Elon says Tesla received 146,000 orders for its Cybertruck after botched debut
cnbc.com
cnbc.com
It will stand out on the streets and in a parking lot though so I'm not surprised at the number of initial orders. I suspect we'll see them more often parked outside a trendy restaurant than a lumber yard.
Why? Doesn’t it have a bigger bed, extra space, and a lot more than regular trucks? It even has an air compressor and outlets.
But air compressors are a 250 add on to any truck and 500-700 for a really good one that can handle serious work.
The bed is the equivalent to a short bed, but a little wider. It basically has a built in tonneau cover.
The outlet comes standard on a lot of trucks too. What’s behind it battery-wise is a lot bigger.
Frankly, it’s a cool design, but it does feel like folks are overdoing the “better than existing pickups by a wide margin” part.
Can you imagine picking up your co-workers at 3:30 to roll up to a job site in this at 4:30am to do concrete? It’s possible, but it’s going to take a cultural shift. The one thing I have heard from folks who buy trucks for work that I know is that thing has city slicker dna in the current market.
Some probably can see rolling up to the job site... that shift may be underway... like I said... not so black and white.
Hard to tell how well that built-in ramp on the tailgate will hold up, same with the bed cover. May be fine for loading a small dirt bike, but I have my doubts based on the photo I saw of it. Looks to me that it won't take much to warp those out of shape and if they do warp they won't open/close easily (or at all).
Stainless steel is hard, and it's not easy to repair once it's bent or scuffed up. The finish is almost impossible to repair. You can't "match" that like you can with paint. So scuffs and dents are pretty much a permanent thing unless you replace the part with a new one, and stainless steel will make that expensive. This is why you see so many old Deloreans painted now. You can't "bondo" a dent and match the finish. You can't even "metal finish" it.
It's a "Luxury" vehicle, not a "work" truck. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but that's a pretty limited market when compared to work trucks or luxury cars.
The thing is armored to support tough jobs. What makes it a "Luxury" vehicle? Again, the looks?
Also, I saw a video of a 6'4" sitting in the back seats and saying there was plenty of space over his head and for his legs.
That's sort of true. Personally, I'm not impressed with any of the current line of trucks as far as functionality goes. They all have a bloated design and sit too high. The beds are not any bigger or deeper, and ground clearance isn't much better either. It's a bullshit design that makes the truck "look" bigger. They basically do a "body lift" on them. The real addition in real clearance height is mostly gained with bigger wheels and tires.
Tesla focused on "gizmos" and stand out design, not real "work truck" functionality. Tesla'a truck has great ground clearance, and stand out torque, so it should be a tough one to keep up with off road and rock climbing, but it doesn't have the range to keep up with current trail runners for days of off roading.
The electric truck has great potential for lots of design advantages, but this design is just not very handy as a work truck. It's designed to be more of a sport truck.
But as for "Pickups", Tesla is not the only car company putting style before function in the Pickup segment. They all are. They've all been making pickups bigger since the mid-80s and there is no "mini", or even "regular size" pickup on the market now.
A smaller, more functional and very affordable electric work truck is where I think Tesla should've put their efforts first. That would've been a far bigger market for them. It would take at least three years for any of the manufactures to get back in that market. After that they'd be in a much better position to take on the Full Size and Luxury Truck market.
It's also possible the design was partly responsible, but I think even a boring-looking vehicle would've gotten just as much coverage.
I saw tons of stories about Rivian and its trucks, so I think people are hungry for a super-powerful electric truck.