The UK now has its own illegal Cybertruck on the Road

“Cybertruck’s weight, rigid structure and sharp design raised valid concerns,” he told WIRED. “Any loophole that allows these vehicles on (UK) roads must be closed quickly.”

“It would be very disappointing if a backdoor is opened that allows vehicles that carry an increased risk of damage to the UK’s roads and streets,” agrees Margaret Winchcomb, deputy chief executive of PACTS, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Road Safety. Transportation, an experienced body. for over 100 UK transport organisations.

“To allow vehicles for which the safety of others seems to be an afterthought would be a big step backwards,” he adds.

Although Tesla has made bold safety claims about the Cybertruck and released its own crash-test-dummy footage, no independent body has attempted to crash-test the vehicle. US regulators rely on car manufacturers to self-test and certify their adherence to safety standards.

The federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the insurance industry supported Insurance Institute for Road Safety (IIHS) perform crash tests only on certain vehicles. The expense is too great for these organizations to test all the vehicles, so the choices are made based on sales volumes.

“While (the Cybertruck) has created a lot of buzz, it’s unlikely we’ll invest resources into testing it unless it sells in numbers comparable to other popular large pickups,” says IIHS media director Joe Young.

“Without testing the Cybertruck, I can’t comment on the effectiveness of its crumple zones,” he underlines. “For now, our concerns around its design are limited to the issues we’ve raised with other EVs. It’s very heavy, and it’s very fast.”

Due to what it calls the Cybertruck’s “unusual design,” the UK Department for Transport (DfT) tells WIRED that it “would not like to predict” whether the pickup will receive a DfT-administered VAT pass.

“The VAT scheme was designed for (small and medium-sized businesses) involved in the conversion or import of specialized vehicles,” the statement to WIRED continued, “and was created long before the Cybertruck was conceived.”

Extrapolating from the DfT’s carefully calibrated comments, Charalambous could be wasting his time and money trying to pass the VAT test. “The vehicle has advanced technology that cannot be designed to meet the rules that apply in the UK,” the DfT statement warned.

In his videos, Charalambous travels across southeast England in his Albanian-plated Cybertruck. If caught doing this by an experienced police officer, Charalambous could be fined. “A UK resident cannot drive a vehicle displaying foreign number plates in the UK,” confirmed the DfT statement, saying “an imported car must not be driven on foreign number plates by a UK resident , except from and from (an annual security check). and a) pre-booking VAT (appointment).

In his third video, Charalambous said he was legally allowed to drive his Cybertruck in the UK because the Albanian seller had provided him with a green card, an international insurance certificate issued in Albania. Again, this is a no-no says the DfT: “Driving an unregistered vehicle would render any insurance invalid.”

Only time – and a lot of money – will determine whether Charalambous succeeds in legalizing his UK-based Cybertruck, but the odds are against it.