Elon Musk says Tesla pick-up truck coming in November

Musk teased an image of the futuristic electric vehicle

The release date for the Tesla pickup was originally set for summer 2019 (Concept/ YouTube)

Tesla will unveil its “futuristic-like cyberpunk” pickup truck this November, Elon Musk has revealed.

The electric car maker was originally scheduled to launch the truck this summer but the CEO now says a November release date is “most likely”.

The Tesla pickup truck is intended to fill the gap between its all-electric car range and the battery-powered Tesla Semi truck that was unveiled in November 2017.

Mr Musk said the Tesla pickup will cost less than $50,000 (£40,000) when it is launched in order to make it competitively priced against petrol and diesel alternatives.

“We don’t want it to be really expensive,” he said. “I think it got to start at less than $50,000 – it’s got to be like $49,000 starting price max. Ideally less. It just can’t be unaffordable.”

Tesla is not the only vehicle manufacturer working on an all-electric pickup truck, with more established automotive firms also set to release electric versions of their existing petrol and diesel models.

Ford has transformed its best-selling F-150 truck into an electric pickup and has said it will spend $11.5 billion over the next three years in building over a dozen electric and hybrid vehicles.

A promotional video of the electric F150 showed it pulling 10 double-decker train carriages over 300 metres.

GM has also said it is developing an electric pickup and plans to release more details about it “when competitively appropriate”.

At an event earlier this year, Tesla teased an image of the pick-up truck but it did not give much away. It showed a strip light that appears to be at the front of the truck, though the image is too dark to reveal any significant details.

Despite Tesla revealing very few details about its electric pickup truck, Mr Musk has spoken briefly about it in several interviews.

At an event earlier this year, Tesla teased an image of the pick-up truck but it did not give much away. It showed a strip light that appears to be at the front of the truck, though the image is too dark to reveal any significant details.

Elon Musk shared a teaser image of the Tesla pickup truck on Twitter in March (Elon Musk)

Elon Musk shared a teaser image of the Tesla pickup truck on Twitter in March (Elon Musk)

Last year, the billionaire entrepreneur told Recode that the pickup truck was a personal passion project of his that was not entirely motivated by boosting vehicle sales.

“I’m personally most excited about the pickup truck,” he said. “It’s gonna be like a really futuristic-like cyberpunk, Blade Runner pickup truck. It’s gonna be awesome.

“I actually don’t know if a lot of people will buy this pickup truck or not, but I don’t care. I mean I do care, eventually, you know... We wanna get gasoline, diesel pickup trucks off the road.”

If the futuristic design means the truck does not prove to be a commercial success, Mr Musk said he would consider making a “more conventional truck” in the future.