- A New Jersey pizzeria is using Tesla's Cybertruck to serve pizzas on the go.
- The Tesla truck's battery is used to power a portable pizza oven.
- The owners say they're huge Tesla fans, and want to one day cook pizza for Elon Musk.
A pizzeria in New Jersey has transformed two Cybertrucks into pizza trucks, using one of the Tesla vehicle's most futuristic features to cook pizzas on the go.
Columbia Inn owners Fabio Antonio Arbelaez and Ryan McDermott bought three Tesla Cybertrucks to turn them into pizza delivery vehicles.
They wanted new vehicles to relieve the strain on their gasoline pizza truck, which the two partners say was frequently booked months in advance.
Now, they say they are facing a huge wave of demand for their Cybertruck pizza trucks, which they've modified to cook pizzas at parties and events.
"We designed a special sliding bed tray on the truck and set up an electric pizza oven, LED umbrellas, and a small refrigeration unit, which are all powered by the truck," said Arbelaez.
Pizza on wheels
Arbelaez told Business Insider that the two 120-volt and one 240-volt outlets in the Cybertruck's cargo bed, which draw power from its battery, make it perfect for cooking fresh pizzas.
"Our big gas truck, there's only so many places it can go," said McDermott.
"We could take the Cybertruck to the middle of the Sahara Desert, provided we have a full charge, cook pizzas for six hours, and drive back," he added.
Elon Musk promised the Cybertruck would be an "apocalypse-proof" off-roader when the first deliveries began last year.
A series of viral videos have shown the Cybertruck struggling with sandy beaches, snowy terrain and a steep hill.
Like other electric vehicles, including the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Cybertruck has bidirectional charging, allowing it to become a mobile power source for appliances and even other electric vehicles.
Some EV owners have used bidirectional charging to power their homes and vital machinery during storms and flooding, and some F-150 owners in Florida used their vehicles to keep their homes running during Hurricane Helene.
Arbelaez and McDermott are using two of their Cybertrucks as mobile pizza kitchens, and the third is available on the Turo car rental platform.
Arbelaez told BI that in five months of running the first "CyberPizzaTruck" the vehicle had paid off 40% of its price — and with demand booming, they're considering ordering more.
"Lots of people criticized me in 2012 when I got a Tesla Model S. They said I was stupid for getting that car because Tesla was going to be bankrupt and electric cars would never succeed," said Arbelaez.
"I got that car because I understood the importance of companies like Tesla, so I wanted to contribute. I hope we have more companies like Tesla and people like Elon Musk," he added.
Arbelaez said that growing up on a coffee farm in Colombia had taught him the importance of preserving the environment.
"Fossil fuels are a wasteful source of energy. We're using unrenewable natural resources to produce energy, and when we do, we pollute the atmosphere and impact the environment," he said.
McDermott said that while the Cybertruck does turn plenty of heads, reactions aren't always positive.
"You get a lot of haters. I've had people scream at me on the highway, saying 'That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen'," he said, adding he believes the reactions are down to hostility about electric vehicles.
"It just makes me scratch my head and laugh. I think that means we're winning the war here."
McDermott and Arbelaez hope to one day serve pizza for Musk and Tesla employees at its Austin HQ.
"We want to be the first people to make pizza on the moon and Mars, and we want to make pizza for them on our Cybertruck out in Texas," McDermott said.