead of the usual 15-20 minutes. So in addition to a bathroom break and getting a coffee, I might actually spend a few minutes reading some emails. And the overnight charging at home also takes a bit longer, but that is again a non-issue. ![[Charging.jpg]] 2) **Fingerprints**: For the first week - before I had the wrap applied - the fingerprints really showed, especially where I opened and closed the doors. This has been well known and documented by others. Easily comes off with Windex or Barkeepers Friend. But that problem is gone completely now that I've wrapped it in matte PPF and had ceramic coating applied to it, which even makes the water pearl off nicely in the rain: ![[RainyDay.jpg]] 3) Every stop at a store, highway rest stop, or supercharger typically is a conversation starter now and easily turns into a 10-15 minute product tour. **People are all super interested in learning more about it, and always ask questions**. I don't mind that and am usually happy to give people a quick demo and answer their questions. But you have to be mindful of the need for these conversations in your time management and planning. Oh, and people are constantly taking photos of you or recording videos as you are driving anywhere. So if you don't like publicity, you might want to wait until it is a bit more widespread, well-known, and the novelty effect has worn off. But currently it is a huge people magnet. And some of the conversations are genuinely interesting, for example meeting a couple in NH with their antique F-250 that was beautifully maintained and preserved: ![[Generations.jpg]] 4) For some reason the wireless charger seems to really get my phone heated up more than it should. But that isn't only a Tesla problem - I recently rented a BMW X6 M60i for a road trip in Europe, and the phone was cooking in that car's wireless charger, too. ==Update==: somehow this issue has gone away after I upgraded from the Google Pixel Fold to the new Google Pixel 9 Pro XL. To sum it up, the Cybertruck is easily **the best truck I've ever owned**, and also **the most fun car to drive overall**. In fact, I've been talking about it so much, that one of my friends, who also had had a reservation for a while, but wanted to wait until next year, ended up pulling the trigger and ordered his just a few weeks ago and now has it wrapped in matte red - and he is super-excited about it as well: ![[CyberBuddies.jpg]] And another friend got his wrapped in matte black, which also looks stunning. And he tells me that this is the coolest car he's ever had: ![[LngTSLA.jpg]] Love that license plate, too! And it is especially fun, when you come to a meeting and park next to each other in the parking lot: ![[LngTSLA2.jpg]] --- # References - Tesla Cybertruck: https://www.tesla.com/cybertruck - Starlink Mini Roam: https://www.starlink.com/us/roam - Cybertruck accessories available from many places, including these sites: - Tsportline: https://tsportline.com/pages/tesla-cybertruck-accessories-upgrades - Unplugged Performance: https://unpluggedperformance.com/cybertruck/ - Twraps: https://twraps.com/collections/cybertruck - Teslarati: https://shop.teslarati.com/collections/tesla-cybertruck-accessories - TesBros: https://tesbros.com/collections/shop-all-tesla-accessories/cybertruck - EV-Vida: https://ev-vida.store/products/safe-for-cybertruck