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Elon Musk hints at smaller Tesla Cybertruck version down the road

Tesla Cybertruck unveiled in Los Angeles, Nov. 21, 2019 (Photo: Arash Malek)

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Following the unveiling of Tesla’s Cybertruck last week, CEO Elon Musk has hinted that a smaller version of the futuristic pickup may be coming in the future. This statement from Musk came after some potential owners expressed they would be interested in a more compact version of the recently-unveiled vehicle that would be more suitable for smaller driveways and residences.

Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck on November 21. The all-electric truck from the company based out of Silicon Valley caught the eye of many people due to its unique and unorthodox shape. One Twitter follower of Musk’s requested a smaller truck down the road, as he facetiously expressed the vehicle may block his whole street. Musk replied, saying that it “probably makes sense to build a smaller Cybertruck too.”

The size of the Cybertruck is a big talking point for those who are interested in the vehicle. Its futuristic and unusually modern shape is a design that has not been used in the past by any other car manufacturer. However, not everyone who wants or needs to own a truck for either work or leisure can house this gigantic pickup.

Other manufacturers have had success varying the sizes of their trucks by releasing multiple models of the same body style. Ford, for example, has done this with its F-Series that has gained the reputation as the most popular line of pickup trucks in the U.S. in 2019, with the F-150 being recognized as the most popular truck in the country, according to J.D. Power. In terms of dimensions, the Cybertruck is similar to the F-150 and Dodge Ram 1500.

  • Tesla Cybertruck: 231.5 inches long, 79.8 inches wide, 75 inches tall, 6.5-foot bed
  • 2020 Ford F-150 XL: 209 inches long, 80 inches wide, 75 inches tall, 5.5-foot bed
  • 2020 Dodge Ram 1500: 229 inches long, 82 inches wide, 77 inches tall, 5.6-foot bed
Tesla Cybertruck 6.5 ft pickup bed “Vault” (Photo: Teslarati)

Tesla’s Cybertruck will give owners more storage capacity than any other pickup on the market right now thanks to its bed that is nearly a foot longer than the other two vehicles. The Ford F-150 XL has 62.5 cubic feet of storage, and while this is the company’s smallest version of the truck, it packs 62% of the storage capacity compared to the 100 cubic feet offered by Tesla’s Cybertruck. The 2020 Dodge Ram 1500 offers 61.5 cubic feet, just one foot less than the F-150 but still only a fraction of Tesla’s new “Bladerunner-Esque” pickup.

Tesla may find it beneficial down the road to try and create a smaller variation of the Cybertruck. The truck, while available in different variants as far as the number of engines, is only available in one size. While more cargo space is definitely a plus, there are certainly plenty of reasons why it could be the reason someone does not buy the vehicle. Some people simply do not have the room for a large truck, especially if they live in a small house or community where there is not enough room for the vehicle. The Twitter user who reached out to Musk recognized that the truck would be a great vehicle to own, but it may not be the most logical thing to buy considering he does not have space for it.

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Elon Musk has proven to us in the past that he is a man of the people. He listens to the requests of potential Tesla owners and uses them to improve the vehicles Tesla manufactures. While the Cybertruck does not begin production until late 2021, there is plenty of time for Musk and Tesla’s team of designers to come up with a modified design that would appeal to those who do not have the need for the massive Cybertruck.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla releases cryptic teaser for something massive and it’s coming this week

On Sunday morning, Tesla released a nine-second teaser video of what appears to be either a vehicle wheel, fan, or some sort of propeller, but there are no real clues as to what it could be exactly.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has released a cryptic teaser for something massive, and it will release details on it this week. With many different projects in the works, there is a lot of speculation going on about what it could potentially be, but we have a few ideas.

On Sunday morning, Tesla released a nine-second teaser video of what appears to be either a vehicle wheel, fan, or some sort of propeller, but there are no real clues as to what it could be exactly.

It then ends with “10/7,” meaning it will announce something on October 7, which is this Tuesday:

Given that Tesla has been working on a handful of pretty notable projects that are set for unveiling at the end of this year, and there are some clues that seem to point in their direction with this short teaser video.

There are two projects that come to mind almost immediately: the Tesla Roadster is one, and the “E41” or affordable model is the other. Here’s what we know about both:

Tesla Roadster Demo Event

Tesla said earlier this year that it would have a demo event for the Roadster to unveil some new technologies and show off what it has been working on over the past few years.

There have been a lot of crazy things in the works for the Roadster, including a SpaceX package that would use cold-gas thrusters for an insane 1.1-second 0-60 MPH acceleration rate. This package was also supposed to help it hover, something CEO Elon Musk has teased for the past few years.

