Tesla’s cybertruck won't be sold in UK for four key reasons

If you wanted to get behind the wheel of a Tesla cybertruck here in the UK then you're in for some sore disappointment.

The cybertruck is Elon Musk's new idea for the vehicle of the future, or at the very least it looks like something out of a dystopian science fiction movie.

The cybertruck has certainly gained a bit of notoriety, though Musk claims Tesla have had so many orders for the car that they'll struggle to keep up.

First announced back in November 2019, in recent months we've had a clearer look at the cybertruck and quite a few have been underwhelmed by what they've seen.

Some have slammed the car's rear lights as confusing to other drivers on the road, while Musk himself managed to break a window on one during a demonstration of how unbreakable they're supposed to be.

Still, the cybertruck does seem to have some demand for it as Musk claimed back when the car was first announced that they got 200,000 orders.

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Now he reckons Tesla factories will one day be making around 250,000 cybertrucks a year, though anyone in the UK wanting to buy one will have to miss out.

There are some reasons why it's not currently available this side of the pond, as the option to pre-order one was taken down in the UK last year.

First and foremost, it needs to meet some strict safety regulations and not just for the driver but also for any pedestrians the cybertruck might collide with.

Regulations say the front of a vehicle must be designed to protect pedestrians in the case of a collision, can't be sharp or too angular and can't have bits sticking out which could injure someone.

If you've seen a cybertruck, you'll know it looks quite angular and Musk keeps talking about how tough it is, having said it was designed with 'onboard passenger protection in mind', so it'd probably fail on that front.

Then there's the matter of how to charge it, as specifications for the cybertruck say you charge it with a North American Charging Standard connector, which we don't have in the UK.

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At the very least this bit of the cybertruck would need to be changed so drivers could actually recharge the thing.

Then, of course, there are issues with the weight, the cybertruck is very heavy, and might be too heavy for motorists to drive with just the standard driver's licence.

If you've passed your driving test then you'll get a Category B licence, which lets you drive vehicles that weigh up to 3,500kg, or 3.5 metric tons.

According to Business Insider, documents submitted to US regulators put the cybertruck as heavier than that so British drivers would have to get a C1 licence.

Even if these issues were resolved with a redesign that shrunk the vehicle, made it safer for pedestrians and fitted a different charging port there's another cause for concern.

Tesla will be busy satisfying existing demand for the cybertruck that designing a version that would work in the UK and Europe will be low on the priority list.

While Musk said he's aiming to make 250,000 of these a year he later admitted that Tesla 'dug its own grave' with the cybertruck and said it would take years to reach such high levels of production.

Topics: Tesla, Elon Musk, Cars, Technology, UK News

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker