The Cybertruck will have a camera in the center of the front bumper
Sofiaan/Twitter
The Tesla community comes through again. As soon as invited guests started showing up at the company’s annual Investor Day, new images of the latest Cybertruck prototype started hitting social media. For the last couple of weeks, the highly anticipated vehicle has been spotted in the wild, and we’ve dissected every frame of images posted online. But now we have close-up, clear pictures that reveal far more than previously known.
Front-to-Back Tour
Front Bumper Camera
Let’s start from the front and work our way back. We begin with the front bumper, which has a camera in the center. This is a big find. We know Hardware 4 is starting to show up in some vehicles, and it allows for up to 12 cameras. The new camera location may have something to do with the removal of the ultrasonic sensors. However, it's hard to say how useful this camera location will be as the front bumper takes the brunt of bugs, snow, slush, and rain.
Frunk Opening
The front end offers a bit of a mystery for the frunk. Some speculation is that it’s not just the hood, but part of the bumper would come up with the frunk. But really, you have to wonder why anyone would need a frunk with all of this space.
Giant Air Suspension Cylinders
The Cybertruck had massive air suspension cylinders
MatthewDR/Twitter
Moving back, we find gigantic air suspension cylinders. We’ve reported on videos showing Cybertruck both high and low. These cans suggest that it has the ability to go over almost any obstacle.
Windshield Wiper
Further back, the next one is hard to miss. The biggest windshield wiper ever produced (slight exaggeration) still exists. Perhaps Tesla has not found a suitable solution to a problem identified by Elon Musk. He has tweeted that the wiper troubles him the most and “No easy solution. Deployable wiper that stows in front trunk would be ideal, but complex.”
New Cybertruck Steering Wheel
The Cybertruck was displayed with a circular yoke steering wheel
TeslaSynopsis/Twitter
Let’s move inside the cockpit. The first thing many investors noticed was the new steering wheel design. It’s not a yoke, it’s not a circle but a circular yoke"a sort of rectangular-shaped wheel complete with the usual scroll buttons. Like the Model 3 and Model Y, one screen is in the middle of the dashboard. But this screen looks bigger than the ones found in the other models. Could it be the 17" screen that's on the Model S and Model X? The dashboard appears to be some sort of fabric, possibly Alcantara, instead of the marble look that appeared in previous prototypes.
Rear Screen and Rear Seats
The Cybertruck on display had a rear screen similar to the Model S
TeslaHype/Twitter
Jump into the backseat, and we find another screen, which appears to be the same size and location as the one in the Model X and Model S. The rear seats fold up but don’t fold down, confirming what was speculated a few months ago. Leaked images of the mega cast revealed the rumored midgate did not make it to production. The thought was the midgate, combined with folding rear seats, would make for an excellent camping experience or allow long items to be transported.
Roof Rack Rails
But it will not be difficult to transport whatever you need with Cybertruck. It looks like there are roof rack slots and an impressive box that seems incredibly rigid. On the side edge of the box, it looks like a switch to adjust the truck's rear suspension up or down. This would be handy to line up a trailer.
The sign near the Cybertruck noted that this is the Beta version of Cybertruck. Production is scheduled to start in the summer, with a full ramp-up starting next year.
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Tesla has added the Acceleration Boost option to the Tesla store for owners of the 2024 Model 3 Long Range - specifically owners in Australia and China. Acceleration Boost is an upgrade that provides a significant performance boost, drastically narrowing the performance gap between the Long Range and Performance versions of the same model.
This upgrade will likely become available in Europe, Canada, and the United States in the next few days as Tesla updates its shops globally.
Acceleration Boost
This new Acceleration Boost is retailing for $3,000 AUD, or approximately $2,000 USD. That’s the same price for current owners of older Model 3 or Model Y Long Range vehicles, which all have the option to purchase Acceleration Boost through the shop.
The boost provides improved 0-100km/h (0-60mph) performance, bumping the 2024 Model 3 LR from 4.4s to 3.8s. The 2024 Performance version comes in at a blazing fast 2.9 seconds, so while it isn’t equivalent to just buying a performance variant in the first place, it is still a noticeable and significant upgrade.
