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I took a Tesla Cybertruck weekend Demo Drive – Here’s what I learned

I had a Cybertruck for 48 hours thanks to Tesla, and here’s what I thought about it.

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Tesla was kind enough to offer me a Cybertruck ‘Beast’ for an entire weekend after the company started offering 48-hour test drives of the vehicles across its lineup. I got a call from my local showroom asking if I would like to partake in a weekend of fun with perhaps the coolest truck around, and of course, I said yes.

It was a little different from past weekend Demo Drives in the sense that I picked up the Cybertruck in the morning on Saturday instead of the evening, when the showroom would be closed, and I would have to have it back at open time on Monday. I had my full Saturday with it; I took it for a round of golf, I took it to dinner with my Fiancè and parents, and it truly gave me a full-fledged feel of what it would be like to own one.

There were a lot of things I liked, and there were a handful of things I’d like to change. I’ll go through all of those in this article:

First Impressions

This was the second time I had ever driven Cybertruck, with the first being at early Demo Drives last August when I drove to West Chester, PA.

I picked it up at 10 am on Saturday morning, and the team at Tesla Mechanicsburg had me in and out in less than five minutes. I grabbed my paperwork and was on my way, and I took my best friend with me as he had never been in one. He was never a fan of the Cybertruck’s look, but could not deny the interior’s clean and minimalistic appearance.

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This Cyberbeast was in terrific shape. I do wish the inside was vacuumed, the windshield was cleaned, and the wiper fluid reservoir was full, but these were all things I took care of myself after I got home. I would love to know how some Cybertruck owners clean their windshields, as I could get most, but not all. The bottom portion remained a tad smudged-up, but it was nothing unusual.

It was fun to pull into my local diner near my house, and about 45 minutes away from the Mechanicsburg showroom, to see all of the people nearby turn their heads just to get a look at this thing. Of course, I knew it would be soon that I’d get some middle fingers, but for now, it was all friendly. Smiles, waves, and fun. It was genuinely a fun experience.

My Weekend in the Cybertruck

First things first, I had an afternoon tee time with some buddies of mine who did not know that I was getting the Cybertruck for the weekend. They were all surprised to see it, to say the least!

They had never been inside one, and did mention that the interior was just plain awesome. The glass ceiling was among their favorite features of the Cybertruck, but conditioning the cabin to be nice and cool as we finished up on the 18th was awesome too. Their cars do start remotely, but do not feature adjustable climate settings.

This kept me cool on my entire ride home, and is something all Teslas feature. It’s among the best little additions, especially as the Summer months approach.

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A reader and follower told me to throw my clubs in the frunk next time. I will do that.

After golf, it was time to pick my Fiancè up from the house and my parents as well, where we drove about an hour to Hampstead, Maryland, for a nice dinner to celebrate my better-half’s graduation from nursing school. My parents were truly blown away by the Model Y a few weekends ago, so this was what I was really looking forward to for them, because their reaction is genuinely so exciting.

My favorite thing about driving this truck was the positive reactions I got from many. I got a lot of waves, a lot of people wanting me to honk the horn, one of my neighbors even said, “Do you mind if I look inside of it?” I showed him all the cool features like the tonneau, the power frunk, and the size of everything.

Of course, I also had a handful of people who made their feelings about the car very apparent with a quick fling of the middle finger toward me as I drove by. I never understood flicking people off over a car: maybe how they drive, or maybe if they have a weird bumper sticker. I wasn’t around any of the middle finger-givers long enough for them to assess my driving, and the Cybertruck was void of any stickers or decals.

Oh well.

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Sunday was a lengthy, 300-or-so-mile drive from my house to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, PA. I try to go twice a year to pay my respects to the heroes, but I also saw it as a good time to test the range, experience Supercharging, see how the Cybertruck handled a longer day, and see how I felt in the car after the drive.

My first Supercharging stop was in Fort Littleton, PA, where v4 Supercharger stalls were placed in what was very obviously a small, rural, and predominantly blue-collar town. It was pretty fun to see a Supercharger in such a rural area. I had great speeds, as you can see, and we topped out at upwards of 330 kW.

