The Tesla Cybertruck doesn’t exist in production form yet, but that hasn’t stopped a number of startup companies from cranking out renders and taking reservations for concept camper designs. What appears to be the cheapest Tesla Cybertruck camper concept yet has recently shown off some more details. For a projected $24,000, the Space Camper is essentially a truck cap that pops open into a tent camper. But the promotional renders make it seem like a not-so-fun time camping.
The Tesla Cybertruck has been a thing of wonder since it was unveiled just over three years ago. It’s an out-of-this-world pickup with stainless steel construction, sharp edges, a controversial style, and sometimes baffling proposed features. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pitched it as having bullet-resistant materials, amphibious capabilities, and most recently, the Tesla Semi‘s architecture. And along the way, the design has evolved from the initial concept.
It’s still unclear what the Cybertruck will be like when it enters production–which is now slated for the end of 2023–but that hasn’t stopped startup companies from brewing up camper concepts for this truck and taking reservations for them.
Yesterday, Space Campers unveiled a features list for its entry into the Cybertruck camper space. The Space Camper first made its appearance on June 2, but Space Campers, LLC hadn’t explained its actual features. Now, we have the details of this camping unit, and since the company is taking reservations ranging from $100 to $10,000, we should talk about what a prospective customer would get.
However, before I continue, I should note that while Space Campers, LLC has patents pending for its design, this doesn’t appear to exist outside of renderings yet. By my count, there are now at least four unique Tesla Cybertruck camper concepts, with projected prices getting as high as $135,000.
The Space Camper has the lowest projected price thus far at $24,000, but it has the same problem that all of the others do, and it’s that the Cybertruck itself isn’t in production.
We’ll start with the design of the Space Camper. Each Cybertruck camper design is wildly different from the others. The Cyberlandr is a box that expands out of the bed into a living space cube. The Loki Basecamp (above) resembles a typical truck bed camper. And the Form Camper (below) is like a base camp that the Cybertruck connects to.
The Space Camper takes a different approach. It resembles a truck cap, but it has a roof that pops open with the use of air struts. This turns it into a tent-style camper and the entire living unit fits within the bed of the Cybertruck. We can’t help but look at the closed Space Camper and think that it makes the Tesla Cybertruck look like a Brubaker Box. I love it!
Pop the hatch of the Space Camper and you gain access to the camping unit. Space Campers says that for the price of $24,000, you get a basic camping setup. A base Space Camper has the tent, the air struts to open it, a Murphy-style bed that transforms into a table, electrical outlets, bed steps, storage areas, and a couple of furniture pieces to make a chair and desk. Other standard features include a backrest, roof runners for a roof rack, and a vent.
If you want a camper with more utility, Space Campers has an expansive options list. That list includes a camp kitchen that includes a sink, induction cooktop, cooler, water tanks, and a water filtration system. If you want to take a shower, you can get a portable bathroom as an option, which includes a water tank, portable toilet, and a portable shower. You can also get a roof rack with up to 1200W of solar power, a back rack, and an insulation package.
That insulation package adds insulation to the tent, padded thermal flooring, an electric blanket, a movie projector, and custom sheets. Pricing for these options has not been revealed, but there is one final option and its price is known. The Space Camper is built out of black composite materials. But for an additional $8,000, you can get it outfitted in stainless steel, which the company says helps with insulation and durability.
But there’s something weird about this whole thing. Take a look at Space Campers’ renders for its camper. See anything out of place?
Look at that floor and those walls! The base camper gives you nothing to cover the Cybertruck’s bed or walls. On a sizzling day, you’re just asking to get cooked like some bacon on hot stainless steel. As I mentioned before, the insulation package apparently adds a padded floor. At least to me, it seems like some sort of padded floor should come standard. And sure, you could add your own rug or something, but it seems like an oversight.
There’s another problem that all of us in the Autopian office have, and it seems like $24,000 is quite steep for what you get. Remember that this is basically a truck cap with a pop-up roof. Truck caps by themselves are a few grand if you want a fancy one, then you can outfit them any way you like. When I wrote about the Space Trailer (a different company), I figured out that you can get a mostly full-featured camper for a few Benjamins over $10,000.
And our Jason Torchinsky brought up another point, and it’s that you can get a lightly used truck bed camper for peanuts. His example was a Lance 650 for $15,995 from Cruise America.
This Lance is a complete camper featuring every amenity that you’d expect in an RV. It has a furnace, a flushing toilet, tanks for fresh water, grey water, and sewage, an air-conditioner, and much more. And if used isn’t your jam, you could get new truck campers for about the same price as a Space Camper, maybe even less.
Of course, established truck camper brands don’t have concepts specifically for the unique shape of the Cybertruck. The same goes for pickup bed cap manufacturers. So perhaps we aren’t being fair. But our point is that it might be worth waiting for the Cybertruck to come out first, then seeing what the camper market looks like then. We’re going to monitor developments in this space, and bring you noteworthy news when it comes. And for the Space Camper, I’ll monitor it, too. The company says that the camper isn’t final just yet, so maybe there will be some more features on the way.
If you’re interested in the Space Camper, you can reserve one for as low as $100, but the company says that those reservations are sold out through 2024. There are reservation tiers going all of the way up to $10,000 and the more you pay, the closer to the front of the line you’ll be. The company expects the first units to be ready when the Cybertruck is, and customers should expect to receive their Space Camper two months after getting their Cybertruck.
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These companies have no reasonable idea if their (fake – these are renders) products will even _work_ when the currently non-existent cybertruck is released.
So the idea that they can provide pricing and timelines of when you can get one after you get your truck is absurd.
These people are all charlatans who shouldn’t be trusted with your money or attention.
If Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward had a camper, this would be it. Gerry Anderson could tweak the design a bit.
Tesla build quality and giving Elon money… nope
I gotta say, that render with the Space Camper folded down makes the objectively terrible Cybertruck look like it has some potential for a not-so-bad-looking panel van. But then again, I mostly hate the Cybertruck because of that angled roof and nonsensical bed, and a bed cap transforming it into a panel van does away with those two details I hate. I’d still prefer straight walls as in a proper panel van, but that doesn’t seem possible without fundamentally changing the design, and practicality aside, I should admit I really like how it looks in that render.
How has it taken me this long to realize that the cyber truck is accurately named. It’s not a metal truck. It’s a cyber truck, like the Warthog.
The fireball that we rode was moving
But now we’ve got a new machine
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, the freaks said
Man those cats can really swing
They got music in their solar system
They’ve rocked around the Milky Way
They dance around the Borealis
They’re Space Campin’ everyday
I don’t know how many Autopians can ID the band, never mind the altered lyric.
For a second I was thinking Klatuu, but it’s got to be Deep Purple’s Space Truckin’
It is.
I know *of* Klaatu, but I’d never recognize a lyric.
This is actually perfect for future Cybertruck owners, idiots with too much money!
Campers like this combine the worst parts of tents and motorhomes. Tent because it will leak and cannot be temperature controlled. Motorhome because it has to be taken down before going anywhere. Suckers paying $25 grand to discover this will wonder why they didn’t buy a regular camper instead.
This looks like a more expensive version of https://www.amazon.com/Napier-19100-Backroadz-SUV-Tent/dp/B07MBJ6R4V?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1514RGNPVO6N0
Even buying the stuff for the tent would be under 24k.
Granted way to small for me, still good for the camp site with drive up availability.
I love these Aztek-style tents, and would 100% take the family on a Renault 4 camping trip with one of these. I even have plans for a small fold-out table/bed the same width as the floor of the luggage compartment.
Mmmm, bacon…
“The Tesla Cybertruck has been a thing of wonder since it was unveiled just over three years ago. ”
Yes, yes it has. As in:
– I wonder why anyone would want to buy this thing?
– I wonder why anyone believes anything Elon says about vehicle availability?
– I wonder if this “truck” is just a big practical joke by Elon-420-69-S3XY?
You get it! Wonder has a number of forms. 🙂
Taking deposits on a non-existent accessory for a non-existent truck? Damn, am I ever in the wrong line of work.
I regret not going into marketing every single day. Do nothing. Get paid.
Tell you what: you announce that you’re going to produce an electric halftrack El Camino that’ll go 1000 miles between charges, charge in 90 seconds, and can tow the moon. Promise it’ll be in production in 3 years, and that anybody can reserve one for $100. If they want a “Pioneer Series” that will have better specs and cool paint, that’s $1000 and they get theirs first.
