Finally, an Etruck!

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The F150 shown is just 2WD and with the short bed, but the Cybertruck looks to be both wider and much longer. More like the original Humvee.
Screen Shot 2019-11-28 at 11.43.56 AM.png
 
You guys are making my point that the Tesla doing the same isn't as impressive as it sounds.
Exactly. It's even easier with an electric motor since all the torque is available just above 0 RPM
 
I just checked a couple local dealers and they each had a few for sale.
Could be regional .My GMC dealer doesnt even have an option on their website to order a new one. 4 different configurations, none std. cab. 30 used ones ,no std cabs.
 
The F150 shown is just 2WD and with the short bed, but the Cybertruck looks to be both wider and much longer. More like the original Humvee.
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The E truck could be all wheel drive. That would make a big difference.
 
The E truck could be all wheel drive. That would make a big difference.
The cyberwedge is significantly heavier than the F 150 in the video, weight is traction. The Ford driver smoking the wheels makes it easier to tow also.
Equalize the weight and make both 4wd and it will be a more realistic test, instead of a PR stunt
 
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The E truck could be all wheel drive. That would make a big difference.
Yes, that and a big belly full of battery weight will make a difference.
 
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Yes, that and a big belly full of battery weight will make a difference.
That is an awesome part of electric vehicles, nearly complete freedom of weight distribution.
 
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I don’t get the “unfair comparison” argument. Yea I’m sure the Tesla does have more weight in the rear, but that’s how it’s designed. That’s how it’s going to be driven in the real world. There’s no added weight in the bed, so in my eyes it’s perfectly fair, it’s how the trucks designed.... no more having to put sandbags in the bed in the winter for better traction in snow etc, pickups suck in 2wd config for that exact reason, the rear ends are too light. Complaining it’s unfair, to put weight in the bed of the Ford to make it even, makes the entire case for why the Tesla truck is better.

I’m excited to see how this technology and truck plays out. i think my own personal needs will easily be handled by the specs and stats advertised. Very rarely do I drive over 150 miles a day. Maybe 2-3 times a year. Maybe 10-15 times do I do over 300 miles in a day. The top tier cyber truck has a 500 mile range. That’s over 8 hrs. Even if towing cuts range in half, how often do I tow 250 miles a day? Not very. Most of my driving is under 50 miles a day. Obviously this isn’t going to replace guys who are constantly towing trailers around all day for landscaping/plowing/ etc, but I think If the performance numbers are close to reality, itll replace the truck users like me who use a truck as a commuter vehicle but still need to haul a boat trailer or utility trailer or snowmobile trailer on the weekends. Or, need to be able to throw tools in the bed to haul around, or the thousand other tiny uses you take for granted and realize when you don’t have a pickup.
 
Reminds me of an old story I heard once. A local farmer needed a station wagon to haul the family around. He went to the small local car dealer and all they had was a station wagon with fake wood trim along the sides. He brought it home and took a crowbar to the siding and stripped it all off. When he was done he called up the dealer and told them that it was kind of ugly when he picked it up but expected it would look better when the finished taking the shipping crate off :) . I keep wondering when Tesla will take the crate off ;).

Keep in mind this a prototype, the design will get tweaked possibly significantly by the time Tesla finally delivers one. I seem to remember him rolling out a sports car that he eventually shot into space and that was scheduled to be on the road long ago.

There are always folks who want the latest and greatest and given that many truck owners never carry anything in their beds they are basically buying a big ugly commuter car to show off. I expect Ford and GM see the writing on the wall and will just install a battery tray under the beds of more conventional trucks and sell as many as they can make.
 
I'm not sure why they didnt do that years ago. Theres lots of room under the body of a truck. The big thing I see is it could easily creep up I to DOT territory at 10k lbs.
 
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I'll state openly that I'm not a truck owner (aside from the inherited 2002 Toyota Tacoma, used periodically for small hauling jobs), and I will not be in the market for a pickup truck ever...

But the Tesla truck is one ugly truck. Chances are high that those who just see "trucks as status symbols" are the target market for this truck, and Tesla will probably create some new demand by appealing to people who don't buy conventional trucks.

I'm not a Tesla fanboy by any stretch of the imagination. Up until a year ago I would have argued pretty convincingly that Tesla was just a big pyramid scheme waiting to collapse. But they may have turned the corner now, and I have to give them a lot of credit for shaking up an old industry that was pretty stuck in its ways and committed to building and selling a bunch of complicated technologies (e.g., engines and transmissions) that they happened to be good at making since they've been making them for 100 years. But that doesn't make those technologies good today.

