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Opinion: The Tesla Cybertruck accelerated the Ford F-150 Lightning’s release, like it or not
During the Ford F-150 Lightning’s unveiling, the veteran automaker proudly presented a vehicle that has the potential to carry the company well into the age of electric cars. But inasmuch as the F-150 Lightning is impressive and worthy of its flagship EV status, Ford may have a competitor and unlikely ally to thank for its release. This competitor is the steel beast from Silicon Valley, the Tesla Cybertruck.
A different landscape
It should be noted that just a few years ago, the EV landscape was much different for Ford and its fellow veteran automakers. In 2019, it appeared that the electric pickup market was destined to be yet another niche segment populated by expensive EVs that were out of reach for the conventional buyer. Back then, the Rivian R1T seemed to be the electric pickup truck to beat, after it debuted in late 2018 and impressed the car community with its novel features.
Inasmuch as Rivian captured the attention of EV enthusiasts, legacy auto, at least from the perspective of a layman, seemed to be quite uninterested in the battery-electric truck market. This was one of the reasons why Ford inspired a ton of headlines in January 2019 when then-president of global markets and now-CEO Jim Farley announced that the F-Seres was getting electrified. “We’re going to be electrifying the F-Series — battery electric and hybrid,” he said.
It was a shock to the United States’ automotive industry, with longtime industry observer and Autoline This Week host John McElroy highlighting the gravity of Farley’s statement. “When he says ‘battery-electric,’ what I’m taking that to mean is a battery electric vehicle. Pure electric. They’ve said they would have a hybrid plug-in version of the F-150. But this is different than what they’ve talked about in the past,” McElroy said.
A noncommittal stance
But while Ford’s announcement showed that it could talk the talk, the company didn’t necessarily walk the walk. Even after Ford showed off the capabilities of the electric F-150 by having the vehicle pull a freight train loaded with other F-150s, the company proved very elusive about its plans for the vehicle. Speaking to Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade following the electric F-150’s 1-million-pound demonstration, Ford Chief Product Development Officer Hau Thai-Tang was asked about the upcoming vehicle’s release.
The Ford executive’s answers about the all-electric truck were very reserved. When pressed further, the executive simply remarked that the battery-electric F-150 was “still a couple of years out,” though he did highlight that the F-150 Hybrid would be released first.
This noncommittal stance was prevalent for much of 2019. Ford’s longtime rival, General Motors, also announced then that it had a program for an all-electric pickup truck. During a quarterly earnings call, GM CEO Mary Barra stated that the company intends to “create an all-electric future that includes a complete range of EVs, including full-size pickups. She also noted that details about GM’s battery-electric pickup would be shared “when competitively appropriate.”
A watershed moment
But something happened at the end of 2019. In November 2019, Tesla took the wraps off its all-electric pickup truck. It was a vehicle that Elon Musk has been mentioning for years, and in the months leading up to its unveiling, the CEO had been setting the public’s expectations. Musk noted that the Cybertruck would probably be polarizing, and he even stated that if it were to flop, Tesla would simply make a more conventional pickup truck. The Cybertruck proved to be everything that Musk said it was, and more. With its angular design and unpainted steel body, the Cybertruck was unlike any vehicle on the road, and it barely looked like a pickup truck.
Its appearance, together with the Armor Glass demonstration that ended with the Cybertruck’s driver’s side windows getting cracked, resulted in the futuristic vehicle becoming a meme overnight. Tesla fans learned to love it, and critics made sure to point out how strange and ugly it looked. But amidst all the memes about the Cybertruck’s looks and its failed Armor Glass demonstration lay something notable—Tesla’s all-electric pickup truck had some serious specs.
While the Cybertruck’s looks were amusing to critics, its specs were very real, and most of all, it was cheap for the features that it offers. Starting at less than $40,000 and capable of towing 14,000 pounds, it was a threat to the status quo, especially as it could become attractive to businesses and people who value low operating costs and a rapid return of investment. After all, Tesla may be known for its delays, but the company never overpromises on its vehicles’ capabilities.
An accelerated shift
Something seemed to change after the Cybertruck was unveiled. Just months after the Cybertruck’s launch, GM revealed its Ultium batteries, which was announced together with a number of new all-electric models. By October 2020, GMC launched the Hummer EV, a gargantuan all-electric pickup truck designed for serious off-roading. GM may never admit it, but signs pointed to the Hummer EV’s development being rushed. The automaker unveiled the vehicle with a CGI video and a prototype that barely moved.
