The Real Cybertruck Performance

The overall performance of the Cybertruck has been a source of debate since its debut in November - with several videos of drivers getting stuck in snow or other off-road conditions being shared around during this past month or so.

Well, another benefit to having Tesla’s new truck out in the world is that some more experienced truck and offroad drivers get to weigh in on how it actually performs - and as it turns out, it does fairly well in the hands of someone who is used to operating trucks.

One example that stands out was showcased in a January 7th video by content creator Arash Malek. Being one of the lucky first owners of the new Tri-motor, “Cyberbeast” Cybertruck, Malek gets a friend named Andy - who drives a large F-350 diesel pickup, and off-roads as a hobby - to test the Tesla Truck’s capabilities.

First they tow a 3000 lbs Brawley - which is a rugged, electric off-road vehicle - all the way to a recreational dune area in Utah. During the ride, the experienced truck driver comments that it doesn’t feel like the Cybertruck is pulling anything - and sure there’s no trailer, but the Brawley is using the trip to recharge with its regenerative braking mechanism, so there should be friction there. The Cybertruck is completely unhindered, accelerating and passing other vehicles easily.

Now 3000 lbs is far less than the 14,000 lbs boasted by Tesla in the tri-motor variant’s purchasing material - but the truck owner believes that it could likely haul anything that his usual diesel truck could if it needed to.

But then the real test - the dunes.

Again, for the past month, Tesla critics have been posting videos of drivers who have gotten their new Cybertrucks stuck in places that seem like they should be driveable for a vehicle that was advertised as a serious off-road-capable truck - so a place with loose sand would likely cause some problem, right?

Nope.

With Andy at the wheel, the truck is put into its off-roading “Baja Mode” and it starts driving around the lightly packed dunes with little difficulty - even taking some inclines.

But it wasn’t just this dune test that proved how well the Cybertruck could handle adverse conditions - there was some snow testing too.

In a video made just a day before the Dune test, Malek’s friend Andy can again be seen helping out another group test their truck on some unexpectedly snowy road conditions. The group decides to try and get the Cybertruck to fishtail and maybe even do some donuts - but they quickly find that the truck’s traction control features prevent that from happening until they shut those safety features off and hit the accelerator. This finally gets some donuts, but the difficulty is encouraging for anyone who might be worried about how well the Cybertruck handles slippery road conditions.

And even earlier than that on January 1st, a group of testers took the Cybertruck out into the Arizona desert for some driving in the rocky terrain there - again, with hardly any issues.

Given the Cybertruck’s popularity, it’s likely that several new owners have never really gone off-roading before - we even have some shots of Release Candidate vehicles (probably driven by Tesla staff) getting stuck in the snow and having to be towed out. This points more to driver inexperience more than a lack of capability on the vehicle’s side. 

Anyone with a license probably remembers learning to drive for the first time, and figuring out how to handle difficult conditions on roads - this isn’t much different. Drivers need time to learn how their vehicle handles each situation - and no technology short of a winch would be able to just get a truck out of some of the situations we’ve seen them in.