Does Tesla Cybertruck Have A Power Frunk? New Video Stirs Debate

Uploader claims the video shows an unpowered truck having its hood raised and lowered against resistance of the geared motor.

Tesla Cybertruck frunk open

Dan Mihalascu

By: Dan Mihalascu

Sep 12, 2023 at 7:52am ET

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There has been a lot of talk about the Tesla Cybertruck's frunk so far, and that's understandable since prospective owners are curious about the electric pickup truck's practicality.

So far, discussions on online forums and social media centered on the size of the frunk, with some spy photos suggesting a rather underwhelming loading capacity.

New photos captured later on, especially those that surfaced last week, revealed that the Cybertruck has decent frunk capacity, albeit not big enough to trump the F-150 Lightning, which dominates the segment in this respect.

Now that people have gotten a pretty good idea of how large the Cybertruck's frunk really is, the discussion has shifted to the way the trunk lid opens, more specifically whether it's motorized or not.

Seeing as the Cybertruck has a pretty large front hood, common sense would dictate that Tesla will offer it with electrical assistance for opening and closing, but none of the prototypes spotted so far demonstrated this capability.

Now, a new video that surfaced on the Cybertruck Owners Club is seen by some as proof that Tesla's electric pickup has a power-operated frunk.

While the video uploader, who goes by the cvalue13 username, claims this is the strongest evidence yet of the possible powered frunk on the Cybertruck, it's hard to say that's 100 percent accurate.

The video shows a Tesla employee opening and closing the frunk using the force of his hands. Judging by how difficult it is to move the hood, the forum member claims the employee is raising and lowering the lid against resistance of the geared motor.

"The video shows an unpowered truck having its hood raised/lowered against resistance of the geared motor," the video uploader said. "If you're familiar with this, it'll be obvious. The video is for those who have to see for themselves (and, apparently, who have experience with moving an unpowered motor against its gearing)."

That sounds logical, although one could argue that gas struts also oppose resistance to opening and closing when new. However, it's hard to believe that a gas-strut only frunk would be designed to require this much effort to open and close.

What do you think?

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Until we get to see the Cybertruck's frunk lid being raised and lowered automatically, we can only report on what we see, which is a frunk being operated manually.

The forum member says these Cybertruck units being transported are not powered up, which explains the presence of 12-volt jump starters in some photos. He also says he is "confirming the hood is powered." While we await official confirmation, we are curious to hear what's your take on this.

Learn more about the Tesla Cybertruck's frunk

This Is Our Best Look Yet At The Tesla Cybertruck Frunk