We’ve pretty much left Tesla Cybertruck news to other sites as it has devolved into huge posts about minuscule details. But yesterday, after an earnings call CEO Elon Musk said that the initial Cybertruck deliveries will begin November 30. I guess we should add that it is this coming November 30th and not 2024. Or 2025. 

Didn’t Musk say Cybertruck deliveries would begin this summer?

That puts it a hair past four years since first revealing the truck in November 2019. Between those two dates, Musk has made announcements of other delivery times that came and went, the more recent being in the summer of 2023. And we get it. Development of the EV truck was much more of a challenge than doing variations of the Model S. 

But should we believe Musk this time? Yesterday, in a tweet, or whatever you call it now, he said the first customers will get their Cybertrucks at a ceremony at the gigafactory in Austin, Texas. That’s where the truck is made. 

Why is Cybertruck production so challenging?

But this bit of news came just hours after a third-quarter earnings meeting when the announcement came that Tesla profits are down by 44% year-over-year. So, the tweet looks like a device to soften the bad financial news. Those lower numbers are due to the automaker cutting prices to move more Model 3s and Model Ys. 

What was Cybertruck-specific from the earnings meeting relates to pilot production already in progress. Musk said the EV truck “remains on track for initial deliveries this year,” according to Techcrunch. But Musk had other things to say about the truck, mostly dealing with how difficult it is to develop.

“If you want to do something radical and innovative and something really special like the Cybertruck, it is extremely difficult because there’s nothing to copy,” he said. “You have to invent not just the car but the way to make the car. So the more uncharted the territory, the less predictable the outcome.” That may not appease anxious buyers.

How long will it take to get to full production of the Cybertruck?

He went on to caution investors about Cybertruck’s profitability. “I think it is our best product ever,” he said. “It is going to require immense work to reach volume production and be cashflow positive at a price that people can afford.” 

Continuing to throw a damp rag on the Cybertruck, he said full production won’t come until 2025. The Giga Texas plant can produce up to 125,000 annually once it hits its stride. But that also raises questions about the one million reservations Musk says the company has. 

At that rate, it will take eight years to fulfill the orders it has on the books, some of which are there from 2019. “I do want to emphasize that there will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with the Cybertruck,” said Musk. So, no grand pronouncements or upbeat predictions came from Musk’s mouth, leading us to wonder what really happens on November 30.