One of the highlights of Tesla’s Cybertruck delivery presentation on Nov. 30 was a video showcasing the supposed performance of the large, stainless steel behemoth.
Related: Elon Musk says AI push requires massive Tesla ownership change
In the video, the Tesla (TSLA) – Get Free Report seemingly meets a green Porsche (POAHF) – Get Free Report 911 at a drag strip, where it not only beats the sports car across the finish line – it does it while the Cybertruck is towing an identical green Porsche.
“It can tow a Porsche 911 across the quarter mile faster than the Porsche 911 can go by itself,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed after the video played during the event.
Popular YouTuber Jason Penske, the face of the Engineering Explained channel, explained in his latest video that the supposed race was all a typical case of Elon Musk’s classic trick of smoke and mirrors.
Using simple math and information gathered by sources including Jason Cammisa, MotorTrend and Car and Driver Magazine, Penske broke down the video and found some startling information to debunk Elon’s lofty claims.
Musk claimed that the Cybertruck towing the Porsche beat the Porsche in a quarter-mile race, but Penske found that to be far from the truth. Using map data, as well as frames from the Tesla video, he found that the video showed the Cybertruck beat it over an an eighth of a mile – half the distance of a proper drag race.
Additionally, Penske picked up on certain details that he used to base his calculations on. Tesla’s claims of an 11 second quarter-mile time was confirmed by auto reviewer Jason Cammisa, but he found the Tesla engineers likely chose the slowest 911 model in the range – the manual transmission 911 Carrera T, to race against.
According to data by Car and Driver and MotorTrend cited in the video, the 2023 911 Carrera T has a quarter-mile time of just 12.2 seconds.
The Porsche 911 Carrera T
Porsche
After a great deal of calculations, Penske found that although the video showed the Cybertruck towing the Porsche beating the Porsche, the race would fare differently if the race actually went over a quarter mile.
According to his math, he calculated a “realistic” quarter-mile time of the Cybertruck towing a 911 of 12.84 seconds at 108 miles per hour – roughly .6 seconds slower than the “slowest” Porsche 911.
Tesla Cybertruck Engineer Wes Morill explained in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the video shown at the event was not the best run of the Cybertruck towing the 911, but “the most dramatic finish.”
Love the detailed breakdown @jasonfenske13 – well done! One underlying assumption, which is what any reasonable engineer would assume: the video showed was the best run. It was not. But it was the most dramatic finish.
So “why didn’t we do a full 1/4mi?”
The fastest 1/8mi CT… https://t.co/uppWJzPcks
— Wes (@wmorrill3) January 13, 2024
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