Breaking: Tesla Starts Selling Cheaper Cybertruck Variant – 5% Smaller-Range, Honors 2019 FSD Price, No $7,500 EV Tax Credit

The non-Foundation Series Tesla Cybertruck is available starting at $79,900. Interestingly, it has 5% less range, several stripped-out features, and does not qualify for the $7,500 tax credit. However, Tesla is honoring the 2019 FSD reservation price.

Tesla has officially started selling the non-Foundation Series Cybertruck variant. Online Tesla personality Sawyer Merritt broke the news, writing, “BREAKING: Tesla has officially begun inviting people to order the less expensive non-Foundation Series Cybertrucks!”

Sawyer added, “It starts at $79,990. The $99,990 ti-motor Cyberbeast is also now available to order.”

What’s interesting here is that Tesla has gone back to the invite-only Cybertruck order process. First-day Cybertruck reservation holders will get to configure their non-Foundation Series truck initially, and it will go chronologically after that.

This move effectively lowers the Cybertruck starting price by $20,000, and thanks to people who have gotten the invite, we know the details of how Tesla managed to make the regular Cybertruck variant cheaper.

The most surprising fact is that the regular Cybertruck variant has a 5% lower range than the Foundation Series variant. With similar all-season Pirelli Scorpion tires and core wheel covers, the regular Cybertruck variant has a 325-mile EPA range, whereas the Foundation Series has a 340-mile EPA range.

Given the negligible range difference between the two, it wouldn’t make sense for Tesla to create a brand-new, smaller battery pack. There are theories suggesting that the smaller range has to do with the dry-cathode batteries Tesla is expected to power the non-Foundation Series Cybertrucks.

By the end of this year, Tesla will transition to the less expensive dry-cathode coating manufacturing technique for the Cybertruck Cyber-cells.

However, in our opinion, in addition to being much cheaper to produce, the dry electrode coating process should improve the energy density rather than decrease it. We have written extensively about the revolutionary dry-cathode Cyber-cell and its improvements.

Going back to the newly launched “regular” Cybertruck variant, another surprising thing we learned is that Tesla is honoring the 2019 FSD price.

Back then, when you put down $100 to reserve a Cybertruck, Tesla allowed you to lock down the FSD price at $7,000. In hindsight, it doesn’t make sense why Tesla did that—were they trying to get more people to reserve a Cybertruck?

However, for better or worse, the EV maker has decided to honor its promise. That said, this news is slightly undercut by the fact that FSD prices have decreased precipitously in the past couple of years.

After reaching a peak of $15,000 in 2022, FSD is now down to $8,000. When ordering the Cybertruck, you still save $1,000, but that’s not as good a deal if FSD prices had remained at $15,000.

Even the $1,000 saving is further undercut by the fact that Tesla has decreased FSD prices to as low as $4,500 on some Tesla variants.

Another interesting fact we learned is that despite the starting price falling below $80,000, the Cybertruck AWD does not qualify for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.

This is surprising because, on paper, the Cybertruck fulfills all the requirements to receive the tax credit. All the major components of the Cybertruck, including the final assembly, cells, and battery pack, are built in the US, and the starting price has also fallen below the $80,000 cut point.

We also know that a few months ago, the Cybertruck AWD was included in the list of vehicles that qualify for the $7,500 tax credit. What’s most likely going on here is that Tesla did not update the online configurator to reflect this fact.

The $7,500 point of sale credit will further reduce the Cybertruck starting price to $72,500. At current prices above $100,000, Tesla has sold close to 40,000 Cybertrucks. With a $27,500 price cut, Tesla will likely get another wave of Cybertruck orders.

This is all good; however, Tesla has also removed some features from the Foundation Series Cybertruck variant to lower the price.

Tesla has decided to make the tactical gray interior the default option. The white interior, which came standard with the Foundation Series variant, is now a $2000 option.

The laser-etched Foundation Series badges throughout the vehicle are also gone. More importantly, the Cybertruck now comes standard with all-season Pirelli Scorpion tires and core wheel covers.

The more beautiful Cybertruck Cyber-Wheels with the all-terrain Goodyear Wrangler Territory RT tires are now a $3,500 option.

In addition, given the $80,000 cut-off to qualify for the EV tax credit, adding the white interior and Cyber-wheel option will disqualify that Cybertruck variant from receiving the $7,500 tax credit.

Overall, seeing Tesla massively cut the Cybertruck’s starting price is exciting. Having said that, I’m curious to see how the “regular” Cybertruck will affect the resell price for the Foundation Series variants.

Let me know what you think in the comments. Share your ideas by clicking the red “Add new comment” button below. Also, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

Image: Courtesy of Tesla, inc.

For more information, check out: Several Former Tesla Cybertruck Owners Share The Staggering Amount of Money They Lost When Selling Their Trucks – “$30,000 Gone in 2 Months”

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.