Is the Tesla Cybertruck Starting Production?

Tesla Cybertruck Starting Production

Joe Tegtmeyer was able to spot some of the major giga press parts inside Giga Texas on Dec. 16, 2022. These images give us a clue that progress is being made on the Cybertruck.

There isn't a complete assembly of all the parts yet, but there are components that are showing the tooling pieces needed for the Cybertruck are showing up. The giga press will build just one part of the truck.

More robots have arrived in Giga Texas from Kuka, a company that Tesla gets its robots from. In total, 66 Kuka production line robots arrived in Houston on the 18th of December, 2022. These kinds of robots have been used on all of Tesla's production lines.

These robot arms are dedicated to welding or attaching parts to the vehicle chassis. Tesla is fine tuning their existing assembly line and these new robots are specifically for the Cybertruck line - most likely for Cybertruck manufacturing. This will help Tesla fine tune their process.

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When Will Cybertruck Be Delivered?

Tesla has ramped up their 4680 battery manufacturing and recently this has exceeded a 1,000 vehicle per week run rate. Where are these batteries going? There hasn't been many Model Y vehicles with 4680 batteries, so these batteries are going to have to go somewhere eventually.

There's going to be about an 8 to 9 month gap between Tesla's calibrating and it's actual production ready Cybertrucks. It's probably too early to assume the 4680 batteries are being stockpiled for future Cybertruck production.

The last earnings call, Tesla stated that some of the 4680 batteries are going to go in a standard range Model Y. Then Tesla started building non-structural 2170 batteries. There hasn't been a large influx of 4680 battery Model Y vehicles for existing inventory. Is Tesla building 4680 Model Y vehicles for existing inventory?

The 4680 batteries aren't even being made in Giga Texas yet. If all goes to plan, the Cybertruck should weight much less than the typical pickup truck, closer to 6,000 pounds whereas Ford and Rivian are upward of 7,000 to 9,000 pounds. Will the Cybertruck support a higher voltage architecture? If all goes super well, then maybe Tesla has found a way to scale Energy dense 4680 batteries.

There will probably be issues that come up and it's going to take some things going well for Tesla to create a 500 range Cybertruck. The big question is where are all the 4680 batteries going? The only thing I can think of is that they are being stockpiled for the Cybertruck - or they are being tested for existing Model Y vehicles.

The Cybertruck is going to take a lot of fine tuning before it gets released. The range will probably be more around 300 to 400 miles for a quad motor Cybertruck. The recent Cybertruck casting photo wasn't a production casting, it's more of a beta prototype. Cybertruck deliveries should start around Q3, 2023. There's a lot more work to do. Customer deliveries may not even happen until 2024.

I don't think there will be a 2-door Cybertruck that is a smaller version. That would require Tesla trying to work with two different castings and version of the Cybertruck. I don't think that's going to happen. Tesla is going to keep it simple.

Will you be getting a Cybertruck? Will Tesla release it in 2023?

For more information, see this video from Tailosive EV:

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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.

Image Credit, Tesla, Screenshot