Comment by kllrnohj
7 years ago
> Unless you are regularly driving more than 250 miles per day, being able to charge at home is way better than filling up at gas stations.
There's no way the Tesla truck gets 250 miles when loaded up with 3500 pounds or hauling a trailer. It's very unclear if the range is sufficient if you use this truck like an actual truck where you need those things. Similarly if you are using this as a work truck there's some poor design choices involved here, too. Like the inability to access the bed from the sides of the vehicle. Or the non-flat roof complicating roof racks or additional lighting.
This appears to be more of a "lifestyle" truck than a "work" truck, and in that market how important are the extra cargo pounds or trailer capacity?
Work trucks are those plain white base model trucks with steel wheels and plastic interiors. You get them cheap and they will basically approve anyone for cheap financing of a few trucks through their business. Nobody is catering to those buyers when they design a truck. You look at those things on the lot and they look like one of the nicer trucks except only partially assembled.
The $50k trucks are basically for suburban dads. They used to drive luxury sedans while their wives drove minivans. Now the dads drive trucks that have replaced the minivan and the moms drive luxury SUVs. Trucks need to fit 6+ people, have nice interiors and enough space for hauling kids' sports gear and Home Depot stuff on the weekends. The Cybertruck is perfect for this segment. Fits 6 people, has plenty of hauling capacity and will take down a Ferrari in the 1/4 mile.
> They used to drive luxury sedans while their wives drove minivans. Now the dads drive trucks that have replaced the minivan and the moms drive luxury SUVs.
I've been thinking for a while now that luxury trucks (like the F-150 Platinum, Silverado High Country, etc.) are basically the modern-day versions of giant land-yacht sedans like the Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, Cadillac DeVille, Mercury Grand Marquis, Lincoln Town Car, etc.
You can thank CAFE focusing more on car fuel economy than truck fuel economy, plus a culture that's come to increasingly value high ride height and a rugged image.
Let's be honest, this truck won't replace Chevy/Ram/Ford trucks on work sites. This truck will primarily be used to haul mountain bikes, soccer equipment and the occasional run to Home Depot.
those are literally the three things that are a major pain in the neck for me [sedan], and when I saw that tesla was developing a truck, I was like "oh sweet! Now I can hit the trails and haul garden supplies with a greater level of convenience, and without smuggering up the earth as much!"
> without smuggering up the earth as much.
Rental might be a “different” option than buying a newly produced 2.7 metric tons truck?!
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>those are literally the three things that are a major pain in the neck for me [sedan]
Never been a problem for me with a Honda Fit, at it's a subcompact with a footprint of a VW beetle. The seats fold down almost into the floor, giving me plenty of cargo space.
My friend had a minivan with folding seats, he used to carry his enduro motorcycle in it.
I have a hard time believing anyone living in a city needs a truck for anything except work.
In case you haven't seen it yet, the Rivian R1T is explicitly targeting that use case.
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Not everyone who buys trucks uses them as work trucks, but for the people who are looking for work trucks, why wouldn't they use this truck?
You'd need charging stations - an added cost/inconvenience to the ordeal. I don't know if you've been around many job sites and/or locations where they might store the trucks - charging infrastructure isn't there. It's going to vary a lot on the company though - tbh. Work trucks have so many varied uses that it's hard to say. Some people take their trucks home - but then they're not gonna wanna charge at home because then that costs them $$$ and tracking that expenditure might be annoying every night. (Versus filling up whenever you need and saving the receipt or using the company card) This is presuming they can charge at home - which some workers won't be able to.
The other part is that work trucks need good integration with tools and tool storage. You need to be able to add tool storage/access on the sides of the truck. If you can't do that - it's going to eliminate a lot of the market for a work truck. But - of course - that's just ONE type of work truck. (One where a person is getting out and doing manual labor with tools - electricians, plumbers, general handymen, etc.)
Other types of work trucks are basically completely different and require an entirely different bed. And the Tesla here definitely won't work with those. (Think flat bed trucks used for hauling)
I think the idea of this being a work truck is a silly idea. I don't know why anyone is thinking this would even be a remotely good idea considering you can't mount anything to it.
An article with an image of various types of work trucks: https://www.worktruckonline.com/343935/comvoy-launches-as-on...
Just imagine trying to make the Tesla fit those use cases like outlined there...
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It's expensive for starters and the bed is small and odd.
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> in that market how important are the extra cargo pounds or trailer capacity?
Not really important. What's important is that it _look_ like it can haul stuff. Like most Ford F-1-2-whatevers, Rams and other pickups, most of the time they're empty and car-wash clean.
I actually like the looks of the Tesla pickup. It's about time they went more avant-garde with their designs. This is supposed to be the future, dammit, Mr Musk's other company makes spaceships. Why NOT futuristic cars instead of Lexus look-alikes?
Sure, embrace the future. But it looks like something out of Mad Max, attenuated with the macho looking guys piling out of it. It has a very "me against the dangerous world" tone, something Musk has expressed before (in denigrating public transportation). It's a very aggressive introduction, highlighting the worst aspects of private vehicles, and a very poor direction to set.
Mad Max is set in the future...
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Watch Tesla come out with a trailer which includes extra batteries and maybe even torque... hahah
WHAAAAAAT? didn't think of that. A trailer with extra battery and can actually haul stuff on top of is an AMAZING idea.
Gas truck ranges go down when hauling too.
Right, but if you're hauling all day you can stop and fill up in five minutes.
250 is the range of the base model. The top end model doubles that.
The top-end model also nearly doubles the price and puts it in an entirely different class of competition. The $50k Cybertruck, comparable in price to something like the F-150 Raptor or Tacoma TRD Pro, is "only" 300 mile range. At the top-end model's $70k you're deep into Ford Super Duty territory
Raptors at local dealers near me are all selling for $72-75k
Where can I find NEW F-150 Raptor for $50K? Cause I'd sure love to buy one! Heck, I'll even give you a $1K finders fee.
Both those ranges are (I assume) with the truck empty, or with just a driver.
TFL hooked a Model X up to a trailer and it basically reduced the range to a joke
That's not true. I watched the whole video and their charging practices were a joke. They knew they were driving too fast, they knew they didn't charge enough before they left.
In any case, from 500 miles with 10% degradation, 10% reservation, and 50% inefficiency due to towing you're still going to get 200 miles. Most superchargers are within 50-100 miles of each other. Ezpz.
At 250 miles with those same metrics, you're at 100 miles of range. Sure you don't want to go cross country but you can make the haul if you want to.
The biggest problem is going to be trucks with trailers hogging the whole bank of chargers so they don't have to detach their trailer.
TFL is a joke. They don't even know that you can open a Model 3 charge port by tapping at it. That is after owning the car for weeks. AFTER they were shown how to do so, when they took delivery.
They were bitching that it's so inconvenient because they thought you have to use the app. That's seems disingenuous t me.
You don't get anywhere near rated milage/ range on a normal truck when hauling loads either. The truth is even for work trucks, most trucks spend 80+% of the time lightly loaded or empty.
The issue with lumber racks and the apparent inability to haul larger items is a much bigger concern for "Work Trucks".
I see this as something which I can haul 3-4 friends and their bikes up to the trailhead in (or skiing/ camping/ fishing) and it seems pretty reasonably set up for that.
Bed will be used to hold soccer ball.