Federal document reveals Tesla Cybertruck won't be cheap, but it will be heavy

The Tesla Cybertruck, at least in its first model year, will likely not be available in an inexpensive two-wheel-drive version, a document submitted to government regulators by the company said.

The document also reveals that the Cybertruck, like other electric trucks, will be heavy.

The document, posted online by the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was uncovered recently on a Cybertruck message board, and is a Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, decoder. Every passenger vehicle sold in America is required to have a VIN, which is a string of 14 digits and letters, identifying the specific motor vehicle and certain details of its assembly. Unlike a license plate, it is permanently attached to the vehicle, but it's hard to see without getting up close. It appears in several places on the vehicle, including on a stamped metal plaque visible through the lower portion of the windshield and on the inside of the driver's side door frame.

The last part of a VIN is a string of random digits identifying that specific car, truck or SUV, distinguishing it from others that may look similar. But the first long portion provides information about the vehicle's manufacturer, the model, where it was made and other information. By providing a VIN decoder, an automaker is telling regulators, and others, what all the digits and letters in roughly the first two-thirds of the VIN actually mean.

A VIN decorder can reveal a lot about an automaker's plans for a given model through what is - and what is not - listed there. In the VIN decoder document for its 2024 model year vehicles, Tesla (TSLA) reveals it may have no plan to offer a two-wheel-drive version of the Cybertruck, at least not in its first model year. A two-wheel-driver Cybertruck would, presumably, be less expensive than four-wheel-drive versions. Tesla (TSLA) has said, in the past, that one would be offered as an entry-level model.

In the VIN decoder document, Tesla explains that the eighth figure in a Tesla's truck VIN will be a letter indicating the type of drive system it has. There are letters designating two- and three-motor versions, which would be all-wheel-drive. In Tesla vehicles, as in most electric vehicles, all-wheel-drive is created by having one or two motors driving the front wheels and one or two driving the back wheels.

There is no letter listed as designating a single motor Cybertruck, indicating that won't be an option for the 2024 model year. In another portion of the document, letters indicating single-motor versions of the Model 3 and Model Y are listed because that option has been offered and will, evidently, continue to be offered.