Tesla has finally built its first Cybertruck four years after chaotic reveal
The electric vehicle's prototype was unveiled back in 2019
The first Tesla Cybertruck has rolled off the production line four-years after it was first revealed by Elon Musk.
Cast your mind back to November 2019 and you may remember the slightly chaotic unveiling of the electric-vehicle’s prototype, which saw when Tesla designer, Franz von Holzhausen, hurl a metal ball at the so-called ‘unbreakable’ windows, only for it to smash. Awkward.
You can see how that played out here:
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Days after, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, took to Twitter to explain why the supposedly unbreakable windows didn’t live up to their name - pointing out that prior to von Holzhausen throwing a ball at the window, he’d hit the door with a sledgehammer to demonstrate how strong the vehicle’s body panels are.
And, while the sledgehammer did do a very good job of showcasing the strength of the Cybertruck’s panel, in the process it had slightly damaged the glass - so that when the ball struck it caused the window to crack.
He wrote: “Sledgehammer impact on door cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn’t bounce off. Should have done steel ball on window, *then* sledgehammer the door. Next time…”
During that same presentation, Musk announced that production would begin on the Cybertruck in 2021.
However, due to numerous hold-ups caused by the model’s complex body shape and supply chain issues, it was only on Saturday (July 15) that the first production-ready Cybertruck was completed.
In a post on Twitter, the official Tesla account shared a photo of the first Cybertruck built at the company’s Giga Texas plant.
In the photo, dozens of staff, wearing high-visibility vests and hard hats, can be seen posing next to the gunmetal gray vehicle.
Tesla boss Musk shared the tweet with his 148 million followers, writing: “Congrats Tesla Team!”
Musk has previously said the unusual-looking truck ‘looks like it was made by aliens from the future' and has claimed that it would be able to ‘briefly serve as a boat’.
In a post on Twitter in September 2022, he wrote: “Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy.'
Musk had originally claimed the Cybertruck would cost $39,900 for a single motor version with 250 miles of range, but that's now expected to be around $50,000, according to TechCrunch.
The vehicle has been available to pre-order since it was unveiled in 2019 - and a report shared last November, stated that 1.5 million orders had been placed so far.
Topics: Cars, Electric Cars, Elon Musk, Tesla, US News, Technology
Claire Reid