Will the Tesla Cybertruck Come Out in the UK?

The long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck has recently been released in the US but here on our little island we are thinking, will it come out in the UK?

Now available in the US, the Tesla Cybertruck has certainly caused a commotion. With some websites describing it as the "car that kills people" and others saying that "NOTHING moves as fast as this car does", it's definitely a divisive topic right now.

But there is just one question on our minds right now.

Will the Tesla Cybertruck Come Out in the UK?

Short answer

Probably not.

Long answer: 

Weight

The Cybertruck is classed as a light-duty truck in the US so it's exempt from many safety standards that provide drivers and passengers a minimum level of protection.

In Europe and the UK, however, it's not so simple.

In the UK, vehicles with a maximum gross vehicle weight (MGVW) of over 3.5 tonnes (7,716 lbs / 3,500 kg) are required to have a Category C1 driving licence.

Website InsideEVs has already acquired some figures using VIN decoders regarding the weight of the Cybertruck, which are as follows:

• Example 1: 3,629 kg to 4,082 kg. (8,001-9,000 lbs)
• Example 2: 4,082 kg to 4,536 kg. (9,001-10,000 lbs)

We're not sure which one is exact (they aren't either) but regardless, the minimum 3,629 kg is 3.6 tonnes which is already over the 3.5 tonnes required before you need the C1 licence.

And that is the least amount of weight it could be. If it's 4,082 kg it's a full half a tonne into the C1 licence. 

We highly doubt many people in the UK are going to go out and pass their C1 category driving licence just to drive this thing.

And even if they did, all the R&D (Research & Development) Tesla will need to do in order to get the weight down will absolutely not be profitable.

This isn't just a niche vehicle. Tesla (and Elon) want to sell the Cybertruck in large mass-produced numbers. Having the vehicle stuck behind another driving licence will kill any sales in the UK.

Proportions & safety

There are regulations regarding the front-end dimensions for UK cars. The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (as amended) set out a number of requirements for the design of vehicle front ends, including:

1) The front end of a vehicle must be designed to protect pedestrians in the event of a collision. This includes the provision of crumple zones and deformable structures.

2) The front end of a vehicle must not project more than 3.05 metres (10 feet) beyond the front axle.

3) The front end of a vehicle must not be sharp or angular.

4) The front end of a vehicle must not have any protruding parts that could cause injury to a pedestrian.

So let's look at these rules and see which ones the Cybertruck breaks, bearing in mind it has to pass all four rules to be allowed on UK roads.

1) The front end of the Tesla Cybertruck is made out of an exterior stainless steel skin called the "Ultra-Hard 30X". And as Elon says in this article, it's built with "onboard passenger protection in mind".

A YouTube video showing Elon talking about a Cybertruck crash test is available which does show it has some crumple zone distance at the front and side, albeit very small ones. 

I am unsure if this would pass UK regulations.

2) Unless someone gets a measuring tape out soon, there is no data regarding the front axle to front end length. We trawled the internet for this data and came up empty.

3) The Cybertruck front end is sharp and angular so it fails this. Plenty of UK road-legal cars have angular designs but they are quite often built with lower clearance and safety in mind. 

4) The Cybertruck has a flat front end combined with a sharp angled point leading up toward the windscreen. If it hits a pedestrian they are less likely to go over the bonnet and more likely to be pushed away or go underneath. This would fail UK regulations. 

So it fails arguably 3 out of 4 points. 

Charging equipment

The Cybertruck uses a NACS (North American Charging Standard) connector according to this specs sheet.

This isn't used anywhere in the UK, as we use Type 2 connectors for home charging and CCS2 connectors for fast charging here. More info on American, European & UK plugs is available here.

In any case, Tesla will have to adapt the Cybertruck to be able to use the Type 2 and CCS2 connectors here in the UK. This would cost them in R&D to implement this change, similar to how pushing down the weight would cost them time and money.

An extremely unlikely prospect

So after all this, it's clear that the Tesla Cybertruck has many hurdles to overcome and it doesn't particularly seem worth it for Tesla to dump money into figuring it out.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), there were a total of 4,787 over 3.5-tonne vehicles sold in 2022. 

Tesla has commented on sales number predictions saying they want to sell "250,000 to 500,000 per year".

The final nail in the coffin for UK (and European) Cybertruck deliveries

Interestingly enough, a Dutch article on TopGear.nl has recently surfaced and our good friend Google Translate has helped us decode some of the information. We'll copy and paste the juicy bits below.

Lars Maravy,  Vice President of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla says:

"First of all, the market for pick-ups in America is huge, and that is different with you. And two: European regulations require a rounding of 3.2 millimetres on protruding parts. Unfortunately, it is impossible to make a rounding of 3.2 millimetres on a 1.4-millimetre sheet of stainless steel"

So it's clear from Lars that they have no interest in changing the shape or design to fit UK and European standards, as the "protruding parts" need to be rounded to fit regulations.

It might be a good idea to look into getting your Tesla Cybertruck deposit back.

Disclaimer: There is always the possibility that the Cybertruck is going to be adapted to fit UK/Euro regulations. But as it stands, the current iteration would not pass. We don't want to say never but it does look extremely unlikely.