Wes Morrill

Americans sure do love trucks. Last year, the country’s three top-selling vehicles were all pickups. And for all their utility, pickup trucks are a significant source of planet-warming pollution. In 2022, light-duty trucks were the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. transportation sector. This underscores the need for an electric vehicle that the country’s pickup devotees can get excited about. Enter the Cybertruck. In the year since its launch last November, Cybertruck has become the best-selling EV pickup in the U.S., surpassing more tenured rivals despite its hefty $100,000 price tag. While the truck’s futuristic stainless steel exterior is what tends to turn heads, what seems to have drivers hooked is the internal engineering, which is largely the work of Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill. 

Morrill’s job is to bring Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lofty ambitions to life. In this case, Musk wanted a Blade Runner-inspired pickup of the future that would drive better than a sports car, and have more utility than a truck. “These very high-level goals are what drove the whole design of the Cybertruck,” Morrill says. 

For example, Morrill knew that sports car-like handling required a low center of gravity and excellent dynamics control. So the engineering team incorporated features like electronically adaptive air suspension that can be raised or lowered based on terrain, rear-wheel steering for extra tight turns, and steer-by-wire, in which the mechanical link between the steering wheel and the truck’s wheels is replaced with a digital one, for increased precision. “People really love that feature because it is just a better steering experience,” Morrill says. “I would be surprised if in 10 years, every car is not steer-by-wire.” 

As for utility, the Cybertruck has a towing capacity of 11,000 lbs., 1,000 lbs. more than its main competitor, the Ford F-150 Lightning. It is designed to provide a 6-ft. bed for hauling cargo, without sacrificing cab space because, after all, it needs to function as a work truck. 

Cybertruck’s rollout hasn’t been flawless. It’s been recalled five times over safety issues. While none of those flaws have been linked to crashes, Tesla now has the most recalls this year of any auto manufacturer. But this doesn’t seem to have dampened enthusiasm for the Cybertruck, which saw its sales more than double between June and October. 

“At Tesla, the goal is not to put all the other EVs out of business and get all the EV market share,” Morrill says. “The goal is always to convert more internal combustion vehicles to EV. Getting butts in seats in a truck that can meet the expectations of truck drivers is a big motivating factor in converting more of the market.”