Innovation

Musk Reads: Cybertruck and Roadster shown in video

Jay Leno tries out the Cybertruck and talks Roadster with Musk. Will The Boring Company sell its own cars?

by Mike Brown

Jay Leno tries out the Cybertruck and talks Roadster with Musk. Will The Boring Company sell its own cars? It’s Musk Reads: Tesla Edition #172.

A version of this article appeared in the “Musk Reads” newsletter. Sign up for free here.

Musk quote of the week

“Reviewed design with Franz last night. Even 3% smaller is too small. Will be pretty much this size. We’ll probably do a smaller, tight world truck at some point.”

Tesla

The Cybertruck is almost here. In this week’s episode of CNBC’s Jay Leno’s Garage, the presenter met Musk and went hands-on with the upcoming vehicle, due for launch late 2021 at a price of $39,900. The full episode, complete with more footage of his time with Musk, will air on Wednesday at 10 p.m. Eastern time. The initial clip offers a few tantalizing details:

  • The car is bulletproof because that’s “badass,” Musk says.
  • Musk is aiming for the car to be five percent smaller than its current design. The CEO later explained on Twitter that this would be unlikely.
  • The car “feels very much like any other Tesla,” Leno says.

A second clip shows Leno also discussing the Roadster with Musk next to a prototype model. The $200,000 vehicle, with top speeds of over 250 mph, is now expected to ship sometime in 2022 based on recent comments. In the clip, Musk described the vehicle as “full-on James Bond.” The SpaceX options package would, as previously explained, use cold gas thrusters to boost the vehicle. A main thruster would be hidden behind the license plate. Read more.

What’s next for Tesla: Tesla is expected to host its planned Battery Day some time in the near future. Comments from Musk suggest a livestream could take place in June.

In other Musk news…

Tesla has cut the price on the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 by up to six percent in North America. The Model 3 now starts at $37,990, the Model S at $74,990, and the Model X at $79,990. The latter two vehicles no longer offer free use of the high-speed supercharger network for new buyers.

  • Tesla launched a Fallout Shelter in-car video game.
  • The firm has dropped its lawsuit with Alameda County over its reopening of the factory despite county rules.
  • A new video shows a behind-the-scenes look at how a Tampa expressway was closed to autonomously drive nine Tesla Model 3s and a Lamborghini Huracan.

Musk Reads mailroom

Kim and Karen Kaiser write:

Why is the [The Boring Company] website so anemic? It’s like TBC is Musk’s forgotten child.

It could do with a lick of paint. Even as the firm finishes construction of its first public tunnel, its website doesn’t seem like it’s offering too much in the way of excitement. With Musk claiming in 2017 that the firm only takes up two or three percent of his time, it’s perhaps going to fall to someone else to push for a site redesign.

Stephen Russell writes:

With Vegas boring project 2 be completed & using Tesla vehicles inside tube, can one buy said cars once done with 1+2XXXX miles or no?

Nothing has been announced on this front, but if anything, it seems Tesla would be keen to use the cars for other in-company purposes. In April 2019, the firm’s lease hire agreement explained how Tesla Model 3 owners who got the car on a lease would return it to Tesla at the end. The reason? The planned robo-taxi network will need company-owned vehicles to fill out the gaps.

Got any comments or queries? Don’t forget to send them over to muskreads@inverse.com.

Video of the week

Jay Leno goes hands-on with the Tesla Cybertruck with a little help from Musk himself.

Got a photo or video you’d like to see featured? Send it over to muskreads@inverse.com!

The ultra-fine print

This has been Musk Reads: Tesla Edition #172, the weekly rundown of essential reading about futurist and entrepreneur Elon Musk. I’m Mike Brown, an innovation journalist for Inverse.

A version of this article appeared in the “Musk Reads” newsletter. Sign up for free here.

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