Rocket Slinger
We still have plenty of questions about Tesla’s long-awaited Cybertruck. The brutish vehicle is several years behind schedule, and what we’ve seen so far isn’t exactly confidence-inducing.
But chances are that its towing capacity, at least, won’t be much of a letdown. Images and videos circulating on social media earlier this week showed the electric pickup towing a gigantic SpaceX Raptor rocket engine at the space company’s testing facilities in South Texas.
Footage shared by the YouTube channel Starship Gazer shows the truck slowly driving down a road, with what appears to be a Raptor Vacuum, designed to propel SpaceX’s Starship through outer space, strapped to a trailer behind it.
According to Electrek, a Raptor engine weighs in at 3,500 pounds. Tesla has promised that the Cybertruck will have a towing capacity of over “14,000 pounds,” depending on the configuration, but we’ll reserve our judgment until third parties have had a chance to take the truck for a spin.
Nonetheless, it’s a sight for sore eyes. We’ve come across plenty of images of broken down and banged up Cybertrucks, undermining Tesla’s braggadocious marketing for the truck — but this clip does seem to suggest that towing capacity won’t be one of the truck’s shortcomings.
Tow Truck
We still haven’t gotten the truck’s exact specifications and real-world performance, even almost four years after Musk originally unveiled it on stage. Tesla promises the truck will be able to accelerate from 0 to 60 in just 2.9 seconds and have a range of up to 500 miles — though don’t expect to get anywhere near that kind of mileage while towing.
But a separate video making its rounds earlier this week shows the truck rocketing to blistering speeds from a standstill at a red light, indicating it won’t disappoint in the acceleration department, regardless of real-world performance.
At the same time, that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given Tesla’s and its EV competitors’ offerings. Fierce acceleration has become a hallmark of electric vehicles.
We still don’t know when customers will finally get their hands on their Cybertrucks, though. Tesla has yet to announce the date of its delivery event — despite Musk promising to have one “probably in Q3” of this year, which has now drawn to a close.
And while chances are it won’t wow in terms of fit and finish, it’ll clearly pull a rocket engine just fine.
More on the truck: Piece Comes Flying Off Cybertruck While Driving