Early Tesla Cybertruck model sells for a whopping amount at auction — but when will consumers get theirs?

Customers are eagerly awaiting delivery of the Tesla Cybertruck, with details still scarce about when that might be.

There’s also little information about the dimensions and specifications of the electric pickup truck, with the brand keeping the figures under lock and key for the time being. Many have had to rely on videos posted on social media to get some clues.

But that hasn’t dampened anticipation, which was on full display at the Petersen Museum auction in Los Angeles in early October.

The car museum was raising funds at its gala event, and a “low VIN” Cybertruck — an early version of the model — was put up for auction.

As Electrek noted, attendees of the auction said the truck sold for $400,000. Considering the truck is expected to go on sale at around $50,000, as predicted by Kelley Blue Book, it’s a significant amount to pay for a version of the vehicle that might not even be close to the eventual market-ready one.

While the bidder is likely to be excited by their acquisition, it’s not entirely clear when they will receive the model.

In a Q1 earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested Cybertruck deliveries would finally happen at the end of the third quarter, but there’s still no sign of it.

A leaked internal email reported on by Business Insider revealed that Musk’s attention to detail might be one reason for the hold-up, with the CEO calling for the vehicle to be “designed and built to sub 10 micron accuracy.”

What we do know is that Tesla believes the Cybertruck can take up to 3,500 pounds of payload capacity, provide 500 miles of range on a single charge, and go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds.

Overall, it’s still a bit of a mystery. But when it does finally hit the road, it could be a major game-changer in the electric pickup market.

According to a 2022 report from the University of Michigan, light-duty vehicles, including pickup trucks, were responsible for 58% of planet-warming pollution in the United States’ transportation sector.

With a crowd-sourced reservation tracker putting Cybertruck pre-orders at around two million in the U.S. alone, that could lead to a number of dirty-fuel-powered trucks being removed from the country’s roads in the coming years.

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