INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tesla revealed its Cybertruck pickup last night,a SciFi-tastic wedge built from the same steel alloy that SpaceX is using for its Starship
spaceship.
Elon Musk spent about 20 minutes showing off the truck, with demos ranging from a game of tug-of-war against an F-150, to racing
a Porsche, to a window strength test that didn&t go quite as planned.
This morning, Elon is trickling out other details he didn&t get around
to mentioning onstage — like that they&re planning to offer a solar charging option.
While it sounds like Tesla is still working out the
exact details, Elon shed some light on the solar option via tweet:
The Cybertruck long, angled sides seem like they&d lend themselves well
to doubling as solar panels — the whole cover of the &Vault& truck bed is effectively one big flat surface, after all
Even so, don&t go expecting a solar charging Cybertruck to get all of its power from the sun; solar panels just aren&t that efficient
Musk suggests that their current design could generate about 15 miles of charge per day, while conceptual &fold out solar wings& could
potentially pull in 30-40 miles per day
Enough to get you around town, but you&ll still probably need to juice up the standard way for long hauls
But hey, that 15+ miles pulled from the sun!
(It also totally lends itself to the wildly post-apocalyptic look/feel of the Cybertruck
SEEYA LATER, ROBOCOP.)
There are still plenty of things to be worked out — how much the option could cost, what those &solar wings& might
look like, whether it&ll be ready at launch, etc
With Cybertruck not expected to go into production until late 2021, though, they&ve got time to figure all that out.
