Anyone else watch the Tesla Cybertruck launch?

[SeaDawg]

It's official. Rivian is the first all electric truck in the US. First customer launch edition rolled off the assembly line this month.

https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/14/rivians-first-production-r1t-electric-pickup-truck-rolls-off-the-line/

 

[Overland]

I just slip in under the weight limit, if anyone is still looking for a Christmas present for me -

 

[Overland]

Looks like we have the first test of towing something like an Ollie with an electric truck - a Rivian towing a 6500 lb trailer across country. Unfortunately, I think the best you can say is that it’s possible. With the trailer, the truck’s range was about 100 miles, meaning they had to make 26 stops to charge, each one adding about an hour to their trip. I’d go insane. 
 

 

[John and Debbie]

No thanks.   Not practical and I think it's an ugly truck..  Edsel comes to mind. 

[SeaDawg]

And yet, it won motortrend's truck of the year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/13/rivian-r1t-named-motortrends-truck-of-the-year.html

[Overland]

Delayed again…

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/13/22881646/tesla-cybertruck-production-date-2022-removed-website

[SeaDawg]

2 hours ago, Overland said:

Delayed again…

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/13/22881646/tesla-cybertruck-production-date-2022-removed-website

Frankly, not surprised. 

Rivian's already made it first to the line, Ford's soon to come. What's the rush...

My guess is they're still perfecting the new battery. 

[SeaDawg]

Speaking of batteries, this may just be the one to first answer the majority of remaining objections to evs. 

ONE (Our Next Energy) just released a video of their new battery technology, retrofitted into a Tesla S. It drove (in cold December Michigan) a real world 752 mile trip without recharging. 

The car averaged 55 mph. The battery used the same physical space as original Tesla battery. No, it wasn't towing anything, but it didn't have to stop for charging. At all. 

Backed by BMW, Gates, and Bezos. 

You can scroll down to see their video on the website main page:

https://one.ai/range/

[SeaDawg]

On 3/15/2020 at 10:41 PM, Overland said:

Eventually, trailers will need their own battery banks. Shortly after that, you’ll see trailers incorporating their own drivetrains, with stability systems built in so that you can tow with anything. That’s my opinion at least. 

Looks like some folks at Lippert  may have read your post, and took it to heart, @Overland

https://rvbusiness.com/lippert-developing-edison-ev-towable-chassis-prototype/

[SeaDawg]

Thor is working on a self- powered design, too.

https://cleantechnica.com/2022/01/12/thor-zf-partner-to-develop-battery-powered-towable-rvs/

 

[John and Debbie]

2 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

Looks like some folks at Lippert  may have read your post, and took it to heart, @Overland

https://rvbusiness.com/lippert-developing-edison-ev-towable-chassis-prototype/

I wrestle with the idea that hauling a trailer around is bad for the environment,  but I rationalize that over the years our average mpg has gone up as we get more fuel efficient vehicles.   Is that a concern that's shared by others?   We don't have any electric cars,  only one ebike. 

[SeaDawg]

I have struggled with that, too.

Our mpg drops, with the trailer in tow.

Offsets? 

At home, our ac and/or heat in our larger home runs less than when we're home. Though we are very careful with water and power at home, we're even more conscious of our use, with the trailer. 

We run our trailer primarily on solar. (But that's also true of our home, and our sail boat .)

We do some long runs, driving, and typically stay a bit. Sometimes days. Sometimes weeks, or longer.  During that time, we rarely "go to town," so those short runs eliminate some of the daily drives we would do at home. Both our current tow vehicles are over 14 years old, and our trailer is now in its 15th season. Boat is 45 years old. Durability/longevity is also part of eco economy.

We try very hard to leave a small footprint.  

We all have to live within our conscience confines. I'm pretty much ok with ours, though I'm sure we could also do better.

 

[Mike and Carol]

5 hours ago, John Welte said:

I wrestle with the idea that hauling a trailer around is bad for the environment,  but I rationalize that over the years our average mpg has gone up as we get more fuel efficient vehicles.   Is that a concern that's shared by others?

I’m okay with what we do.  We drive to a location and stay a while, then drive to another, burning diesel all the way.  But, if we’re home, I’m driving around town every day for errands, helping kids and grandkids, etc.  The fuel I use is minuscule compared to big rigs driving across the country daily or trains and planes burning lots of petroleum.  Even our wonderful windmills take gallons and gallons of petroleum lubricants daily to produce whatever electricity the wind allows them to produce.  So, I’m at peace pulling my little Oliver to our national parks and recreation areas and enjoying what our country has to see.  Mike

[John and Debbie]

On 9/21/2020 at 1:24 PM, Overland said:

Yeah, that's odd that they'd have superchargers along the pacific coast highway.  