This was very different from the strategy of Tesla and Rivian, of course, both of whom unveiled fully-working trucks. Tesla even had the Cybertruck take attendees for a test ride for several hours following its unveiling. GM Chief Engineer Al Oppenheiser admitted as such in a statement to EV publication Green Car Reports. Oppenheiser revealed that the Hummer EV was only 18 months into its development cycle when it was unveiled, which was a very short time for a legacy automaker.
“Interestingly enough, we don’t have a vehicle yet. We’re building our first test vehicle as we speak; the vehicle you see in the video is our display vehicle,” he said. GM, of course, eventually started demonstrating the Hummer EV’s capabilities in real-life settings later on. But by then, it was practically evident that the automaker was moving as fast as it could to enter the all-electric pickup truck market with a competitive edge.
Ford seemed to have accelerated its battery-electric truck program as well, and now the Ford F-150 Lightning is here. And unlike the Hummer EV, it seems to be ready to go. The Rouge facility seems ready to produce the vehicle, though the ongoing chip shortage is still looming in the background. There’s also the issue of securing enough batteries for the vehicle, considering that the F-150 is expected to demand equally large battery packs to hit its targeted 300 miles of range.
Overall, it appears that the rush is now on to produce the first mainstream electric pickup truck. And so far, it appears that the battle will be waged by the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Tesla Cybertruck, considering their comparable starting prices. But while the F-150 Lightning loses out in key features such as range and towing capacity, it does have the pedigree and reputation of a tried and tested pickup brand and a design that is as conventional as it is comfortable. And that, ultimately, could be a trump card for the electric revolution as a whole.
The battle is on for America’s most popular automotive segment.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk calls Earth’s data centers “peanuts” next to what SpaceX is planning in orbit
Elon Musk says SpaceX capex efficiency is underestimated as orbital data centers loom by 2028.
Elon Musk is pushing back on one of the biggest worries hanging over SpaceX stock. In a reply on X on Sunday, Musk said the company’s capital expenditure efficiency is severely underestimated. He was responding to a Milk Road Stocks post citing analyst Kyle Reidhead, who estimates SpaceX will need to spend roughly $470 billion over the next five quarters.
Reidhead built that figure around the target SpaceX set on its third quarter earnings call: 13 gigawatts or more of compute by the end of 2027. In his breakdown, Nvidia captures 83 to 89 percent of the spending. SpaceX ended the quarter with 1.7 GW of nameplate compute and guided to $35 billion to $40 billion in fourth quarter capex, as Teslarati reported.
Musk did not attach a number to his claim, but the earnings call shows the argument. CFO Bret Johnsen said new compute currently pays for itself in under a year at today’s pricing, and Musk said that window could shrink to six months next year. Using that pace, Reidhead argues about $230 billion of the $470 billion could come from operating cash flow and about $60 billion from SpaceX’s roughly $90 billion cash pile, leaving around $180 billion to borrow. Musk confirmed last week that SpaceX had already closed a new $40 billion debt raise to buy GPUs.
The ground buildout is not the end goal. It is what is meant to pay for the move to orbit. Replying on Friday to charts built from Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire’s SpaceX model, Musk wrote that “Terrestrial compute will be peanuts compared to orbital compute,” adding that orbital compute deployed per month “probably exceeds terrestrial around the end of 2028 and then far exceeds it in 2029.”
Maguire’s model shows how steep that path is. It has capex climbing from $88 billion this year to $290 billion in 2027 and $369 billion in 2028, with SpaceX burning $77.8 billion in cash this year and $122.6 billion next year before turning $114.9 billion cash positive in 2028. Musk’s response to the model was, “I think we can do better.”
The orbital half runs through Starmind. SpaceX plans to operate up to 1 million AI satellites flying in clusters of about 10, linked by roughly 10 terabits of bandwidth, with deployment of thousands of units starting as soon as late 2027 out of its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, according to SpaceX’s space safety page. Musk has said each Starmind spacecraft will carry more than 250 kW of solar power.
Getting there depends on launch volume. Maguire’s model assumes 250 Starship flights in 2028, up from two this year and 38 next year. The nearer test is financial: SpaceX guided to $33 billion to $37 billion in first quarter 2027 revenue, more than double the $14.58 billion it booked in Q3, and Musk reposted that guidance again on Sunday morning.
