Elon Musk Has All but Confirmed The Cybertruck Will Rock a 900-Volt Electrical System

Although promised long ago, the Tesla Cybertruck did not start production in 2022. Nevertheless, all hints lead to 2023 being the Cybertruck year, just as 2022 was the Semi year. We know that the development phase is over, and the tooling phase is in full swing, with Gigapress supplier IDRA installing the monstrous die-casting machines at Giga Texas.

But even though the Cybertruck was shown multiple times already, we still know little about the outlandish pickup truck. Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen revealed a few things during a recent CNBC interview at the Petersen Automotive Museum (see video below), but many technical questions remain unanswered. Thankfully, the Tesla Semi Delivery Event followed, and Elon Musk spilled the beans about a Cybertruck core feature.

More specifically, he let everyone know that the Cybertruck would become the first Tesla passenger vehicle with a 900-volt electrical system. Not in these words exactly, but he said the Cybertruck would be compatible with the Megachargers. If that were not the case, any existing Tesla vehicle could use the Megachargers.

The information is major because until now, Tesla claimed that the 800-volt electrical system from rivals like Porsche and Hyundai/Kia doesn’t bring enough benefits to Tesla vehicles. Far from true, as Hyundai/Kia demonstrated with their low-cost models, all of them using an 800-volt electrical system.

The main reason Tesla did not pursue a higher-voltage electrical system in its vehicles earlier is that all the Superchargers work at 400 volts. Changing that would’ve been preposterous, considering the Supercharger network comprises over 40 thousand chargers, according to Tesla’s latest data. Nevertheless, with the launch of the Semi, Tesla introduced the Supercharger V4 stations, which can deliver up to 1 MW of power over a 900-volt connection.

According to Musk, the Megachargers, as they were initially named, will eventually replace all V3 Superchargers starting in 2023. Because of the higher voltage, the V4 Superchargers can deliver an insane 1-MW power without increasing the section of the connecting wires. On the Cybertruck side, the higher voltage would also allow using thinner wires in the electrical wire harness, saving both weight and money. This is besides the obvious advantage of faster charging times.

Current V3 Superchargers top up at 250 kW, although Tesla wanted to upgrade the power to 350 kW to match competing charging networks like Ionity and Electrify America. With 1 MW of power, compatible vehicles would theoretically top up the battery in a quarter of the time needed on a 250-kW charger. The adoption of the 1-MW V4 Superchargers will put Tesla at the forefront of EV charging technology. It also means that future Tesla vehicles will adopt the 900-volt standard as well.

As for the missing-in-action Tesla Cybertruck, a new piece of information from Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen points to it being smaller than the prototypes we’ve seen recently. According to von Holzhausen, the production version of the Cybertruck will look just like the prototype on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum, only “a few percentages” smaller. Watch the whole interview in the video below.