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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’s Boring Company lands a new Middle East deal, and Nashville is about to get faster
The Boring Company signs Abu Dhabi tunnel agreement while adding more Prufrock machines in Nashville.
The Boring Company has signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi to study underground transport and utility tunnels across the emirate, adding a second UAE city to its pipeline as it prepares to also scale up tunneling back home in Nashville.
The deal was signed Thursday at the Liveability and Investment Exhibition (LIVEX 2026) by Boring Company President Steve Davis and Maysarah Mahmoud Salim Eid, director general of the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Centre (ADPIC), according to the Abu Dhabi Media Office. Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, chairman of the emirate’s Department of Municipalities and Transport, attended the signing.
Under the agreement, the two sides will assess feasibility, delivery and operating models for tunnels that could carry passengers or utilities. They will also look at Abu Dhabi’s potential as a regional hub for tunneling work. The current phase is exploratory, and no construction commitment or project budget has been announced.
“Abu Dhabi provides an ideal environment to explore the next generation of underground infrastructure solutions, supported by its ambitious growth vision and strong commitment to advanced technologies,”
Davis said. He added that the company wants to assess how tunnels can “expand urban capacity more efficiently, and enable better use of available space.”
The timing lines up with the money, considering last month, The Boring Company closed a $3 billion Series D led by the UAE and affiliated investors, valuing the company at $23 billion, as Teslarati reported. That round came with a commitment to build more than 150 kilometers of tunnel across the UAE, separate from the Dubai Loop pilot already under contract with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority. That pilot covers 6.4 kilometers and four stations linking DIFC and Dubai Mall at a cost of about $154 million.
Back home, The Boring Company projects in Nashville are also scaling up, with the company telling local NewsChannel 5 that a third Prufrock machine could start digging the Music City Loop in late October. A fourth is also targeted before the end of the year. Two machines are already mining Nashville limestone at the same time, and work is underway on a new launch site for the third.
The company said it has made more than 300 design and performance upgrades to its original Nashville machine. It is also working with property owners on more than 40 planned stations, with approvals in place for a future Nashville International Airport connection, a downtown station near the Music City Center, and stops at residential towers and the JW Marriott.
Construction on the Music City Loop began the same evening Tennessee and federal regulators approved the project’s lease in February, and the company targeted its first operational segment for late 2026. Back in Las Vegas, The Boring Company has said it plans to double its Vegas Loop station count by year’s end.
News
SpaceX brings four astronauts home after 8 months in space, and the return was flawless
SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom returned four Crew-12 astronauts home after 237 days aboard the station.
Four Crew-12 members are back on Earth after 237 days at the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Freedom splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 50 miles west of Los Angeles at 11:34 a.m. ET on Thursday.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev landed one day after undocking from the station’s Harmony module at 8:05 a.m. ET on Wednesday. NASA confirmed the splashdown minutes later. SpaceX had flagged the 27.5 hour trip home on X while Dragon was still firing its departure burns away from the station.
The descent ran on schedule when Freedom started a nine minute deorbit burn at 10:46 a.m. ET, then hit the thicker atmosphere about 36 minutes later at nearly five miles per second. Chutes deployed at around 18,000 feet, and four main parachutes brought the capsule down to roughly 15 mph at splashdown.
SpaceX fast boats secured Dragon before the recovery ship Shannon hoisted it onto the deck with the crew still inside. Flight surgeons on board ran initial medical checks. All four crew members will be flown ashore by helicopter and then head to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for rehabilitation.
Splashdown of Dragon confirmed! https://t.co/P2o7A3Gytf
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 8, 2026
Crew-12 launched on February 13 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, a flight that also marked the first Falcon 9 booster landing at SpaceX’s new LZ-40 pad. Over the mission, the crew completed 3,792 orbits, covered nearly 101 million miles, and carried out four spacewalks to maintain and upgrade the station.
