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Home Sweet Home: Tesla discreetly places Cybertruck inside Giga Texas

Credit: Terafactory Texas | YouTube

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Tesla is continuing construction at Giga Texas, and it appears that it has discreetly placed a future resident of the facility on the second floor: the Tesla Cybertruck.

Spotted in a new drone video from Terafactory Texas, the Cybertruck has been placed upstairs at the facility as construction continues to roll on in the plant that is located just outside Austin city limits. Following a brief appearance at the factory, the Elon Musk-commanded Cybertruck appeared at the plant in mid-April to give employees and workers on site a sneak peek at what the all-electric truck looks like in real life. It seemed that Tesla had then taken the Cybertruck off of the Texas property and transported it to New York, where it made an appearance at the Tesla Showroom located in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan at 860 Washington Street.

Elon Musk shares update on SNL appearance, says everyone is being friendly

While it is not known if this is the same prototype that graced Giga Texas employees a month ago, or if it is the same Cybertruck that rolled through the streets of Manhattan last weekend, the Cybertruck seems to be getting acclimated with its future digs as the truck will be produced at the Giga Texas factory when production begins. With plans to begin limited production by the end of 2021, the Cybertruck will be one of the first all-electric pickups on the market, likely following the R1T from Rivian, which is slated for deliveries in the coming months.

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Since the Cybertruck’s dedicated unveiling event in November 2019, Musk has made several comments regarding the design, production processes, and overall build of the all-electric pickup. The most recent modifications that Musk announced had to deal with the vehicle’s dimensions. After noting that an anxiety-filled entrance into the Boring Company tunnel in Hawthorne, California, gave him concerns, Musk indicated that the truck would be smaller, but only by a fraction.

He said to Joe Rogan on an episode of the comedian’s podcast:

“That’s pretty much what it [the Cybertruck] will look like, with very small differences. You know, we adjusted the size a few percent. Like around 3% or smaller. You don’t want it to be a couple of inches too big for the tunnel.”

Additionally, Musk also indicated that the stainless steel alloy that is responsible for creating the truck’s “Exoskeleton” will also be subject to changes as new, more robust alloys are discovered. “We’re rapidly changing alloy constituents & forming methods, so traditional names like 304L will become more of an approximation,” Musk told Teslarati when commenting on an article regarding an upgraded Starship prototype in July 2020. Musk confirmed that the alloy changes would also come to the Cybertruck as well.

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The Cybertruck was spotted on the second floor of the Giga Texas facility. Credit: Texas Terafactory | YouTube

The Cybertruck’s underside will also be manufactured with the use of an 8,000-tonne Giga Press from IDRA. Tesla uses the Giga Press to create single-piece castings of the Model Y crossover to increase structural rigidity and improve manufacturing efficiency.

While Cybertruck production is still several months away, Tesla has the truck stored at the facility that has been deemed the “Cybertruck factory” by some. Production of the Tri-Motor and Dual-Motor variants will begin first, with the Single-Motor configuration becoming available in late 2022 if all goes according to the company’s plan.

Check out Terafactory Texas’ video of the Cybertruck inside the factory below around the 7:10 mark.

https://youtu.be/3Qwp4cfsXpE

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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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Elon Musk

Elon Musk hints Tesla investors will be rewarded heavily

“Hold onto your Tesla stock. It’s going to be worth a lot, I think. That’s my bet,” Musk said.

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Credit: Grok

Elon Musk recently hinted that he believes Tesla investors will be rewarded heavily if they continue to hold onto their shares, and he reiterated that in a new interview that the company released on its social accounts this week.

Musk is one of the most successful CEOs in the modern era and has mammothed competitors on the Forbes Net Worth List over the past year as his holdings in his various companies have continued to swell.

Tesla investors, especially those who have been holding shares for several years, have also felt substantial gains in their portfolios. Over the past five years, the stock is up over 78 percent. Since February 2019, nearly seven years ago to the day, the stock is up over 1,800 percent.

Musk said in the interview:

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“Hold onto your Tesla stock. It’s going to be worth a lot, I think. That’s my bet.”

It’s no secret Musk has been extremely bullish on his own companies, but Tesla in particular, because it is publicly traded.

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However, the company has so many amazing projects that have an opportunity to revolutionize their respective industries. There is certainly a path to major growth on Wall Street for Tesla through its various future projects, including Optimus, Cybercab, Semi, and Unsupervised FSD.

  • Optimus (Tesla’s humanoid robot): Musk has discussed its potential for tasks like childcare, walking dogs, or assisting elderly parents, positioning it as a massive long-term driver of company value.
  • Cybercab (Tesla’s robotaxi/autonomous ride-hailing vehicle): a fully autonomous vehicle geared specifically for Tesla’s ride-sharing ambitions.
  • Semi (Tesla’s electric truck, with mentions of expansion, like in Europe): brings Tesla into the commercial logistics sector.
  • Unsupervised FSD (Full Self-Driving software achieving full autonomy without human supervision): turns every Tesla owner’s vehicle into a fully-autonomous vehicle upon release

These projects specifically are some of the highest-growth pillars Tesla has ever attempted to develop, especially in Musk’s eyes, as he has said Optimus will be the best-selling product of all-time.

Many analysts agree, but the bullish ones, like Cathie Wood of ARK Invest, are perhaps the one who believes Tesla has incredible potential on Wall Street, predicting a $2,600 price target for 2030, but this is not even including Optimus.

She told Bloomberg last March that she believes that the project will present a potential additive if Tesla can scale faster than anticipated.

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Cybertruck

Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes

According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla’s new Cybertruck offering has had its delivery date pushed back once again. This is now the second time, and deliveries for the newest orders are now pushed well into 2027.

According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:

Just three days ago, the initial delivery date of June 2026 was pushed back to early Fall, and now, that date has officially moved to April 2027.

The fact that Tesla has had to push back deliveries once again proves one of two things: either Tesla has slow production plans for the new Cybertruck trim, or demand is off the charts.

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Judging by how Tesla is already planning to raise the price based on demand in just a few days, it seems like the company knows it is giving a tremendous deal on this spec of Cybertruck, and units are moving quickly.

That points more toward demand and not necessarily to slower production plans, but it is not confirmed.

Tesla Cybertruck’s newest trim will undergo massive change in ten days, Musk says

Tesla is set to hike the price on March 1, so tomorrow will be the final day to grab the new Cybertruck trim for just $59,990.

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It features:

  • Dual Motor AWD w/ est. 325 mi of range
  • Powered tonneau cover
  • Bed outlets (2x 120V + 1x 240V) & Powershare capability
  • Coil springs w/ adaptive damping
  • Heated first-row seats w/ textile material that is easy to clean
  • Steer-by-wire & Four Wheel Steering
  • 6’ x 4’ composite bed
  • Towing capacity of up to 7,500 lbs
  • Powered frunk

Interestingly, the price offering is fairly close to what Tesla unveiled back in late 2019.

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Elon Musk

Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt

Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.

Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.

“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.

In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms. 

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“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified. 

His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.

SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable. 

Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight. 

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The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars. 

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