At the end of its promotional video, Tesla stated that the Cybertruck could cover the quarter mile (about 402 meters) in under 11 seconds. picture alliance / Anadolu | Tayfun Coskun
In a promotional video, Tesla showed a quarter-mile race in which a Cybertruck beats a Porsche 911 – while pulling a second 911.
A YouTuber calculated that the race was over a shorter route and that the Cybertruck was not as fast as expected.
Tesla says it ran a simulation for safety reasons.
“It can pull a Porsche 911 over a quarter of a mile faster than the Porsche 911 can drive itself,” boasted Tesla boss Elon Musk when introducing the Cybertruck in December. A Video showed how the electric pickup defeats the sports car in a drag race – while pulling a second Porsche 911.
But there are doubts about Tesla’s PR coup. The Youtube channel Engineering Explained explained in a video that has now been seen by 2.5 million people that the race was not a quarter of a mile, but most likely an eighth of a mile. A quarter mile is 402 meters, an eighth of a mile is 201 meters.
External content not available
Your privacy settings prevent the loading and display of all external content (e.g. graphics, tables, subscription login) and social networks (e.g. Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc.). To display this, please activate the settings in the privacy settings.
Change privacy settings
Read too
Tesla has finally released the official technical specifications of the Cybertruck – here’s how it performs
Misleading presentation and Tesla’s justification
At the end of its promotional video, Tesla states that the truck can do the quarter mile in under 11 seconds. But it’s not that easy to extrapolate. The Youtuber assumes 12.84 seconds. Tesla also used the slowest 911. The performance of the Cybertruck is still very impressive and he doesn’t understand the misleading presentation, which wasn’t necessary.
The „Stern“ reports that Wes Morrill, lead engineer for the Cybertruck, wrote on X: “So why didn’t we do a full quarter mile? The fastest eighth-mile run the Cybertruck completed that day with a trailer was 7.808 seconds and 88 miles per hour. But the trailer’s tires were only rated for 80 miles per hour, so we decided to end the day before someone got hurt.”
Then Tesla ran a simulation that showed that the quarter-mile race “would be close, but with the same result.” That means: the race Musk was referring to never took place. If you follow the YouTuber’s calculations, the Cybertruck’s performance was exaggerated.
Porsche’s reaction
Porsche did not respond to the electric car manufacturer’s jibe and gave the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” in December a reserved statement: “We are athletes who come from the racetrack and value every competition. At the same time, we are concentrating on our strengths: driver orientation and sports car performance, with a unique design typical of Porsche, outstanding quality and a high degree of innovation and individualization.”
In tests by renowned experts, the standard 911 covered the quarter mile in no longer than 12.2 seconds, he said „Stern“.
jm
Read too
Elon Musk’s Cybertruck won’t be coming to Germany anytime soon – these are the reasons