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Comment by TylerE | Hacker News Reader

The core truck buying market won't touch this with a 30ft pole.

Yeah; after living in urban Texas you realize that the core truck buying market couldn't care less about utility. They literally mod their spotless piles of metal to be less efficient. They just want it to fit their definition of what looks cool. And this ain't it, chief.

This looks incredibly cool. It's like a vehicle from bladerunner. It's going to be iconic.

Cool to nerds like us is not the same thing as cool to executives who want to pretend they're ranchers. Although I'm not shocked that Elon Musk wouldn't realize the difference.

Some people will like it, and some people won't. Tesla doesn't need to convince everyone. I expect there's a market for it, but time will tell.

Thanks for speaking on behalf of a huge population of people who buy trucks. Guess will have to see what kind of numbers this thing sells. (it will sell at least one, to me, though)

To be fair, the other large market - actual farmers/ranchers - does care about utility. But I also don't see them spending $50k on this kind of vehicle.

Edit: Others have pointed out my apparent ignorance of truck pricing; turns out this is a normal price

That’s about how much average F-150s cost anyway.

I never see any base model pickup trucks in farming country and even fewer in ranching country. You can see many old beaters, but they're outnumbered by the fancy ones.

Yup. Basic work trucks are predominately bought by construction companies for their crew. After that, they become luxury vehicles.

No need for gas infrastructure could be compelling. Charge at night at home.

You should see what top end work trucks go for.

I'm disappointed they didn't do something more aerodynamic. The incumbents could use a kick in the pants to stop making bricks on wheels. This thing is just for poseurs.

Despite its polygon aesthetic, I wouldn't be surprised if the retractable bed cover thing improves the aerodynamics quite a bit.

I don't entirely trust my intuition when it comes to the behavior of turbulent air, but the tailgate on a conventional truck looks about as aerodynamic as a parachute.

The tailgate in a standard truck actually helps with aerodynamics by encouraging the laminar airflow over the cab to continue rearward rather than mixing with turbulent flow in the rear. While it can intuitively appear more aerodynamic, driving with the tailgate down actually significantly increases drag.

I agree though that the shape of the cybertruck, especially with the cover, should be a significant improvement.

It looks way more aerodynamic than a regular pickup to me. The shape appears largely designed to fix the drag from the turbulent flow over the bed that most trucks suffer from.

They would if it were as bulletproof as it looks.

Edit: Ah. I didn't allow all of the scripts at first, so didn't see the text about "exterior shell made for ultimate durability and passenger protection". They ought to use actual "bulletproof" windows, however. So I wonder if this is aimed at wealthy preppers.

Also, the nose should be depleted uranium, with the batteries just behind and shielded, to facilitate punching through other vehicles in the way.

It is _literally_ bulletproof, according to the demonstration video they showed during the presentation. Well, not the windows; but the truck body is.

I expect the windows will be bulletproof by next month, given the embarrassing demo failure.

I don't think making the windows as tough as the stainless steel truck body is a design goal. I suspect they'll probably improve them so they survive the "hurl a steel sphere at the window as hard as you can" test from the on-stage demo, but I doubt the stock windows will ever be literally bulletproof like the truck body is.

If you can fuel your truck with your wind generator "for free", it could have more than a few heads scratched.

Eh, I'm not sure about that. I drive a Silverado. It's a family thing; I started driving one when I was 16. I put down $100 tonight. I'm not 100% sold, but I actually like that it's different.

I have pig hunting friends who all said they can't wait to stand on the back and hunt pigs with a quiet electric truck

Like they won't touch the Jeep Rubicon or the Toyota Tacoma.

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