Driving Elon Musk’s Tesla Cybertruck might feel like a leap into the future, but it won’t be doing much to save you money anytime soon.
One Cybertruck owner’s vehicle lost control and crashed into their neighbor’s house just a few hours after purchase, and another driver considered selling it after someone simply reacted to their purchase.
If you are thinking of buying a Cybertruck because it’s electric – electric cars are generally seen as more expensive initially but cheaper to maintain compared to petrol or diesel cars – the Tesla Cybertruck is seemingly an exception to this rule.
Entrepreneur David Nguyen posted a video on Instagram showing him charging his Cybertruck to a full charge after realizing it was down to just three percent.
You might expect some advanced technology like movement detection or a face scanner to open the vehicle’s charging port – after all, it is a Tesla. However, Nguyen had to tap the outside of the truck a few times with the charger to get the port to open.
Once plugged in, he got back into the car to see how long it would take to charge the truck to 100 percent. Drum roll, please.
It turns out it would take an astounding ‘one hour and 30 minutes remaining’ to reach the charge limit of 296 miles, which is considered ‘100 percent’.
Nguyen explains that it will use 121kW of energy to reach a full charge, but what does that cost?
In San Leandro, California, the rate of electricity is $0.61 per kWh, and Nguyen kindly does the math for us.
He states: “That’s 121 x 0.61 that is $73 to give me a full tank. That’s going to give me a range of 296 miles. Is that good? Or not good?”
He concludes: “I think it’s pretty good because you’re driving the future a.k.a the Cybertruck.”
However, not everyone shares his sentiment.
One Instagram user commented: “$70???? I thought electric was cheaper. Why are we doing this again.”
Another added: “80 dollars to fill up my GMC 1500 Sierra Diesel. Almost 600 miles with the full tank lmao . So NOT GOOD. Oh and it only took me four and half minutes to fill up.”
A third user said: “So it’s the same to fill up a gas SUV, get further distance and it takes 10 minutes compared to 1.5 hours??? Think I’ll stick to combustion.”
And a fourth remarked: “Absolute joke.”