Last month, it was reported that the Tesla Cybetruck had made its to New Zealand as part of the latest Tesla program for winter testing for most, if not all, of its models.
The testing now appears to be in full swing with the Cybertruck being spotted in multiple videos driving on various snow and icy road surfaces. Once again, the new videos were shared by Cybertruck enthusiast, CybertruckNZ, on Twitter.
The first video shows the Cybertruck in camouflage accelerating in a straight line on snow. The next video shows testing of the cornering with the rear-wheel steering also playing a role during these tests.
The camouflaged CT at SHPG playing in the snow. pic.twitter.com/A3dwtLVltp
— CybertruckNZ (@CybertruckNZ) July 7, 2023
The final video in the post shows the Cybertruck coming down a slope at speed. After reaching the flatter section of the snowy path, steering appears to be tested with a flick to the left before turning the moving truck slightly to the right.
On the back of these videos of the testing, many enthusiasts and order holders replied with their reactions. “Truck looks very stable and the wiggle test looks very much in control…..”, one said.
“Stable. If they were trying to get it to slip, it didn’t,” another fan commented on the stability of the vehicle during these tests.
The winter testing is being conducted at Southern Hemisphere Proving Grounds (SHPG) in the South Island before the truck goes into production later this quarter.
It is much needed given the variety of terrains the vehicle will be expected to perform in when it’s out in the real world with customers.
It all started last month when the truck was delivered to the winter testing site, the front trunk (Frunk) of the Cybertruck appeared to be lifted up to reveal the size of this opening.
This was a rare sighting given many Cybertruck fans, order holders and the general truck community have heavily debated the method of the frunk opening and if it’s as large as the one found on Ford’s F150 Lightning truck.
With winter testing in full swing, Tesla CEO, Elon Musk conducted his own assessment of the Cybertruck by driving it in the Northern Hemisphere at Austin, Texas.
Just drove Cybertruck around Austin! pic.twitter.com/QN19Agqa7R
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2023
Temperatures in Austin at this time of the year are approaching 40 degrees Celcius so quite the opposite of winter testing conditions of New Zealand.
This example did not include any camouflage wrapping and looked production-ready with its triangular mirror and large aero caps on the wheels.
All these appear to be good signs for hundreds of thousands of order holders looking to get behind the wheel of this very unique vehicle. We look forward to bringing more updates as it approaches the first production units for customer deliveries.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.