Connect with us

News

Tesla order configurator revealed for ‘Foundation Series’ Cybertruck

Credit: Tesla (via Whole Mars Catalog | YouTube)

Published

on

Tesla’s order configurator for the limited launch edition “Foundation Series” Cybertruck has been revealed, as shared in a video over the weekend.

After invites to order the Foundation Series Cybertruck went out to select reservation holders earlier this week, multiple people have said that they completed an order. One such reservation holder includes Omar of Whole Mars Catalog, who shared a video of the Cybertruck’s order configurator on Saturday morning.

The video features a walkthrough of the order configurator, starting with the invite email received by many individuals last Wednesday. When proceeding to the design page, the configurator shows the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive (AWD) version, starting at $99,990, along with the Cyberbeast tri-motor trim, priced at $119,990.

Tesla is prioritizing deliveries of the Cybertruck in California and Texas, and while the dual-motor version has an estimated delivery timeline ranging from this month to March 2024, the tri-motor Cyberbeast trim says that estimated delivery of the configuration will take place in early 2024. Residents in other states are expected to get access to the truck in 2024.

The configurator also details features such as the Cybertruck’s steer-by-wire system, its high ground clearance and suspension, and the optional add-on of a range extender, which sits in the vehicle’s truck bed and increases its estimated range to around 470 miles per charge. The range extender isn’t yet available, and it’s expected to begin production in late 2024.

The video walkthrough is a little over 19 minutes and includes more details about the Tesla Cybertruck’s Powershare feature, its inclusion of the FSD beta, and more.

Below are some of the initial differences between the Foundation Series Cyberbeast and dual-motor trims for the Cybertruck, and the things included with any Foundation Series order, as detailed in the configurator:

Advertisement
-
-

Dual-Motor Cybertruck

  • Dual-motor, AWD
  • 318 miles estimated range
  • 340 miles estimated range with all-season tires (available in 2024)
  • 4.1-second 0-60 mph
  • 112 mph top speed
  • 600 horsepower
  • 7,435 lb-ft of torque
  • 11,000 pounds of towing capacity

Cyberbeast Tri-Motor Cybertruck

  • Tri-motor, AWD
  • 301 miles estimated range with all-terrain tires
  • 320 miles estimated range with all-season tires (available in 2024)
  • 2.6-second 0-60 mph
  • 130 mph top speed
  • 845 horsepower
  • 10,296 lb-ft of torque
  • 11,000 pounds of towing capacity

Included with the Foundation Series Cybertruck

  • Limited-edition configuration
  • Laser-etched Foundation Series badge
  • Foundation Series cabin graphic
  • 20-inch Cyber wheels with 35-inch tires
  • White décor
  • Off-road light bar
  • Premium accessories
  • Powershare home backup
  • Powershare mobile connector
  • Full Self-Driving beta capability
  • Lifetime premium connectivity

You can watch the full Whole Mars Catalog video on YouTube below.

Some have also spotted that the Cybertruck order agreement does include a one-year “no resale” agreement, which was initially found in the owner’s manuals for other Tesla vehicles last month in a section titled “For Cybertruck Only.” After news of the agreement surfaced, the paragraph detailing the agreement was quietly removed from the owner’s manuals, leaving some curious as to whether Cybertruck owners would be subject to the agreement.

Now, the no-resale agreement can be found in Tesla’s order configurator for the Cybertruck, saying that those who try to flip the vehicles within a year could be subject to up to $50,000 in legal penalties.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

Advertisement
Comments

Elon Musk

SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites

Published

on

By

SpaceX just picked up another $1.6 billion from the Pentagon, with the U.S. Space Force awarding two task orders worth $1.6 billion to fly 18 Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California through the end of 2027. The launches will carry satellites for the Space Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio, a set of programs meant to help the military detect and track airborne threats and relay that information across forces in near real time.

The award falls under National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1, the Space Force’s faster, commercial style procurement track for missions that do not require the military’s most demanding certification process. It is also the largest single order publicly disclosed under that program so far, and the first task order issued since the Space Force nearly tripled Lane 1’s contract ceiling from $5.6 billion to $17 billion on July 17.

SpaceX to become America’s Military data backbone for missiles, drones, and warfighters

Eric Zarybnisky, the Space Force’s acting portfolio acquisition executive for space access, said the entire process, from identifying the requirement to signing the contract, took about two months, including a month set aside for companies to prepare proposals.

