Tesla is set to unveil plans for its first pickup truck on Thursday night in Los Angeles, in a splashy play by the electric car company to rival Ford’s best-selling F-150 line.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, has called the model “the Cybertruck,” and said that it would have “crazy torque.” But it’s unclear when the model, which would be Tesla’s fifth, might come to market. Here’s what we know so far.
What will we see tonight?
In tweets and public appearances, Mr. Musk has raised expectations about the truck’s performance and features. He has said that it would be able to go 400 miles on a single charge and have the same acceleration as a Porsche, with greater towing capabilities than the trucks currently on the market. It’s expected to cost about $50,000, in line with the leading full-size trucks being sold today.
On the “Ride the Lightning” podcast this month, Mr. Musk said the truck would look “pretty sci-fi” and “kind of like a Blade Runner truck.”
“It’s not going to be for everyone,” he said, with characteristic bravado.
“When we unveil this thing, there will be some people who are like, ‘Oh, that doesn’t look like a truck; I don’t want to buy it,’” he said. “It’s like when they came out with automobiles, people were like, ‘Oh, I like a horse and carriage.’ Sure, O.K., you can stick with your horse and carriage, but you’re going to get an automobile later. You just don’t know it.”
Are other companies making electric trucks?
In fact, they are.
General Motors announced on Thursday that its first battery electric pickup truck would go on sale in the fall of 2021. Ford Motor has said it will release a hybrid F-150 next year, and the company is working on an all-electric version. (In a demonstration in July, an F-150 electric prototype successfully towed more than 1.25 million pounds of rail cars and trucks for a short distance during a capability test.)
The start-up Rivian also introduced an electric pickup truck this year. Rivian is considered a potential rival to Tesla, and has gotten a $500 million investment from Ford, as well as backing from Amazon. Rivian’s truck and an electric sport utility vehicle are supposed to go into production next year.
Do analysts think people will buy Tesla’s truck?
Mr. Musk argues that electric vehicles will eventually replace traditional ones. And Americans love pickup trucks. But at least in the short term, some analysts are doubtful that traditional truck buyers would invest in early electric models.
Karl Brauer, the executive publisher at Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader, predicted that the Tesla truck would appeal more to tech enthusiasts than to traditional truck buyers.
“Everything from its styling to its drivetrain will be a major departure from standard pickup trucks,” he said in a statement. “As a technology statement for tech-oriented professionals and fans, this truck’s departures from the norm will be seen as assets, not liabilities.”
What other models is Tesla working on?
The company sells two sedans and a sport utility vehicle, and has a hatchback coming to the market next year. Tesla is also working on a two-seat roadster and a semi truck, both of which it publicly unveiled two years ago.
Tesla has become one of the top producers of luxury cars in the United States, rivaling brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz. It is also among the leading companies developing self-driving cars, which have faced tough questions about safety. The company, founded in 2003, has never turned an annual profit.
Why is Mr. Musk in the news so often?
Mr. Musk is a brash Silicon Valley billionaire whose companies and public comments make headlines regularly. This week, for example, a federal judge rejected Mr. Musk’s attempt to throw out a defamation lawsuit brought against him by a British cave explorer whom Mr. Musk had accused of being a “pedo guy.”
Mr. Musk is also the chief executive of SpaceX, which launches rockets and spacecraft and has been hired to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA conducted a safety review of SpaceX last year after Mr. Musk smoked pot on the podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
Tesla and Mr. Musk had gone through a period of turmoil starting in August 2018, after Mr. Musk abruptly declared on Twitter that he hoped to take the publicly traded company private. The events kicked off furor in the markets and ignited a federal investigation. He was fined $20 million by securities regulators and agreed to relinquish the chairmanship of Tesla for three years.