It seems we might be as little as 5 years away to cost parity between electric and gas vehicles, maybe closer when total ownership cost is factored in. And in 10 years, I think it is pretty likely that gas vehicles will be seen as pretty outmoded ways to get from place A to place B, with all future investment dedicated to electric vehicles. Trucks may lag that timeline by another 5 years, but EVs are coming for trucks too.
 
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Some interesting variations are starting to show up on the interwebs. Looks better in black.

cybertruck-5.jpg
 
And GM is announcing their new E-Truck now. The picture shown is not the new truck. That is a 2008 prototype.
Thats good cuz the one pictured dont look that great. Id rather it look like the colorado rather then an avalanche which is what that 2008 looks like.
 
Interesting news from Ford... They plan on putting their battery pack for the F150 within the Existing Frame Architechture... Which is very interesting to my eyes. All other EV Manufacturers are creating a battery pack skate-board that the motors and cab then attach to. Ford is going to build a traditional/ev adapted ladder-frame and mount the batteries inside that. I'm guessing it has to do with scalability, and protection.

That was one of my main beefs (so far) with most EV's. They are incredibly vulnerable to puncture/damage from something hitting it from lack of ground clearance. Unless you create some good skid plates, there is no way you could take most EV trucks that have an unprotected battery Offroad... TFL Truck actually verified and tested this with their Model X, and they did end up scraping up the battery pack on their off road tests. Curious to hear more about these developments.


Say what you will about Tesla, but they know how to do a few things right:
1. Marketing hype is second to none.
2. All other Automotive manufacturers are finally being pressured to produce something different to compete. (Good example is look at Porsche with the new Taycan... Its the only legitimate rival to a Tesla Model S with Ludicrous mode)
 
There is another American truck coming online. This pickup is designed for the commercial market. They say they have over 16,000 pre-orders. It's designed to scale and will have dual-wheel and tandem axle options. With 4 independent motors AWD, this could be the beast to beat. Battery packs afford 300-500 mile range. Starting at $45K. And it actually looks like a work truck. The XP platform is interesting too. It would make a heckuva foundation for an off-road RV.

https://www.atlismotorvehicles.com/xt-truck
 
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The battery tech is interesting. They are claiming a 15 minute charge cycle when on an industrial power supply. Unlike existing car batteries, these NCM cells are not based on packs of consumer-sized cells. Starting at 125 kWh, they are designed and built for commercial use.
 
New Fords are aluminum. Shouldn't have any rust issues.

You’d be surprised. And at least around here, most body shops won’t touch them. If you manage to cave in your tailgate, most of our local body shops will tell you to just order a new one, pre-finished, they’re just having too many issues with paint on the aluminum beds.

A few random thoughts on the Tesla:

1. It’s ugly for a reason. They’re trying to make a point that a pickup truck looks like a pickup truck, because that’s the form dictated by the mechanics of the drivetrain. Change those mechanics, and you’re no longer beholden to that body style.

2. The Tesla will have on-board air compressor(s), for running air tools. That is a huge convenience for carpenters and some other contractors, to just run a hose from the truck to the house, and not haul a compressor.

3. The Tesla will also have on-board 115V AND 230V receptacles, another huge bonus.

4. begreen is right on the glass, I believe. Talk about a greenhouse! Also, as I have a family member who just broke the windshield on their Tesla Model 3 and had to wait 5 weeks without the car for Tesla to dig up a replacement, I see this as a major flaw in their design vs. manufacturing capability.

5. Stainless steel sucks for car bodies. The deLoreans looked like chit after you’d just get some finger oils on them, similar to my stainless refrigerator with kids handprints all around the door handle, let alone the road salt and other grime a truck is destined to see. It may not rust, but it will look like hell.

6. Stainless steel makes body repair impossible, no paint to hide the body filler. So, body panel replacement is the path, as long as those body panels remain available on the market.

7. A large fraction of the pickup truck market is those automotive customers who may be the slowest to adapt to a new look and form. Heck, a large part of the pickup truck customer base is buying their trucks solely BECAUSE of the way they look. How else do you explain the sheer stupidity of low-profile tires or smoke stacks on modern pickup trucks, or brush guards and skyjacker suspension on pretty trucks that never venture into the brush?
 
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2. The Tesla will have on-board air compressor(s), for running air tools. That is a huge convenience for carpenters and some other contractors, to just run a hose from the truck to the house, and not haul a compressor.
Maybe for filling tires or building bird houses, but you won't be building houses with it.
 
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