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Tesla Cybertruck weight substantially less than the competition, and it will have Tesla's usual safety record, according to electric vehicle teardown experts

A low weight will be essential to achieving strong off-road capabilities. (Image source: Tesla)
A low weight will be essential to achieving strong off-road capabilities. (Image source: Tesla)
The folks at Munro Live, who have a long history of disassembling and inspecting Tesla vehicles, think the Cybertruck will be much lighter than the 8,500 to 10,000 lbs (3,855 - 4,536 kg) that Tesla's earlier regulatory filing suggested. The pair also dove into the safety and rigidity of the unique chassis construction.

Early regulatory filings in California indicated that the Tesla Cybertruck would come in at a curb weight of around 8,500 to 10,000 lbs (3,855 – 4,536 kg). The stainless steel skin, quad-motor drivetrain, and substantial battery pack seem to support this weight hypothesis, although Sandy Munro and Cory Steuben, who have done their fair share of Tesla teardowns, seem to think it will be lighter than that.

While discussing recent leaked images of the Cybertruck's castings and production line, Munro and Steuben start to discuss the Cybertruck's weight, especially compared to the competition. While Munro posits that the Cybertruck would weigh close to four tons when it's released, Steuben estimates that it will weigh at least 6,000 lbs (2,721 kg), but more like 6,800 lbs (3084 kg).

The reasoning behind this estimate is based on the weight of the Cybertruck's competition in the Rivian R1T and GMC Hummer EV, which weigh in at 6,949 lbs (3,152 kg) and 10,400 lbs (4,700 kg), respectively. Where the Rivian and the Hummer EV are both body-on-frame designs, the Cybertruck appears to be built more efficiently thanks to its gigacastings and structural battery pack.

Munro and Steuben also remarked that the sturdy A pillar and gigacastings would make the Cybertruck very rigid, adding that this robustness may also have contributed to the electric pickup's late launch and extensive delays.

Until now, Tesla's vehicles have always earned stellar results in safety testing, largely thanks to their construction and safety assistance technology. It's likely that Tesla will want to maintain its reputation for safety as it launches its first pickup truck.

Recent rumours have suggested that the Cybertruck would launch with a 350-mile (563.3 km) range, with a 500-mile (804.7 km) variant coming later. This means that the weight will likely fluctuate rather substantially across the different trims of the Cybertruck. A lower weight will almost certainly help the Cybertruck with range and off-road capabilities — Tesla has recently teased the Cybertruck's off-road capabilities, although it has never relied as much on them as Rivian and Hummer have.

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Source(s)

Futurism, Munro Live on YouTube

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2023 07 > Tesla Cybertruck to weigh substantially less than the competition and have Tesla's usual safety record, according to electric vehicle teardown experts
Julian van der Merwe, 2023-07-30 (Update: 2023-07-31)