It's a very popular road to drive.   I am not surprised that they have superchargers. 

[ScubaRx]

I think what we really need are EV’s pulling travel trailers that are self-powered. If the EV’s were also self-driving, equipped with 360 degree 8K cameras and connected to the internet via satellite uplinks we could preprogram our route into the nav system and just stay home and watch the trip on our phones. 

[SeaDawg]

So, finally, the first production Cybertruck rolled off the line, today.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/4099564-tesla-cybertruck-built-elon-musk/?segment=1*15ghd8a*s_amp_id*OVExbFhzdUpRbUhGR2trLUZqU015c1NBVkRTZFRzLTBaNzIyNU1BVU9CdWwtbGE5MEktXzJyZEUtV1RDQ0hZVQ..

 

[ScubaRx]

I've seen a crap load of vehicles in my 70+ years. That thing far surpasses any vehicle I've ever seen in pure unadulterated butt-uglyness. Hopefully they're giving them away to blind folks. I used to think it couldn't get any more ugly than this:

I was wrong.

[SeaDawg]

Let's see what the market says.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say.

That citroen you posted  still sold units. When I went to school in Spain, there was a cheaper (and uglier) little citroen that my local friends called "the duck." It was actually quite common, and especially popular  with small, young families. 

It's definitely a departure in styling, but, hey, so was the original Mustang. And tbird. And, and... then again,  could it be the  AMC Gremlin of the truck world? Who knows. 😅

 

[Mike and Carol]

9 hours ago, ScubaRx said:

I've seen a crap load of vehicles in my 70+ years. That thing far surpasses any vehicle I've ever seen in pure unadulterated butt-uglyness. Hopefully they're giving them away to blind folks. I used to think it couldn't get any more ugly than this:

I was wrong.

We lived in France a couple of years (total of 12 years in Europe) and Citroen’s were everywhere, big ones and small ones.  We owned a Peugeot while there, actually quite nice.  Mike

[Frank C]

One big design flaw I see on the Tesla Cybertruck is accessibility to the truck bed when standing beside the vehicle and trying to reach over those big sail panels on the sides behind the cab.  That was a complaint with the original Honda Ridgeline small pickup truck (which Honda fixed with the recent redesign, see photos below).   Given the other electric pickup trucks hitting the market like the Rivian and the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Cybertruck just looks like Tesla is putting exotic “futuristic” styling over practical everyday pickup truck function.   

[bugeyedriver]

Two weeks ago, I saw one of the F150 Lightnings in-the-wild in Burlington, VT.  It was from Quebec and pulled about a 4000 pound "stick built" trailer behind it.  It was a very nice looking truck, (even with the electric cord from the camp pedestal running to the plug in the front left fender - Haha)

I spoke with the owner and asked him how well it towed and he said "Effortlessly". Then I asked him what his range was while pulling his trailer, the response was "One hundred sixtly kilometers"

That's 100 miles, folks.

 

[MAX Burner]

D and I spent a week in SoCal a couple weeks ago, Marina del Ray to be exact...  We saw no fewer than 3 or 4 Rivians on a daily basis.  They seemed to be "everywhere."  We noticed that none were hauling anything???

[jd1923]

"Design flaw" I see is it's an EV. Yes, the range is too short for highway travel. Then find a charge station and wait how many hours for a recharge? Trucks will likely continue to be diesel, for many, many years to come. Maybe when the EV batteries run low, they can be charged by our OTT house batteries! Ha-ha

[mossemi]

5 hours ago, Frank C said:

One big design flaw I see on the Tesla Cybertruck is accessibility to the truck bed when standing beside the vehicle and trying to reach over those big sail panels on the sides behind the cab.

I have to admit that I can’t reach anything over the side of my F150, but they did put a ladder in the tailgate for this old man!  Of course the tailgate ladder is pretty much unusable when hooked up to the Ollie.  Now both of the 1980 VW Rabbit diesel pickups I owned were a breeze to reach anything in the bed from the sides or the tailgate.😁

Mossey

[ScubaRx]

On 7/16/2023 at 9:01 AM, bugeyedriver said:

Two weeks ago, I saw one of the F150 Lightnings in-the-wild in Burlington, VT.  It was from Quebec and pulled about a 4000 pound "stick built" trailer behind it.  It was a very nice looking truck, (even with the electric cord from the camp pedestal running to the plug in the front left fender - Haha)

I spoke with the owner and asked him how well it towed and he said "Effortlessly". Then I asked him what his range was while pulling his trailer, the response was "One hundred sixtly kilometers"

That's 100 miles, folks.

 

All you have to do to experience this same range in a fuel based vehicle is just put about 12 gallons in at each fill up. The only difference is that filling up this way will only take about 5 minutes.