“The Cybertruck’s weight, rigid structure and sharp design raised legitimate concerns,” says WIRED. “Any loophole that allows these vehicles [UK] the streets should be closed quickly.”
“It would be hugely disappointing if the back doors were opened and allowed vehicles to increase the risk of causing harm to the UK’s streets and roads,” agrees Margaret Winchcomb, deputy chief executive of PACTS, the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety, the expert body for over 100 UK organizations transport.
“Allowing vehicles where the safety of others seems secondary would be a big step backwards,” he adds.
Although Tesla boldly claimed the Cybertruck was protected and released its own footage of a crash test dummy, no independent authorities have crash tested the vehicle. U.S. regulators rely on automakers to conduct their own tests and certify compliance with safety standards.
Federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and insurance industry support Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash tests only certain vehicles. The costs are too high for these organizations to test all vehicles, so choices are made based on sales volume.
“One sec [the Cybertruck] has generated a lot of buzz, it’s unlikely we would invest resources to test it unless its sales were comparable to other popular large pickup trucks,” says IIHS media director Joe Juvenile.
“Without testing the Cybertruck, I cannot comment on the effectiveness of its crumple zones,” he emphasizes. “For now, our concerns about the project are limited to the issues we have raised with other electric vehicles. It’s very heavy and very fast.”
Due to what it calls the Cybertruck’s “unusual design,” the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) tells WIRED it is “unwilling to predict” whether the pickup truck will receive the DfT-issued IVA pass.
“The IVA program was designed for [small- and medium-sized businesses] involved in the conversion or import of specialized vehicles,” the statement to WIRED continues, “and was conceived long before the idea of the Cybertruck.”
Extrapolating from the DfT’s carefully crafted comments, Charalambous may be wasting time and money trying to pass the IVA test. “The vehicle contains advanced technology which may not comply with UK regulations,” the DfT warned in a statement.
In his videos, Charalambous drives through the south-east of England in his Albanian Cybertruck. If caught by an experienced police officer, Charalambous could be fined. “A UK resident must not drive a vehicle in the UK bearing foreign number plates,” confirmed a statement from the DfT, which states that “a UK resident must not drive an imported car with foreign number plates, except when traveling to and from [an annual safety check and a] pre-booked IVA [appointment]”
In his third video, Charalambous claimed he could legally drive the Cybertruck in the UK because an Albanian dealer had provided him with a green card – an international insurance certificate issued in Albania. Again, no, the DfT says: “Driving an unregistered vehicle will invalidate any insurance.”
Only time and a lot of money will decide whether Charalambous manages to legalize his British Cybertruck, but the chances of this happening are slim.