I’ll announce that I’m making accessories for your vehicle, including a bed-camper, a trailer in the same style, lift kits, custom tracks, lightbars, etc. All are available for pre-order, with tiered levels between $50 and $50,000. The higher the amount, the faster they get their stuff.
Then, we split the pre-order cash, announce that the vehicle won’t go into production because the same team that suppressed the 100 mpg carburetor keeps deleting our files and destroying our prototypes, then move to Bolivia with the cash.
Isn’t that pretty much bitcoin ?
I really want to see a half track el Camino but when I google it there aren’t any pictures. 🙁
Will this do? https://liminallabs.com/2019/maria-del-camino/
With only the slightest amount of coordination, even after you admit up front in an autopian comment that you’re planning a scam, you could have a more convincing pitch than any of these camper vendors who have no supporting evidence to back up the idea that they know how to make the things they’re taking money for.
Has nobody asked them how they know the dimensions they’re building to? Will their products even fit in the bed of this supposed truck? Where are the attachment points, and are they rated to handle the load? Until Tesla releases the equivalent of a body builder’s book, they’re guessing at best.
All you would need to do is produce a dimensional drawing to share between each other and you would have a more believable scam than “Space Campers.” Who are undoubtedly complete frauds.
Cough NFT’s Cough
The next logical step is to start making non-existent accessories for the non-existent camper that mounts to the non existent truck.
Personally, I’m well over hearing about the Cybertruck. As far as I’m concerned, the only interesting thing the whole debacle has produced is the ‘Cybertruck’ a family (iirc) put together at short notice for a 24hours of Lemons race. You can see it on Lemonsworld #118, or Lemons wrap up Buttonwillow ‘20-either is, imo, way better entertainment than watching or listening to ElMu. Though I suppose that depends on what you consider entertainment
If I had 10 million dollars to spend on cars and trucks just for fun, I would go to my grave never having thought for a moment about buying a Tesla Cybertruck. If you gave me one, I’d have to invest in camouflage netting to avoid having my neighbors see it (it obviously doesn’t fit in my garage). I wouldn’t even be able to burn the hideous stainless gargoyle. The “campers” addons are just sad attempts to literally piggyback on the grift.
I’m going to start my own Cybertruck aftermarket equipment business, it’s going to be called MonoR—L. You name it, we’re definitely going to sell it. Just send me $100 non-refundable reservation fees for your idea on what you want us to make!
I bet you could build your from a piece of treated plywood and a regular tent for under a grand.
“The company expects the first units to reach customers two months after whenever the Cybertruck itself releases.”
Good way to make a bunch of money investing the deposits rubes put down while you wait an unspecified length of time. And I suspect that the 2 month timeframe is hilariously optimistic, too.
2 Elon months. They mean whatever he wants them to mean, not what you think they mean.
I can’t decide if it’s a brilliant or terrible scam to build your entire business on a product that doesn’t exist.
What I haven’t seen anyone take serious advantage of yet (In theory, since we don’t have production samples in hand) is the underbed storage for some sort of black water/grey water/stand here for a shower you can stand up in sorta thing. I’ll be very interested to see what gets done there when these things get into customer hands.
They might sell a few hundred of these things, or about as many total lifetime cyber truck sales (if it ever actually goes on sale).
We should have seen the whole Twitter debacle coming with this cyber truck BS. I just don’t even know where to begin on how insanely stupid the ENTIRE thing is. Just the wind noise problems alone are unsolvable. The roar all those sharp edges will make at even 20 MPH… Man child.
Wind noise? Owners will suddenly LOVE having the noisiest interior ever. It’ll be a feature!
“The company expects the first units to reach customers two months after whenever the Cybertruck itself releases”
Someone help me with the math here: what is never plus two?
Fuzzy Math, that’s for sure! ヽ(͡◕ ͜ʖ ͡◕)ﾉ
The render with the chair set up…either that is a huge chair or they don’t know how big a Cybertruck will be…
The chair needs to be big enough for kids to wrestle on, to determine who gets to drink the giant jar of Whale Juice™ on the table.