Man who drove the UK's first ever Tesla Cybertruck ran into a major issue very early on that nearly stopped everything
Published on Feb 05, 2026 at 10:03 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Feb 05, 2026 at 2:34 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
The man who drove the UK’s first Tesla Cybertruck ran into a major issue that nearly wrecked everything.
YouTuber Yianni Charalmbous had purchased the EV from its original California owner.
Given that this was the first Cybertruck in the UK, it was bound to turn people’s heads on the street.
But it also came with a whole load of problems.
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Why the Tesla Cybertruck was difficult to drive on UK roads
Simply put, the Cybertruck was not designed with European roads in minds.
Any American who has driven across Europe before will have some understanding of this.
On average, roads in Europe are narrower and the UK is no exception.
That doesn’t bode well when you have a vehicle like the Cybertruck, which is large and in charge.
With no ‘international’ Cybertruck available, buyers like Charalambous are left buying the US EV as it is.
But size was the least of his concerns.
The autopilot and the maps weren’t working in the car, which is annoying but not quite a catastrophe.
What happened next was arguably more of a crisis.
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What went wrong when he took his Cybertruck to the charging station
Driving around London, Charalambous was enjoying the attention that the EV brought him – even challenging members of the public to kick his truck to test its strength.
That’s somebody who is self-assured about the hardiness of his vehicle.
But when he realized he was only on 12 percent charge, he headed to a charging station.
It was there that he encountered a big problem – it wouldn’t charge.
As far as EV issues go, that’s probably the biggest.
Despite using a ‘specially made’ adapter to try to get things going, he struggled to make a difference.
Two more adapters later, he restored to calling up the Cybertruck’s former owner, who lived in the UK.
He informed Charalambous that newer chargers wouldn’t work on the Tesla Cybertruck.
Not the type of news you want to hear while standing in a charging station.
Fortunately, a fellow Tesla owner approached him and helped him seek out some older-model chargers that actually worked for him.
Crisis averted.
Unfortunately, there’d be plenty of problems to come down the line – primarily making it road legal.
To see Charalambous adapting to life as a Cybertruck owner for yourself, visit his YouTube channel.
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Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
