Elon Musk was caught mendacity about Tesla’s Cybertruck beating a Porsche 911 in a quarter-mile race that by no means truly occurred.
The CEO reiterated the declare, regardless of it having been debunked for greater than a 12 months.
When Tesla unveiled the manufacturing model of the Cybertruck, it launched a video of the electrical pickup truck beating a Porsche 911 in what it claimed to be a 1/4 mile race whereas towing a Porsche 911.
They launched a video of the race after which CEO Elon Musk claimed:
“It could possibly tow a Porsche 911 throughout the 1/4 mile sooner than the Porsche 911 can go by itself.”
Nonetheless, the declare was rapidly challenged for a lot of totally different causes.
First off, Tesla is evaluating the top-of-the-line Cybertruck, the Cyberbeast, with the Porsche 911 Carrera T, which is the slowest 911. There are actually greater than half a dozen variants of the 911 which can be sooner than the Carrera T or the Cybertruck.
There are some layers to this. After all, Tesla is making an attempt to focus on an electrical pickup truck beating a sports activities automobile at “doing what it does finest” whereas the pickup is doing what it does finest.
For that, we will let slide the truth that Tesla used a lesser 911.
Nonetheless, extra importantly, the quarter-mile race by no means truly happened. From the video itself, you may see that the race finishes midway from the velocity boards, which mark the quarter mile.
It signifies that Tesla solely filmed a 1/8-mile race.
The Cybertruck’s lead engineer, Wes Morrill, confirmed that the quarter-mile race by no means occurred outdoors of simulations:
“The quickest 1/8mi CT hit whereas towing on the day was 7.808s at 88mph and the trailer tires have been solely rated to 80mph so we opted to name it a day earlier than somebody obtained damage. Our simulations confirmed the complete 1/4 mi race could be shut however with the identical web consequence, so no must threat it. We additionally had some room to additional light-weight the trailer however didn’t must.”
Engineering Defined did the mathematics and challenged the declare that the Cybertruck would beat the 911 whereas towing:
Moreover, a number of folks have since recreated a full quarter-mile race, and the Porsche 911 constantly beats the Cybertruck.
But, greater than a 12 months after the declare was totally debunked, CEO Elon Musk repeated it once more:
Tesla has since dropped the declare that the Cybertruck is thrashing the 911 on the “quarter-mile” and as an alternative solely refers to a drag race. Nonetheless, the CEO remains to be repeating the quarter-mile declare he made in 2023 when Tesla unveiled the manufacturing model of the Cybertruck.
Electrek’s Take
This is a superb instance of Elon Musk or Tesla exaggerating a declare when the reality is already spectacular.
They might have carried out the 1/8 mile race, made the declare, and it could have been super and truthful advertising.
With that mentioned, I believe the entire EV drag race stuff is a bit performed out. We all know that electrical powertrains carry out exceptionally nicely in drag races.
The Porsche 911 shouldn’t be actually a drag race machine; it’s a enjoyable sports activities automobile that’s satisfying to drive and would finally smoke a Cybertruck on an prolonged race with a whole lot of cornering.
