Late last week, Tesla fan and drone photographer Joe Tegtmeyer spotted two "new" Tesla Cybertrucks at Giga Texas. He tweeted that they were Cybertruck prototypes, which makes sense at this point. However, they were covered. The covers were certainly not enough to hide what was underneath, but probably just there for protection from the elements. That said, it wasn't clear if they were working copies of just bodies.
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have now confirmed on several occasions that the upcoming Cybertruck, which has now been delayed a few times, will begin production in the middle of 2023. We also know that Tesla plans to produce the Cybertruck at its newest factory in Austin, Texas, which is also the home of the company's new global headquarters.
We've seen Tesla's Cybertruck prototypes at Giga Texas many times, even before the construction of the factory was nearing completion. However, it was pretty clear that the units weren't manufactured at the new facility. The most recent sightings captured by Tegtmeyer took place at the north end of the mammoth EV factory in Austin, and the two Cybertrucks appeared to arrive at the factory when he was wrapping up his filming.
Tegtmeyer goes on to share that the Cybertruck prototypes arriving at Giga Texas were most likely coming from the automaker's Fremont factory in California. Earlier prototypes were built at the California factory, and he doesn't have any reason to believe Tesla would have produced these copies elsewhere.
As you can see from Tegtmeyer's reply to his own tweet, the drone photographer quickly shifted to referring to the Cybertruck prototypes as "test bodies." Tegtmeyer wrote on YouTube:
"The biggest nest [sic] of the day, however, is the arrival of at least two Cybertruck test bodies in shipping configuration with white covers that have Tesla logos on them. These may well be the first test bodies used to set up and assemble production lines, test equipment, and calibrate the installation of the various parts of the assembly process!"
Tegtmeyer has been following Tesla, its factories, and its processes for some time now. He goes on to say that if his assumption about the test bodies is true, it would follow the same approach Tesla took with the Model Y test bodies shipped to Giga Texas in May and June of 2021.