It was nice to sit there and feel what charging would be like as opposed to driving a gas car and having a quick stop at a gas station. I’ll be honest: it’s not at all what a gas station experience is like, which is quick, painless, and easy. However, stopping for ~20 minutes to grab some mileage was also a nice break from the drive. It let me take a few minutes to wind down because the weather was awful, and driving in the rain is never super fun.

This was one of two charging stops, the other being in Breezewood, PA, using V3 Superchargers. This was a stop that was more congested than the Fort Littleton charger, but there was much more to offer, like a Dunkin Donuts, a pizza shop, and even a Starbucks down below. It was a quick stop, but the charging experience was very sound. I would say that if you are someone who wants to get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible, the charging experience might not be for you.

I tend to be one of those people, but I didn’t feel like it disrupted my drive or ruined anything. There was plenty to do, and it was 20 minutes maximum before I was back on the road and heading back to my destination, whether it was the Memorial or home.

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Why I Didn’t Use Full Self-Driving

I didn’t use Full Self-Driving at all during my weekend with the Cybertruck. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that I know what FSD is capable of. I know it’s great, and I know I love it. This weekend was a very quick one, and my time with the car was limited. I wanted to have as much hands-on experience with the Steer-by-Wire and four-wheel steering as I could. I had an extremely fast and powerful vehicle that was faster than anything I’ve ever had the pleasure of driving. I wanted to have fun with it.

The second was that I genuinely LOVED driving the Cybertruck. I will admit, I think I am one of those people who is not in love with driving, so I was really happy to have a car that made me want to drive.

My Final Thoughts

Share this article so I can afford to buy one. Just kidding (or am I?).

It was genuinely one of my favorite weekends in recent memory. I really loved a lot about the truck. It was fast, it was fun to drive, and it is a high-tech car. It’s never fun going back to my car when I have to drop off whatever Tesla I have for the weekend back at the showroom.

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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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Tesla loses Model Y program manager in second blow in single day

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Credit: Tesla Manufacturing

Tesla has lost its Model Y Program Manager, he announced on LinkedIn, marking the second major departure from the company today.

Emmanuel Lamacchia has been in the role for 4 years and 7 months, responsible for the rollout of the all-electric crossover in several markets.

The Model Y became the best-selling vehicle in the world for two years under Lamacchia’s watch, making this a huge loss for the company. However, it seems the decision was made under Lamacchia’s own initiative.

He confirmed his decision on LinkedIn:

“After 8 incredible years, I’m moving on from Tesla.

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What a journey it’s been… from leading NPI for Model 3 and Model Y variants to becoming the Vehicle Program Manager for Model Y, the best-selling car in the world!

Leading the All-New Model Y launch was the highlight: converting all 4 factories across 3 continents in just 2 weeks. Something that had never been done before in the auto industry.

To the teams who made this possible: you should be incredibly proud. This achievement belongs to you: the engineers, designers, buyers, and associates in Fremont, Shanghai, Berlin, and Austin who turned an impossible timeline into reality.

Grateful to the leaders who trusted me with programs that stretched my capabilities and to the cross-functional partners who showed me that great solutions come from collaboration, not hierarchy.

Tesla taught me how to move fast without breaking things and how to scale from prototypes to millions of units.

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Excited for what’s next. More to share soon.”

It marks the second major program loss for Tesla today, as it also bid farewell to Cybertruck and Model 3 Program Manager Siddhant Awasthi, who said he left voluntarily in “one of the hardest decisions of his life.”

Tesla Cybertruck and Model 3 program manager steps down

Lamacchia was at Tesla for just a shade under eight years, and previously worked for Rolls-Royce for roughly the same amount of time.

