Elon Musk has confirmed and elaborated on the delayed timeline for the Cybertruck, Tesla’s upcoming electric pickup truck.
It has been delayed to now late 2022.
Tesla Cybertruck delivery timeline
There are a lot of eyes on the Cybertruck delivery timeline. Not only because of the popularity of the electric pickup, but also amid the current race to bring electric pickup trucks to the US in volume.
But once seen as potentially the first to market, the Cybertruck is now falling behind.
When Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck back in 2019, Tesla said that the electric pickup truck would make it to market by the end of 2021.
Over the last year, with the timeline coming closer, there have been signs that the Cybertruck could be delayed.
First off, Tesla only recently completed the engineering design of the electric pickup truck.
CEO Elon Musk also warned that Tesla is going to have some challenges in bringing the Cybertruck to production due to features such as the steel exoskeleton body, which requires completely new manufacturing processes.
Despite those concerns and the “end of 2021” timeline coming closer, Tesla appeared reticent in confirming that Cybertruck production has been delayed.
During the release of its Q2 2021 financial results last month, Tesla kept the same timeline and only specified that Cybertruck production would start at Gigafactory Texas after Model Y:
“We are also making progress on the industrialization of Cybertruck, which is currently planned for Austin production subsequent to Model Y.“
Model Y production is supposed to start at Gigafactory Texas by the end of the year so it doesn’t eliminate the possibility that Cybertruck production could start this year, but it made the timeline unlikely.
However, a few weeks later, Tesla has confirmed that the Cybertruck has been delayed to 2022.
On the order page, Tesla updated the footnotes to confirm that the configurator will be available when “production nears in 2022.”
Elon Musk gives an update on the Tesla Cybertruck timeline
The new question has been when in 2022 (and if) Tesla can start deliveries.
As we reported earlier today, Elon Musk held a company-wide call with Tesla employees.
He gave an update on the upcoming new $25,000 Tesla electric car and commented on Tesla having to go through a crazy end-of-the-quarter delivery wave.
According to sources on the call who talked to Electrek, the CEO also gave an update on Tesla’s production plans for the Cybertruck.
Musk confirmed that Tesla doesn’t expect to start Cybertruck production until the end of 2022.
Furthermore, the CEO noted that there’s so much new technology in the electric pickup truck that the production ramp-up is going to be very difficult.
He doesn’t expect volume production to be achieved until late 2023.
But Musk couldn’t leave it on a bad note of a delay and he still took the opportunity to hype up the upcoming Cybertruck:
“It will be a special project. Like a glitch in the Matrix. Like if Neo had a car.”
We are just going to have to wait a little longer for this particular glitch in the Matrix.
Subscribe to Electrek on YouTube for exclusive videos and subscribe to the podcast.
Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
