Tesla Cybertruck deliveries are one step closer to reality after Elon Musk shared a photo of a ‘production candidate’ Cybertruck at Giga Texas on Wednesday. Much like the last time he shared a photo of the Cybertruck, Musk said he had just taken the long-awaited electric pickup truck for a drive, although he used slightly different terminology to describe it.
The Cybertruck was first unveiled in 2019, and after several delays it looks like the long wait is about to end. The Cybertruck production line at Giga Texas has been ramping up as of late building Cybertrucks with nearly daily shipments departing the factory in Austin to unknown (and sometimes known) locations across the US.
Those Cybertrucks have been referred to as release candidate (RC) builds, including by Musk himself, which is when the production line fires up with the goal testing and validation to make sure the final product meets engineering standards and specifications. However on Wednesday Musk referred to the Cybertruck he had just driven as a production candidate (PC), later saying he thought it was the best product Tesla has ever made, which is quite the statement considering what it is like to drive any of Tesla’s existing vehicles.
Just drove the production candidate Cybertruck at Tesla Giga Texas! pic.twitter.com/S0kCyGUBFD
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 23, 2023
So what is the difference between a RC and PC Cybertruck? Based on our understanding the RC Cybertrucks are close to what customers can expect to receive, but with minor differences, particularly in the software that is running on them. A PC Cybertruck takes it one step further, and is typically exactly what the customer will receive on delivery day, both in terms of the physical body and the software.
That is of course unless Musk didn’t like something and requests a change, which brings us to the next point. With Musk driving the PC Cybertruck, that means deliveries are closer than ever. According to our sources, and based on previous vehicle releases, Musk typically tests out the PC version about one month to two months ahead of the first deliveries. This puts the potential delivery event as early as late September, exactly when Musk predicted it would happen earlier this year. Again, this timeline could shift a little further back depending on Musk’s feedback on the PC version of the Cybertruck.
We still don’t know anything about the final specs of the Cybertruck, or its pricing, and we expect we won’t find those out until the delivery event, hopefully next month.