Performance variants also come with a different front fascia vent for cooling, performance drive units, sport seats, adaptive suspension, 20-inch wheels, and Track Mode V3. That’s a significant number of additional features in the $10,000 USD price difference between the Long Range and Performance versions.
Should You Buy It?
If you’ve purchased a Long Range model and are itching to go just that little bit faster at every red light, this is the upgrade for you. It previously came with the cost of slightly reducing vehicle range, but the Tesla store doesn’t make a note of reduced range this time around. The 2023 Model 3 and Model Y Long Range models had an efficiency loss of about 5% due to the additional always-available acceleration and cooling.
You could drive in Chill mode to mostly negate that efficiency loss, but what’s the fun in driving in Chill when you just got Acceleration Boost? Anyhow, the shop listing for the 2024 variant doesn’t include this detail, so it's possible Tesla may have worked some more engineering magic.
Overall, if you’ve got the $3,000 AUD burning a hole in your pocket, some Tesla referral credits sitting around, or just want to go faster, it's definitely an upgrade many users find valuable.
As December approaches, Tesla’s highly anticipated Holiday update draws closer. Each year, this eagerly awaited software release transforms Tesla vehicles with new features and festive flair. If you’re not familiar with Tesla’s holiday updates, take a look at what Tesla has launched in the Holiday update the past few years.
For this chapter in our series, we’re dreaming up ways Tesla could improve the charging experience and even add some additional safety features. So let’s take a look.
Destination State of Charge
Today, navigating to a destination is pretty straightforward on your Tesla. Your vehicle will automatically let you know when and where to charge, as well as for how long. However, you’ll likely arrive at your destination at a low state of charge.
Being able to set your destination state of charge would be an absolute game-changer for ease of road-tripping. After all, the best EV to road trip in is a Tesla due to the Supercharger network. It looks like Tesla may be listening. Last week, Tesla updated their app and hinted at such a feature coming to the Tesla app. A Christmas present, maybe?
Battery Precondition Options
While Tesla automatically preconditions your battery when needed for fast charging, there are various situations where manually preconditioning the battery would be beneficial.
Currently, there is no way to precondition for third-party chargers unless you “navigate” to a nearby Supercharger. If you need to navigate to a Supercharger that’s close by, the short distance between your location and the Supercharger will also not allow enough time to warm up the battery, causing slower charging times.
While we already mentioned Live Activities in the Tesla app wishlist, they’d be especially useful while Supercharging. Live Activities are useful for short-term information you want to monitor, especially if it changes often — which makes them perfect for Supercharging, especially if you want to avoid idle fees.
Vehicle-to-Load / Vehicle-to-Home Functionality
The Cybertruck introduced Tesla Power Share, Tesla’s name for Vehicle-to-Home functionality (V2H). V2H allows an EV to supply power directly to a home. By leveraging the vehicle’s battery, V2H can provide backup power during outages and reduce energy costs by using stored energy during peak rates.
Tesla Power Share integrates seamlessly with Tesla Energy products and the Tesla app. We’d love to see this functionality across the entire Tesla lineup. Recently a third party demonstrated that bidirectional charging does work on current Tesla vehicles – namely on a 2022 Model Y.
Adaptive Headlights for North America
While Europe and China have had access to the Adaptive Headlights since earlier this year, North America is still waiting. The good news is that Lars Moravy, VP of Vehicle Engineering, said that these are on their way soon.
Blind Spot Indication with Ambient Lighting
Both the 2024 Highland Model 3 Refresh and the Cybertruck already have ambient lighting features, but they don’t currently offer a practical purpose besides some eye candy. So why not integrate that ambient lighting into the Blindspot Warning system so that the left or right side of the vehicle lights up when there’s a vehicle in your blind spot? Currently, only a simple red dot lights up in the front speaker grill, and the on-screen camera will also appear with a red border when signaling.
Having the ambient lighting change colors when a vehicle is in your blind spot would be a cool use of the technology, especially since the Model Y Juniper Refresh and Models S and X are supposed to get ambient lighting as well.
Tesla’s Holiday update is expected to arrive with update 2024.44.25 in just a few short weeks. We’ll have extensive coverage of its features when it finally arrives, but in the meantime, be sure to check out our other wishlist articles:
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