Tesla details the Cybertruck's official payload and towing capabilities
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Tesla is showcasing its Cybertruck in at least two of its retail locations, specifically in the showrooms of San Diego and San Jose. This display coincides with Tesla's preparation for the official production launch of the Cybertruck at the end of November 2023.
The Cybertruck on Display
One of the Cybertrucks is showcased in San Diego at the Westfield UTC Mall in the La Jolla neighborhood, however, other Cybertrucks have been seen en route to various locations, indicating a possible wider rollout.This move by Tesla is intriguing as it comes ahead of the official release of specs and pricing. It appears to be a strategic decision to generate buzz and drive traffic to Tesla stores, potentially boosting sales of other models like the Model 3 and Model Y.
Towing Capacity and Payload Revealed
An eye-catching aspect of the Cybertruck's presence at the San Diego store is the advertising sign outside. It officially reveals the truck's towing capacity and payload: a towing capacity of 11,000 lbs and a payload of 2,500 lbs. Interestingly, Tesla does not mention a specific trim, which could imply a single version at launch. However, it remains unclear if this will be the dual motor or tri-motor variant.If this specification pertains to the dual motor variant, Tesla is close to their initial projections made back in 2019, albeit with a slight shortfall in the payload capacity.
Original Specifications: A Comparative Look
At its announcement in 2019, Tesla had outlined three versions of the Cybertruck with varying capabilities:
Variant
Range (miles)
Payload (lbs)
Towing Capacity (lbs)
Single Motor
250
3,500
7,500
Dual Motor
300
3,500
10,000
Tri Motor
500
3,500
11,400
These initial specifications provided a broad range of options for potential buyers, but its not clear whether Tesla will still produce three variants of the Cybertruck.Anticipation and Speculation
Tesla's original specs for the Cybertruck in 2019
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With the Cybertruck's official launch imminent, anticipation is high. Tesla's strategy of showcasing the Cybertruck in showrooms, even without finalized specifications and pricing, seems to be a calculated move to heighten interest. As we approach the end of November, all eyes are on Tesla to unveil the final details.
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There are a few features to keep in mind when taking your Tesla through a car wash, but Tesla’s Car Wash Mode makes it easy by enabling or disabling several features for you. These settings don’t only prevent damage to your vehicle, such as locking the charge port door so that it doesn’t automatically open when a cleaning brush touches it, but they also improve the experience by recirculating the air in the vehicle to prevent cleaning chemical smells from coming in.
Car Wash Mode makes it easy by giving you a checklist of items and their real-time status, alerting you of any important items, such as your trunk being open.
When activated from Controls > Service > Car Wash Mode, it performs a list of actions:
Automatically closes all windows
Locks the charge port door to prevent accidental opening
While Car Wash Mode monitors more than a handful of items, it doesn’t continuously check the status of your windows. When you first enter Car Wash Mode, the vehicle will automatically roll up any open windows. However, it won’t alert you if a window has been lowered after Car Wash Mode was enabled. This could spell disaster for your vehicle's interior, as one user found out.
Lincoln posted a video on X, demonstrating what happened to his friend and requesting that Tesla add open windows to the list of flags in Car Wash Mode.
Tesla’s Troy R. Jones, VP of North America Sales and Service, noticed the post and decided to take action, offering to pass on the suggestion to the vehicle software team.
Good recommendation. Sharing with the team. Thanks
While Troy’s response doesn’t confirm the feature being added in a future update, it’ll at least be put in front of the software team to potentially address.
Tesla could add this window-specific solution in several ways. Tesla could add this as another on-screen flag while the vehicle is in Car Wash Mode, simply alerting the driver that there’s a window open. However, they could also go one step further and lock the rear windows to prevent accidental opening while Car Wash Mode is enabled.
In case of an emergency, Tesla could present an on-screen button that pops up when a user tries to open a window while Car Wash Mode is activated, letting the driver override Car Wash Mode.
We’re interested to see what Tesla would do here, as these little quality-of-life changes really improve the end-user experience. What else would you like to see added to Car Wash Mode?
Tesla offers a range of home energy products — from the widely used Wall Connector to the Powerwall and the innovative Solar Roof. Now, for the first time, a unique residential development in Houston, Texas, combines all of these technologies — and more — to move toward energy self-sufficiency.
Self-Sufficient
This community, located in Oaks of Shady Acres and built by Utopia Homes, consists of just 11 townhomes, each designed using Tesla technology to be self-sufficient. Utopia has equipped the homes with Solar Roofs, Powerwalls, and Wall Connectors to complete the entire ecosystem.
Tesla’s Solar Roof replaces traditional roofing materials while doubling as a clean energy source during daylight hours. The best part is that it mimics the look of conventional shingles while improving durability and longevity. Any excess energy generated is stored in the home’s Powerwall 3 units, providing power when the sun is down.
Tesla's Solar Roof
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Tesla’s Universal Wall Connector, which can charge any EV equipped with either a NACS or CCS port (through a J1772 adapter). If you added on a Cybertruck with Powershare (more vehicles will support Powershare in the future), you’d have a backup system that would last an extremely long time on batteries alone.
A Powerwall 3 stores about 13.5 kWh of energy, while a Cybertruck has a battery pack of 123 kWh, which is roughly equivalent to about nine Powerwalls. In addition, the Cybertruck could be used as a “mobile battery pack,” which can get additional energy from Superchargers and bring it back to the home if there’s an extended power outage.
Utopia markets these homes with “100% energy security,” - but they’re still grid-connected. However, they appear to have made quite a point with this - as many people in Texas, with its notoriously unstable electricity grid - were excited to get into these homes.
Sadly, these homes still include a gas range, so they’re not entirely green and disconnected. This likely comes down to the fact that powering an induction range alongside a heat pump in the winter could draw more energy than Powerwall 3 is capable of outputting instantaneously.
Attention Getters
These 11 homes attracted a lot of attention - according to a broker working on Utopia’s team, they had requests to see or buy these homes coming from across the country. Priced around $544,900, these homes are about $150,000 higher than Houston’s median list pricing for similarly sized townhomes, but the benefits are clear for many buyers who will recoup these additional costs over the home’s life.
Utopia has acknowledged the demand for Tesla-powered and future-proofed homes like these and is already planning to build more in the future. This is an excellent showcase of what an electric-powered future could look like, and we’re excited to see more of these types of homes and neighborhoods in the future.
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