Meir now has 440 cumulative days in space, which places her in NASA’s top 10. This was the first spaceflight for Hathaway and for Adenot, a French Air Force colonel and former helicopter pilot. Fedyaev, who spent 186 days in orbit on Crew-6 in 2023, has now flown two long duration Dragon missions.
The return closes out a busy stretch of Dragon traffic. Crew-13 arrived on October 1 aboard Crew Dragon Grace, which docked just 7 hours and 55 minutes after liftoff, the fastest launch to docking of any U.S. spacecraft in ISS history. Commander Jessica Watkins, pilot Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov remain aboard alongside the three person Soyuz MS-29 crew.
With Crew-12 gone, the port is clear for CRS-35, a cargo Dragon carrying the final pair of ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays. NASA is holding a post-splashdown teleconference at 1:15 p.m. ET covering both the crew’s return and the upcoming cargo launch.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk shuts down talk of TSMC taking over Terafab
Musk says Tesla and SpaceX will build and run Terafab, with TSMC limited to renting.
Elon Musk has drawn a firm line around who will be in charge of Terafab, the giant chip factory Tesla and SpaceX are planning in Texas.
Musk replied to a post on X arguing that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) would most likely end up owning and operating the plant. “No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that,” Musk wrote. “Maybe TSMC subleases part of the Terafab if they want, but nothing more than that.”
In plain terms, a sublease means TSMC could rent a section of the complex to make chips, similar to a tenant renting one floor of an office tower. The building, the equipment decisions and the daily operation would stay with Tesla and SpaceX.
@herbertong @thejefflutz No, we will build and run the fab. Let there be ZERO doubt about that.
Maybe TSMC subleases part of the Terafab if they want, but nothing more than that.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2026
The comment shuts down speculation that started last week. On October 2, tech journalist Tim Culpan reported that TSMC was exploring ways to help run Terafab’s factories. Musk responded the next day that it was “just discussions, but something may come of it,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That left room for a scenario where the world’s largest contract chipmaker took the wheel. Musk’s latest post closes that door.
Some background helps explain why this matters. Tesla designs its own AI chips today but pays outside companies like TSMC and Samsung to manufacture them. Musk unveiled Terafab in March as a joint project between Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, arguing that existing suppliers cannot expand fast enough to meet his companies’ future demand. The goal is to produce enough chips each year to supply one terawatt of computing power, roughly 50 times what the entire global AI chip industry produces now.
Those chips are meant for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots, the Cybercab and Full Self-Driving computers, along with chips for SpaceX’s planned data centers in orbit. Owning the factory means Musk’s companies would not have to compete with every other chip customer for time on someone else’s production lines.
Intel is still part of the picture. The company signed on in April to help design, build and package chips for the project, and CEO Lip-Bu Tan told Bloomberg this week that Intel will keep working on Terafab despite the TSMC chatter.
The project moved from concept to construction planning over the summer. In August, SpaceX confirmed the Grimes County site about an hour from Houston, sent the county a $10 million payment under its tax abatement deal and said civil work would begin shortly. The first phase carries a $16.8 billion price tag, and total spending across all phases could reach as much as $119 billion.
TSMC chairman C.C. Wei has said a new fab typically takes two to three years to build and another one to two years to reach full output. Tesla and SpaceX have never run one, which is why TSMC’s expertise drew so much attention. Musk’s answer suggests he would rather learn that process in house than hand control of a project this central to Tesla’s robotics and autonomy plans to an outside company.
Terafab Texas will be the largest and most valuable building on Earth by far.
And it will be stunningly beautiful. https://t.co/4NweOqTL7y
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2026
Elon Musk’s Boring Company lands a new Middle East deal, and Nashville is about to get faster
SpaceX brings four astronauts home after 8 months in space, and the return was flawless
Elon Musk shuts down talk of TSMC taking over Terafab
The Pentagon taps Elon Musk to design the battlefield of the future
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