When Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk first unveiled the Cybertruck in November, almost nobody (except Musk maybe) could have guessed that it would attract more than half a million reservations.
Its highly unconventional and angular 30x cold-rolled steel exoskeleton broke with the traditional look of a utility truck (known as pickup in the US and ute in Australia), polarising both diehard fans of Tesla and general public alike.
And yet, it has attracted huge interest, prompting fans to create ways of tracking interest in the “cyberpunk” electric ute.
It is estimated more than 535,000 people have put down the $US100 ($A150 in Australia) fully refundable fee to claim a place in line for the Cybertruck when it becomes available in 2022, according to a Cybertruck reservation tracking spreadsheet shared by the Cybertruck Owners Club.
But who are they, and more importantly, where do they live?
Unlike with the Model Y, Tesla opened up reservations for the Cybertruck across the globe on the day it was launched – which has led the Tesla Truck Club to create another way of tracking where reservations have made for the Cybertruck using a visual map.
I just launched a new website! Do you have a Cybertruck reservation?
Sign up and enter your reservation number and let’s find out where we’re all coming from!https://t.co/ZwmvrscGte
— Tesla Truck Club ⚡️???? (@TeslaTruckClub) February 19, 2020
So far there have been just a handful of reservation holders who have entered their information, but already the data is showing a skew to the US, which is unsurprising.
However as can be seen, there is also a fair percentage of reservations in Europe, Scandinavia – and Australia.
Notably, the majority of US reservations are not on the west coast, where Tesla is based and more than 50% of electric cars in the US are registered. Instead, the majority are in middle and eastern states.
Early days, and given previous reports that based on geo-tagged Twitter data the most interest for the Cybertruck is in the mid-western states of the USA where a love for grunty pickup trucks abounds, we might expect this to change as more people register their locations on the website.
We can’t go past pointing out that no less than nine people in Australia (including pioneering Australian Tesla circumnavigator Sylvia Wilson) have placed reservations for the Cybertruck – and that if the ratios remain the same there may be as many as 30-40,000 reservations holders in Australia alone.
And why not? With towing and payload capabilities such as described by Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk this weekend, the Cybertruck is shaping up to be the perfect off-road vehicle for the Australian landscape. Nay, the weekend.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.