Cybertruck. Source: Tesla
After years of promises and delays, Tesla is reportedly set to begin mass production of its Cybertruck at the end of 2023.
News published this week by Reuters quoted “two people with knowledge of the plans” who revealed that mass production of the Cybertruck would begin at the end of 2023.
Reuters’ sources revealed nothing else, but the leak serves at least in part to confirm comments made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk last month. In a conference call with financial analysts, Musk declared that his company was working on readying its Texas Gigafactory to build the new model.
Musk also revealed that “early production” would start in the middle of 2023, adding that “we’re in the final lap for Cybertruck.” The eccentric Tesla CEO also said the company was “making progress on the robotaxi platform design,” as well as on its 4680 battery cells.
Similarly, Reuters quotes a second source that says the Cybertruck is designed to use the much-touted 4680 batteries.
However, Reuters also points to comments made by Guidehouse Insights analyst Sam Abuelsamid, who says Tesla has not been able to significantly scale up production of the 4680 batteries, which could lead to further delays beyond the end of 2023.
Abuelsamid considered it a possibility that Tesla will have to significantly redesign the Cybertruck batteries, possibly switching to conventional 2170 batteries.
Originally unveiled in late 2019, the angular and clunky-looking Cybertruck has suffered from repeated setbacks. Tesla has pushed back production timing from late 2021 to late 2022, then to early 2023, and most recently to a mid-2023 target for initial production.
Pre-orders were opened at launch, with prospective buyers needing only to put down a $US100 reservation fee.
However, in May, Tesla closed pre-orders for countries outside of North America. At the time, Musk said that the company had “more orders of the first Cybertrucks than we could possibly fulfill for three years after the start of production.”
Another potential setback for the Cybertruck will be its eventual price. At its original unveiling, Musk promised that the Cybertruck would eventually be priced the same as the Model 3, at $US39,990.
However, since late-2019, society has endured over two years of a COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain shortages, and a seemingly never-ending war in Ukraine – which has only served to make supply issues more difficult.
As such, Tesla has already been forced to increase the price across its current line-up, which would suggest a similar price increase will be likely for the Cybertruck.
Keyword: Is Tesla on track for Cybertruck mass production at end of 2023?