After the loss of both Lamacchia and Awasthi today, Tesla has lost a handful of key executives in 2025, including:

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  • David Imai, Director of Design
  • David Lau, VP of Software Engineering
  • Mark Westfall, Head of Mechanical Engineering
  • Prashant Menon, Regional Director in India
  • Vineet Mehta, Head of Battery Architecture
  • Omead Afshar, VP/Head of Sales and Manufacturing in North America
  • Milan Kovac, Head of Optimus Team
  • Jenna Ferrua, Director of HR
  • Troy Jones, VP of Sales, Service, and Delivery
  • Pete Bannon, VP of Hardware Engineering
  • Piero Landolfi, Director of Service
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Tesla prepares to expand Giga Texas with new Optimus production plant

Drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer recognized Tesla construction crews performing ground leveling and clearing efforts at the plant earlier today.

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Credit: Tesla Optimus | X

Tesla is preparing to expand Gigafactory Texas once again with a brand new facility that will house the eventual manufacturing efforts for Optimus, its humanoid robot.

It is already building some units on a Pilot line at the Fremont Factory in Northern California, but Tesla is planning to build the vast majority of its Optimus project at Gigafactory Texas.

Tesla Optimus gets its latest job, and it’s not in the company’s factories

It will build one million units per year in Fremont, but CEO Elon Musk said the company would build 10 million units every year in Texas at a new building at Giga Texas.

Musk said:

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“I think there could be tens of billions of Optimus robots out there. Um, now obviously it’s very important we pay close attention to safety here. Then a 10 million unit uh per year production line here the I don’t know where we’re going to put the 100 million unit production line. on Mars. Maybe on Mars, I don’t know.”

Evidently, Tesla is ready to begin thinking about the production efforts of Optimus beyond a theoretical standpoint and is starting to prepare for the construction of the manufacturing plant on Giga Texas property.

Drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer recognized Tesla construction crews performing ground leveling and clearing efforts at the plant earlier today:

Production is still slated for 2027, at least at Gigafactory Texas. As previously mentioned, the company is building some units in Fremont for the time being, at least until subsequent versions of the Optimus project advance.

Tesla has done a great job of advancing Optimus forward, but it also has truly grand expectations for the project.

Musk said it could potentially be the biggest product in the history of the planet, as it will revolutionize the way humans perform tasks, probably eliminating monotonous tasks from everyday life.

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Tesla reveals its first Semi customer after launch

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla revealed its first customer for the all-electric Semi truck after it launches next year. Who it truly is should not be a surprise.

The Semi is going to finally start deliveries to new companies outside of Tesla’s pilot program starting in 2026. The company has been building a dedicated production facility in Reno, Nevada, that has finally taken shape, but Tesla was evidently not finished with the Semi’s development.

Tesla shares rare peek at Semi factory’s interior

Last week at the Annual Shareholder Meeting, Tesla said it had implemented some new designs into the Semi, helping with efficiency, updating its design, and making it a more suitable vehicle for hauling loads, as the changes also helped increase payload.

Tesla has obtained a lengthy list of companies that have committed to implementing the Semi in their own fleets, hoping to bring their logistics lineups up to date with electric powertrains and autonomous technologies.

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While it is already operating a pilot program with PepsiCo. and Frito-Lay, Tesla will expand to other businesses, primarily using it internally after its launch.

Head of the Semi program at Tesla, Dan Priestley, said the company would be the first user of the vehicle after its launch next year. It has been using it to a certain extent, but the company has not been able to completely abandon gas haulers.

Instead, it will implement the Semi into its fleet for more sustainable vehicle logistics starting next year:

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Tesla has already received orders for the Semi from a variety of large companies, including Walmart, Sysco, Anheuser-Busch, UPS, DHL, J.B. Hunt, among others.

Many analysts see the Tesla Semi as a major contributor to future growth and increasing value within the company, especially from a Wall Street perspective. Some firms say the Semi is one of several near and medium-term contributors to the company increasing its market cap.

Cantor Fitzgerald is just one of those firms, as last week it explicitly listed the Semi as a catalyst.

Analyst Andres Sheppard said, “Overall, we remain bullish on TSLA over the medium to long term. We continue to see meaningful future upside from Energy Storage & Deployment, FSD, Robotaxis/Cybercab, Semis, and Optimus Bots.”

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