SpaceX is not just launching these satellites. It already holds the contracts to build two of the programs within the same portfolio, $4.16 billion for the Space Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator system and $2.29 billion for the Space Data Network Backbone, which Teslarati covered in May. That means SpaceX is now responsible for both building key pieces of the military’s next generation sensing network and getting them into orbit.

With this latest award, SpaceX’s Pentagon contract total for 2026 alone tops $8 billion, adding to a defense portfolio that already includes the Golden Dome missile defense software group SpaceX joined in April and a string of GPS launches it inherited after ULA’s Vulcan rocket ran into a booster anomaly, which we detailed in March.

Lane 1’s vendor pool technically includes seven companies: SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Stoke Space, Impulse Space, and Relativity Space. In practice, SpaceX remains the only provider with the combination of launch cadence, flight proven Falcon 9 hardware, and West Coast infrastructure to support a campaign requiring roughly one Vandenberg launch a month for the next year and a half.

Advertisement
-
-

Some lawmakers have flagged the growing concentration of national security launches with one company as a risk worth watching. For now, the Space Force keeps backing SpaceX, with it being the company that shows up ready to launch.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk sheds two new bits of detail on Starship after 13th test launch

Published

on

Credit: SpaceX

Elon Musk shed two new bits of detail on Starship following its 13th test launch, which was an overwhelming success.

SpaceX launched Starship for the 13th time last Friday after two delays: one on Monday when several Raptor engines did not ignite, and another on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions in Starbase, Texas.

The launch was overwhelmingly successful. SpaceX was able to complete a necessary test of the heat shield tiles by increasing the acceleration of Starship from launch throughout the flight; 20 Starlink v3 satellites were released with no issue; the Super Heavy Booster landed safely in the Gulf of America, Ship successfully reignited engines while in space; and it also splashed down without incident in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before

Nevertheless, more details are coming out about Starship, and Musk is doing the talking.

Starship Will Be Retrieved in the Ocean

Musk revealed on Tuesday night that Starship would be recovered by a ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX routinely tries to recover Starship after splashdown in an effort to find out more about the flight by examining the spacecraft afterward.

This helps engineers find out more about why things might have happened, allows them to examine any potential damage or anomalies that might have occurred, and increases the chances of an even more successful flight next time thanks to the additional information recovered.

Ship Could Have Been Caught by Tower Arms, Musk claims

Musk has already indicated that SpaceX will plan to attempt a catch of Starship with the 14th test flight. While this would be a major accomplishment, it would be an expected next step, considering the fact that the Super Heavy Booster has already been caught by the chopsticks on numerous occasions.

A ship catch would be a great indication of where SpaceX stands in terms of reusability and launch cadence. A successful catch with relatively no incidents would be a good sign that SpaceX is nearing a more frequent launch of Starship, but also that the reusability of the massive rocket would be something many would expect in the near future.

It is a necessity to make life multiplanetary.

Advertisement
-
-
Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk updates the SpaceX timeline for Mars

Published

on

Rendering of a colonized Mars by way of SpaceX
Rendering of a colonized Mars by way of SpaceX

Elon Musk has updated his timeline for when humans will walk on Mars and for when ships will simply get there.

The objective of getting to Mars has been one of Musk’s biggest goals since becoming a serial entrepreneur and realizing that time on Earth is limited. Musk has said several times he hopes to die on Mars, and not by impact.

Musk now believes that people will be on Mars in “roughly 5 to 7 years.” He said that a Mars lander will get there “a few years sooner.”

The response from Musk comes after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX’s biggest priority is the Moon and not Mars. Because of this, Isaacman conceded that he believes nuclear power and propulsion investments will provide “potentially the pathway with the fewest miracles required to put four people on Mars in the next 10 to 15 years.”

Advertisement
-
-

Of course, this is what NASA can do through taxpayer funding and nuclear investments, he added.

Musk’s grand ambitions are much more optimistic than most, and it is certainly a double-edged sword. This is not the first time timelines for Mars have been somewhat lofty, especially to those normal thinkers like you and me, not super geniuses like Musk.

SpaceX Board has set a Mars bonus for Elon Musk

In fact, the SpaceX and Tesla frontman has said on at least a dozen occasions that we could be on Mars in the coming years. Musk said 2020 would be the big year as early as 2009. In 2020, he was “highly confident” of a landing in 2026, and had even said 2024 in a best-case scenario.

The point is, the range has varied, and it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll get there. This latest adjustment to the timeline is typical of Musk, and while the Moon has seemingly taken priority over Mars, it is still worth mentioning that the ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary, and it starts potentially with the Red Planet.

Continue Reading