- The new Tesla Cybertruck Long Range is a single-motor base model that drops the starting price of the polarizing pickup to $71,985.
- The Long Range can go a claimed 350 miles on a charge, 25 better than the dual-motor all-wheel-drive Cybertruck.
- The Long Range model skips out on the air suspension, rear passenger display, and ventilated front seats.
The Cybertruck sparked controversy with its acceleration claims, purporting to beat a Porsche 911 in a drag race while towing a 911. Regardless of the veracity of that claim, the truck is plenty rapid, with the dual-motor version making 600 horsepower and the tri-motor producing 834 hp. But now Tesla is scaling things back in the power department, announcing an entry-level variant for the angular pickup called the Cybertruck Long Range.
The name tells you pretty much all you need to know. Tesla estimates the Long Range model has 362 miles of range. That number, however, requires the fitment of an optional $750 soft tonneau cover, which is shipped separately and must be installed by the owner. Without the tonneau, the Long Range is good for a claimed 350 miles per charge. That’s still a significant improvement over other Cybertrucks, with the all-wheel-drive model traveling a claimed 325 miles and the Beast capped at 320 miles.TeslaThe Cybertruck Long Range achieves this feat by removing the front motor. The single-motor rear-wheel-drive truck will accelerate from zero to 60 mph in a claimed 6.2 seconds, en route to a top speed of 112 mph. That makes it 2.4 seconds slower to 60 mph than the all-wheel-drive Cybertruck and 3.6 ticks behind Tesla’s claim for the Beast. The Beast matched that claim in Car and Driver testing, but the AWD version went two-tenths quicker in our hands.With less power comes less capability. The Long Range model can tow up to 7500 pounds, Tesla says, down from the 11,000 pounds that the dual- and tri-motor models can pull. The air suspension is also replaced with coil springs, so unlike other Cybertrucks, which can rise up to 16 inches off the ground, clearance in the Long Range is always set to 9.6 inches. The Long Range comes standard with 18-inch wheels and all-season tires, with the optional combination of 20-inch wheels and all-terrain tires slashing 19 miles of range off the estimate. Like other Cybertrucks, its charging speed maxes out at 325 kW, but Tesla claims you can add up to 147 miles in 15 minutes, a 10-mile improvement over the all-wheel-drive model. TeslaTesla made some other concessions for the base model: cargo volume shrinks by roughly one cubic foot, and the Long Range model doesn’t come with the 9.4-inch rear passenger display. The power tonneau cover also isn’t available, the front cloth seats are heated but not ventilated, and the sound system downgrades from 15 speakers to seven. The Cybertruck Long Range starts at $71,985, and while the new model is available to order now, deliveries won’t start until June. The price is roughly $10,000 less than the all-wheel-drive model. While it still costs more than the Ford F-150 Lightning, which starts at $49,975 for the Pro work truck variant or $65,190 for the more refined XLT trim, the Cybertruck’s base price is on par with the Rivian R1T, which opens at $71,700 for the base Adventure model.More on the CybertruckCaleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
Source: caranddriver.com
