After almost a year terrorizing the streets of America, the Tesla Cybertruck has finally made it across the pond and into the hands of a buyer in the UK. The gargantuan truck has been let loose on the streets of Britain and the experience for its new owner has been far from plain sailing.
The truck in question has been brought to the country by Yianni Charalambous, who runs a network of car shops and wrapping studios across the UK, as well as a pretty fun YouTube channel. It’s over on YouTube where Charalambous has been documenting his time with his new Cybertruck.
The first privately-owned Cybertruck on British roads had quite the journey to make it there, as despite Elon Musk reaching the end of his pre-order list you can’t just walk into a Tesla dealer in London and buy one of these trucks.
Instead, the EV was first bought in California “three months ago,” the car’s original owner explains in one of Charalambous’ videos. He then attempted to ship the truck to Albania, but was told he couldn’t load it onto a container ship due to the fire risks associated with the battery. Instead, it was flown from California to Italy, which can have been no small expense, and then taken via truck and ferry to Albania.
For the car then to be allowed on European roads, it had its sharp stainless steel edges wrapped in rubber and the tail lights were modified to meet EU regulations. It was then registered in Albania, so is running Albanian plates, and that’s it, the Cybertruck is fine to conquer Europe. Great.
Although conquer is a strong word, as from Charalambous’ latest update on life with the truck I’d hardly say that it’s thriving. The problems start when he tries to charge at a Tesla dealer, where despite numerous adapters and assistance from staff he can’t get the truck to charge up.
There are also issues with the car’s software, which isn’t set up for UK roads so the Cybertruck and its navigation systems are stuck in California. I’m sure that’s not annoying at all when navigating London’s difficult maze of narrow streets, bus lanes and one-way systems. Thankfully, the techies Charalambous speaks with assure him that a software update should fix that.
In addition to that, the Tesla team that Charalambous questions explain that no dealer in the UK has access to the files explaining how to work on the ridiculous vehicle. This means that should something go wrong or another Cybertruck recall get issued, there will be little support available for him and his gargantuan truck.
There are also issues with the sheer size of the truck, with it struggling to fit into the parking bay at a Tesla Supercharger station. On top of that, there’s all the attention you’ll get when running into embarrassing situations like failing to get it charging – I’m sure that’s exactly what the owner of every six-figure car wants.
Funnily enough, I actually saw this very truck while out on one of my silly little mental health walks recently. It ruined my mood, but the gaggle of kids waiting at a bus stop who pointed and laughed at the ridiculous machine did start to turn that frown upside down. Maybe the Cybertruck is good for something after all?
Charalambous claims that once he’s sorted the registration for the car, it’ll kick off an influx of Cybertrucks onto UK roads. After his experience over the 16-minute video and the other complaints people online have had while driving their trucks in America – where they’re covered by Tesla support and services – I’m not so sure that’ll be the case.
After all, who would want to spend thousands importing a truck that’s been hit with more recalls than you can shake a stick at since it launched less than a year ago?