Elon Musk
SpaceX President to gift Trump Accounts her SpaceX stock
Gwynne Shotwell’s 2 million SpaceX shares are headed to children’s Trump Accounts starting this December.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Friday that more than 2 million SpaceX shares belonging to her and her husband, Robert, will be distributed to children’s Trump Accounts in December, turning a pledge she made over the summer into an actual transfer. “Robert and I are thrilled that our gift of over 2 million shares of SpaceX stock will be distributed to children’s Trump accounts in December!” Shotwell wrote on X, adding that the shares are “transferring to escrow as we speak.”
The first round goes to children aged 11 to 17 who live in ZIP codes where the median family income is $57,000 or less, along with kids in ZIP codes with too few residents for the Census to report that figure. Shotwell said those families should receive a notice by Monday, Reuters reported.
A second gift is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks. That round will cover eligible children in military families serving overseas, children in foster care, and more kids in Texas counties near the Shotwells’ home where median family income is $90,000 or less. Elon Musk replied to the announcement with “Cool” and a heart emoji.
Shotwell first announced the donation on July 6, less than a month after SpaceX priced its record IPO at $135 per share on the Nasdaq. IPO filings showed Shotwell owned about 12.6 million SpaceX shares, Quartz reported at the time, which makes the gift roughly one sixth of her stake. At the roughly $146 per share used to value Musk’s own pledge earlier this month, 2 million shares are worth about $290 million.
How the stock would actually reach the accounts had been an open question since July. Treasury guidance acknowledged that stock donations could flow into Trump Accounts, but it did not explain the mechanics for a program whose contributions default into an S&P 500 index fund. Shotwell thanked the Treasury, the IRS, the Dell Foundation, Greater Horizons, Invest America and the law firms Morgan Lewis and Gibson Dunn for “working over the past few months to make this happen.”
The transfer also works as a dry run for a far larger gift. On October 19, Musk said he would give one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America next year and called it “the first of many.” With roughly 72 million children in the country, that pledge is worth about $10.5 billion. President Donald Trump thanked Musk the same day and said the shares would go through Trump Accounts, though neither SpaceX nor the Treasury has published how or when that distribution will happen.
Shotwell’s recipients also fill a gap in the program itself. Trump Accounts launched on July 4, and the $1,000 Treasury deposit only goes to babies born between 2025 and 2028. Teenagers aged 11 to 17 receive no government seed money, so for many of the families getting a notice on Monday, SpaceX stock will be the first asset in the account. The accounts convert into retirement accounts when the child turns 18.
Tesla Full Self-Driving is now the centerpiece of the company’s newly revised Referral Program, which launched on October 29.
Instead of referring people to purchase vehicles and the referrer receiving $250 in Tesla Credit, the new program now incentivizes Full Self-Driving subscriptions.
If a Tesla owner is on an FSD trial and uses a referral code to subscribe to Full Self-Driving, the person whose Referral Link was used will receive one month of FSD (Supervised). Their code can be utilized 12 times per year, with January 1 marking the reset date.
Realistically, this means that if your Referral Code is used by 12 Tesla owners on an FSD trial, you will receive a full year of FSD for free.
🚨 Here is Tesla’s new Referral Program for Full Self-Driving (Supervised):
When someone subscribes to FSD using your link, you’ll get a month free. Up to a year of FSD is available to you for free!
If you’d like to use my link: https://t.co/g00IX9OCE3 https://t.co/GFBzEO2jjS
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 30, 2026
The previous program made it pretty difficult to get referrals; buying a vehicle is obviously a much larger financial strain than subscribing to Full Self-Driving for a month.
Of course, the previous Referral Program also offered a tangible benefit: $250 in credits you could use on Service, Supercharging, or anything in the Tesla Shop. It truly could pay for someone’s travel for a year. It recently bought me a new backpack and a T-shirt.
However, this new program is much more attainable for those who do not have a massive online presence of a slew of friends in the Tesla community who will use the code and max out subscriptions for vehicle purchases.
Woke up to maxed out Referrals! Thank you guys, that’s awesome!
Share your referral link below so others can use it! https://t.co/kesbwTcoTV
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 30, 2026
The Full Self-Driving suite will now be the keystone of the Referral Program, which makes it more inclusive and more fun for everyone with an awesome benefit.
It also gives the impression that Tesla is truly focused on FSD subscriptions, something that saw a tremendous increase in volume in Q3, as 75 percent of deliveries for the quarter came with an FSD subscription attached.
Full Self-Driving data is so instrumental to the suite’s improvement that this kind of program benefits Tesla as much as it does the consumer.
Elon Musk calls Earth’s data centers “peanuts” next to what SpaceX is planning in orbit
SpaceX President to gift Trump Accounts her SpaceX stock
