Swiss Firm Modifies Cybertruck for European Roads

Two years after its US launch, the Cybertruck remains absent from European roads due to regulatory hurdles. A Swiss company, Teslab, is attempting to change this by heavily modifying the vehicle to meet local safety standards.

Founder Raven Seeholzer reports that his team has rebuilt the trucks from the ground up, specifically addressing the vehicle's sharp edges and electrical systems. The modified Cybertrucks have passed most government tests required for road-legal status in Switzerland. However, the vehicle faces significant obstacles in the broader European Union, where regulations strictly ban sharp edges and require speed limiters on heavy vehicles.

Despite the controversy, consumer interest remains strong, with Teslab reporting hundreds of preorders. The company aims to demonstrate that the Cybertruck can be adapted to comply with European laws, distinguishing their effort from previous failed import attempts.

The Tesla Cybertruck has been on sale in the United States for nearly two years, yet it has failed to appear on European roads. The vehicle's stainless-steel frame and razor-sharp edges conflict with a variety of European regulations designed to protect pedestrians.

Previous attempts to import the vehicle into Europe have largely ended in failure. In the United Kingdom, police seized a custom-wrapped Cybertruck after determining it was not road-legal. Another import by a luxury car dealer quickly became embroiled in political issues, leading the owner to eventually leave the country with the vehicle.

Political backlash has also been significant. In Czechia, a modified Cybertruck registered last year sparked criticism from road safety advocates, who sent a letter to authorities calling for the vehicle to be banned entirely. The US Army Customs Agency reported that Germany denied requests for service members to bring Cybertrucks into the country, citing deviations from EU regulations.

Raven Seeholzer, founder of the used Tesla marketplace Teslab, realized that waiting for Tesla to navigate European regulations would take years. Instead, his team in Basel, Switzerland, spent the last year tearing apart a fleet of five Cybertrucks to rebuild them from the ground up.

The primary focus was safety. Seeholzer noted that the truck's sharp edges, which caused cuts to early owners, had to be addressed. Teslab covered these edges with rubber and built a new front bumper to improve crash protection. Furthermore, the team had to overhaul the electrical wiring to make it compatible with European standards.

Seeholzer described the process as essentially "re-engineering" the pickup. He stated, "The car was pretty much fully apart." Following these modifications, the vehicles underwent a grueling regime of government tests in Switzerland. Seeholzer believes they are now tantalizingly close to achieving road-legal status in the country.

Despite the regulatory caution, demand for the Cybertruck in Europe appears robust. Teslab has already sold three of its five modified trucks and received approximately 400 preorders as of October. However, weight regulations impose strict limits on usage.

In Switzerland, the maximum weight for a standard car is 3,500 kilograms. The modified Cybertruck weighs roughly 3.5 tons, leaving little room for additional cargo. Consequently, owners must treat the vehicle as a lifestyle vehicle rather than a traditional work truck.

The vehicle's size also presents challenges. European roads are often significantly narrower than those in the US, making the 3.5-ton pickup a tight squeeze. Additionally, the truck's rapid acceleration—0-60mph in 2.6 seconds—and sharp edges have led some experts to compare it to a "guided missile on wheels."

Not everyone is convinced that the Cybertruck belongs on European roads. Bruno Dvorský, cofounder of Cybertruck.cz, attempted to register a Cybertruck in Czechia before crashing it earlier this year. He argues that the Cybertruck is no more dangerous than other large pickups available in Europe and dismisses critics as "bicycle riders" living "small" lives.

Conversely, James Nix, a policy manager at Transport & Environment, asserts that the Cybertruck is clearly illegal in Europe. He expects further import attempts to be discontinued, noting that obtaining insurance for such a vehicle would likely be impossible.

While Raven Seeholzer hopes to change the perception of the Cybertruck in Europe, he admits that getting approval in the European Union will be a lengthy process. Switzerland, not being an EU member, allows for a unique regulatory path, but the rest of Europe may have to wait for a smaller version of the pickup that CEO Elon Musk suggested in 2020 but has yet to materialize.