A veteran environmental compliance tester who spends his days checking gas stations for leaks now relies on a vehicle that never stops for fuel. After logging 50,000 miles in his Tesla Cybertruck, he says it has been “more reliable than any truck” he has owned from Ford, GMC, or Chevrolet.
For someone who drives all day between fuel pumps and underground tanks, that is a striking twist. The truck he uses to hunt down gasoline leaks does not burn a drop of gasoline itself.
A work truck that lives on the road
The owner shared his experience in a detailed post on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum. He explains that his job involves visiting gas stations and similar facilities to test for environmental compliance, which means long days behind the wheel and heavy equipment in the bed.
On a typical workday he covers more than 100 miles and hauls roughly one thousand pounds of testing gear. That is about the weight of a pallet of cement bags or a small motorcycle living permanently in the back.
Despite that constant load, he reports that his electric pickup has handled daily commuting, construction sites, towing, off-road driving, and camping without major problems so far.
He notes that the truck has just crossed the end of its basic warranty, and jokes that it feels like being in “a spaceship headed to Mars” now that he is technically on his own. Yet in practical terms, nothing has actually gone wrong.
Why this owner calls it his most reliable vehicle
By the time his previous pickups from traditional brands reached around 50,000 miles, he says each one had already needed expensive transmission work. That pattern will be familiar to many drivers who have watched a mechanic roll a grimy gearbox out from under a beloved truck.
This time, he says the story is different. At the same mileage in the Cybertruck he reports no major repairs and lower day-to-day operating costs. Compared with the fuel and maintenance bills on his earlier trucks, he describes the electric pickup as cheaper to run and easier to live with.
That personal testimony lines up with broader data. The US Department of Energy notes that all electric vehicles usually require less maintenance than conventional models because they have fewer moving parts, no engine oil, and reduced brake wear.
Several recent analyses find that drivers typically spend about half as much on maintenance and repairs for electric cars compared with gas vehicles, especially over longer ownership periods. For someone who racks up miles as fast as an environmental inspector, those savings show up quickly.
Lower maintenance, lower emissions
The owner has also built his work and leisure routine around quiet electric power. When he heads out to remote campsites, he brings two portable solar generators from Jackery along with about sixteen hundred watts of solar panels. He uses that setup to feed electricity into the truck and to power his campsite for several days.
No humming gasoline generator. No jerry cans rattling in the bed. Just solar panels soaking up sunlight while he sleeps. For anyone who has tried to hold a conversation next to a noisy campsite generator, that detail will feel very real.
From an environmental angle, his choice matters too. Studies that track full life cycle emissions suggest that, after the first several thousand miles, battery electric cars tend to produce roughly half the greenhouse emissions of comparable gasoline vehicles, even in regions where power grids still rely heavily on fossil fuels.
A high-mileage user who also taps solar power pushes that balance further in favor of lower emissions.
Politics in the pickup lane
Not everything about owning this truck has been smooth. The driver writes that the vehicle has attracted intense political reactions, describing encounters with people who expressed open hostility simply because he was behind the wheel of a Cybertruck.
That kind of social friction has become a recurring theme as the vehicle turns into a rolling symbol in wider debates about climate policy, technology, and the public image of Tesla.
At the same time, he says that as some of the political noise fades, he has gone back to enjoying his daily drives along the coast, across California’s Central Valley, and into the Sierra Nevada while driver-assistance features handle more of the highway work.
One story in a bigger EV shift
It is worth stressing that one satisfied owner does not guarantee flawless reliability for every Cybertruck. Other drivers have reported issues ranging from body panel problems to tow away level failures, reminding buyers that this is still a relatively new model with plenty of scrutiny around build quality.
Yet for this particular environmental inspector, the truck has become a daily tool rather than a fragile prototype. His experience illustrates what many researchers and fleet managers are starting to see to a large extent.
High-mileage users who switch from gas pickups to electric ones often gain lower running costs, reduced local emissions, and a quieter workday, so long as charging and service networks meet their needs.
Whether that pattern holds as more electric trucks pile on the miles is a question the industry is still answering in real time. For now, one driver who spends his days at gas stations seems content that his own work truck no longer needs to visit the pumps he inspects.
The original forum post was published on the Cybertruck Owners Club website.
