Tesla Semi Truck coming later this year, Cybertruck in 2023

More than four-and-a-half years have passed since the Tesla Semi truck was revealed to the world. Back then it was mooted for launch in 2019, but, um, it hasn’t. Won’t be much longer though according to Elon Musk: he says (on Twitter, of course) it’ll start shipping later this year.

And true to his word the Semi Truck will have a range of 500 miles, although there’s no word yet on just how enormous the battery will need to be in order to hit that figure.

When it was unveiled Tesla also promised 0-60mph in a hot hatch-rivalling five seconds flat, albeit without a payload. When lugging 36.3 tonnes behind it, that headline sprint will be more like 20 seconds. Phew.

Another promise was a charging rate capable of adding 400 miles of range in 30 minutes, courtesy of ‘Megachargers’ that’ll make the company’s existing Superchargers look like triple A batteries.

Meanwhile Musk has confirmed that the also long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck will come to life in 2023. The otherworldly-looking pick-up truck divided opinion when it was revealed late in 2019, not least when the armoured glass failed during its on-stage demo.

Anyway, here too we’re looking at a 500-mile range in top-spec Tri-motor form, with a claimed 0-60mph time of 2.9secs. A price of $69,900 was announced at the time, no doubt that will have gone up by the time the configurator goes live.

The Cybertruck will also be faced with competition that didn’t exist when it was unveiled: since then we’ve seen the Rivian R1T, Ford F-150 Lightning and Hummer EV arrive on the market. All three got a 9/10 rating from TG.com, by the way.

How will the Cybertruck respond? Will Musk have been forced to buy Twitter by then? Answers are a comin’...