The Roadster was ready for release earlier this year, but after Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen and VP of Powertrain Lars Moravy showed Musk what they had come up with, he wanted more.

Moravy said on theΒ Ride the Lightning podcast earlier this year:

“What we had come up with exceeded what we originally planned. So, Elon was like, ‘Wow, great. Let’s do more!'”

The Roadster event was coined as “the most epic demo,” and since it was planned for the end of 2025, it is totally feasible to believe this could be it.

Elon Musk teases Tesla’s “most epic demo” by end of year

Tesla ‘E41’ Affordable Model

Some believe the teaser could be the official launch of Tesla’s affordable model, which Musk said earlier this year is simply a stripped down Model Y.

There have been some sightings of this vehicle in the past few weeks, including one on Friday that showed the vehicle completely uncovered for the first time:

The launch of the affordable model makes sense, especially from a timing perspective. With the $7,500 EV tax credit officially coming to a close on September 30, many are wondering how Tesla will spark growth in its deliveries. A more affordable EV would be the perfect response, and it is something that Tesla has been working on for some time.

Other Potential Ideas

There are some pretty interesting ideas as to what the teaser could be apart from the Roadster or affordable model. Some believe it could be a cooling fan for a GPU cluster, which would make sense considering Tesla’s prowess in data.

Grok also made an interesting guess, stating it could be a propeller for a secret air taxi Tesla is developing. This seems sort of our of left field.

We do know Tesla hosted a handful of influencers at Gigafactory Texas this past week, so whatever the company showed them is likely what will be unveiled on Tuesday.

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Tesla Optimus is learning martial arts in new video teasing capabilities

For the past few months, Tesla has been refining its capabilities and making some serious progress on what Optimus is capable of. This morning, Musk released a new video showing Optimus learning Kung Fu, perhaps its most impressive feat yet.

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Credit: Elon Musk | X

Tesla Optimus is learning martial arts, a new video released by CEO Elon Musk shows, a crazy development and advancement in the robotics project the company has been working on for a few years.

Optimus has been a major focus of Tesla for the past several years, especially as Musk has said he believes it will be the biggest product of all time and could be the biggest contributor to the company’s valuation.

For the past few months, Tesla has been refining its capabilities and making some serious progress on what Optimus is capable of. This morning, Musk released a new video showing Optimus learning Kung Fu, perhaps its most impressive feat yet:

The video shows Optimus working with a Kung Fu teacher, known as a Shifu, going through what appears to be some sort of routine of combinations. It’s quite impressive to see the fluidity of the movements and Optimus’s ability to keep up with Shifu.

Tesla has been “working hard” to scale Optimus production, Musk said last week, a project that has obviously confronted both AI and manufacturing teams with a variety of challenges.

The plan is to have an annual production run-rate of one million units by 2030, and there were plans to build 5,000 units this year.

Elon Musk gives update on Tesla Optimus progress

Musk still believes Optimus will make up roughly 80 percent of Tesla’s value. In January, he said it would be “overwhelmingly the value of the company.”

Tesla plans to launch the Gen 3 version of Optimus soon, and although a video of a new-look prototype was released by Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, the company’s frontman stated that this was not what the next-generation prototype would look like.

Elon Musk confirms Tesla has never shown Optimus V3 design yet

This video seems to show there is still significant progress being made on the Optimus project, and it will be perhaps one of the most impressive humanoid robots available to consumers in the coming years.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 gets new release date, Elon Musk details

“Last minute bug cropped up with V14. Released is pushed to Monday, but that gives us time to add a few more features.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving version 14 has gotten a new release date after new details from CEO Elon Musk opened up some new perspectives on the suite.

Originally slated for an “early wide release” of v14 this past week, then a launch of v14.1 and v14.2 this week and next week, respectively, delays arose after Tesla’s Autopilot team found some issues within the software.

Tesla FSD V14 set for early wide release next week: Elon Musk

Musk detailed on X this morning that a “last minute bug” appeared before release, which has now pushed FSD v14’s release back to this Monday:

Musk also said the delay would give Tesla the ability to “add a few more features,” which seems like an added advantage, although he did not provide any additional details on what these features could be.

In classic Musk fashion, he has teased the capabilities of this version of the FSD suite since it became public knowledge that Tesla was working on it. He said that it is the second most important update for the AI/Autopilot team since FSD v12.

V14 will have a parameter count that is ten times what previous iterations were, which should provide more accuracy and a more human-like operation.

Musk has said v14 “feels alive” and has used the word “sentient” to describe its performance. The goal with the new FSD rollouts is to eliminate as many interventions as possible, making it as close to human driving as possible.

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