Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the much-anticipated Cybertruck electric pickup truck on Thursday evening in Los Angeles as the company pushes to break into a segment of the automobile market that’s largely been ignored by electric carmakers. Here’s everything you need to know about Tesla’s Cybertruck launch.
Based on teaser images that have leaked, the Cybertruck, Tesla’s first electric pickup truck, looks like something out of Blade Runner with its futuristic design. We don’t know much about the truck, as Tesla has kept it under wraps, but the hype has been real.
Musk has been teasing an electric pickup for years, but only officially first mentioned the truck in April 2017. It wasn’t until this year that Tesla fans got hopeful about a release when Musk shared a teaser image of the truck while announcing that it would be ready by the end of 2019.
The Cybertruck will be Tesla’s first entry into the pickup truck segment. It only makes sense Tesla is launching a pickup truck model, seeing as how the best-selling vehicle in America is the Ford F-150.
Musk plans to unveil the Cybertruck at Tesla’s design studio in Hawthorne, California at 8 p.m. PT on Thursday, November 21 — that’s tonight. The company is expected to livestream the announcement on its website and YouTube channel.
At around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Tesla posted one last video teaser for the Cybertruck announcement on Twitter — accompanied with Blade Runner-esque synth music, promising a livestream before the event starts this evening.
Stay tuned for livestream pic.twitter.com/zrbsoKKLd7
— Tesla (@Tesla) November 21, 2019
You can watch the announcement live in the player above. Earlier on Thursday, Tesla also tweeted out a livestream and countdown page: livestream.tesla.com. You’ll need to enter your name and email address to access it.
Cybertruck Unveil livestream starts at 8pm https://t.co/BhTBgNqeWQ pic.twitter.com/qzKnsIkkms
— Tesla (@Tesla) November 22, 2019
The futuristic electric truck is expected to have seating for up to six passengers and between 400 and 500 miles of driving range. Tesla previously confirmed specs that include dual-motor all-wheel drive, self-leveling suspension, 360-degree cameras, and an impressive amount of torque. The truck will also be able to park itself and will be equipped with a 240-volt outlet to run power tools miles away from the power grid.
The truck will also be roughly the same size as hot-selling pickups like the Ford F-150, the RAM 1500, and the Chevrolet Silverado.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.