To be honest, I’d buy the Ford over the Tesla in a heartbeat if I was in the market (and had the budget) for an electric truck.
Tesla can certainly get a hold in the pickup market but man do they have one ugly truck.
It also makes me feel good to not support the Elon machine.
Edit: in some ways the traditional repair shops could be a liability if they’re slow to adapt
You're missing the biggest obstacle here after manufacturing, charging is incredibly difficult in many cases entirely impossible due to a lack maintenance on 3rd party charging stations.
Here is a Bloomberg article outlining what happens more often than not due to this [0].
After many years working for Japanese and German auto manufacturers this exactly why I argue Tesla isn't really a car company, they seem to be more of an energy and software company using cars that utilize their energy grid and technology.
What they've done under people's noses is to offset the costs of creating an ever-expanding charging network through the sell and pre-sell deposits of their cars that are always delayed yet still continue to yield seemingly obscene stock valuation in comparison to the rest of the Auto manufacturers combined.
From this POV the hype isn't so much from the cars, but rather the hype of them getting closer to disrupting all the peripheral Industries: they just got approval to provide auto insurance in more states in the US which if you've owned driven a Tesla in the Bay Area or LA it's a large expense of owning a Tesla because of how often they are vandalized or broken into. They are also able to offer more competitive rates based on actual driving metrics, which to me is an indication of where things have been going for some time in that Industry as cars became more like computers and is way more intrusive than what I can stomach.
I still think the total Cybertruck deposits were more of a meme hyhypee and marketing ploy than an actual gauge or real projection of deliverable vehicles because the sum was so low ($100). They did however, get a massive boost to their stock price and an interest free loan they could leverage so it was a total win for Tesla.
Aesthetically, it's very polarizing; I personally like it as it's Cyberpunk aesthetics are amusing to me, also the immense size of it is comical but then most 'heavy duty' trucks in the US all are.
I still remember seeing lifted Fords, Dodges doing +100 MPH in Southern Texas while driving down to SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica and thinking how absurd those things were (seeing literal packs of automotive dinosaurs barreling down the freeway was insane) and then I saw that gas $0.99 and figured if you could align the right incentives the Cybertruck had a real shot take at taking significant part of the Market Share once oil prices reached a realistic value: how much of that market share is anyone guess.
I'm well aware of that, which is why I think the comparison is not a suitable one. What good are truck sales if you have not ensured a way for your (ideally returning) customers to have a reliable way to charge them over long(er) distances? You just proved why the Super Charger station is the real lynch-pin in this Industry to anyone considering buying an EV.
It's putting the literal cart before the horse in terms of EV deployment.
That is what Ford is doing: https://fordauthority.com/2021/12/ford-mustang-mach-e-charge...
And it's not like CCS cars can't out-road trip Tesla cars in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFQZhR-PRVo
The main issue at the moment is that the North American EV market is about one third the size of the EV market in Europe. As more CCS cars get on the road and the chargers see higher utilization the reliability will also improve.
But what you bought into, and paid your $100 reservation fee for, does not exist.
Having a long life stainless steel body with low-maintenance motors, long distance battery pack, and fast charging, really appeals to the engineer in me.
https://accessories.ford.com/products/eluminator-mach-e-elec...
(although heard it's out of stock and has and will be for a while)
Looks incredible in the '78 F-100 they put together. MKBHD did a nice review of it too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q72dA533sCg
For me, one of the most compelling reasons to choose the Lightning over the Cybertruck is the option ($4k+ wall-mounted thing) that allows it to power your home for 1-3 days in an emergency. But I imagine that since Tesla is already in the home-power business, a similar option for the Cybertruck won't be too far behind.
Moreover the wall adapter seems slick but I’m curious how many homes are even capable of handling that dc input, but I’m not much of electrician. Regardless seems like the grid may be making a pivot towards more DC capabilities in the future
The companies that aren't serious about them today are Toyota, Honda, and Stellantis.
The reason was simple. Most of the politically powerful Japanese companies are huge conglomerates who make a lot of money in heavy industry areas where until a few years ago hydrogen was an obviously better choice than electric powered motors, which meant that there was a lot of pressure on the Japanese govt to put pressure on the car industry to align in the same direction.
There is also the fact that both companies were early innovators in making gasoline engines much more efficient with things like (non plug-in) hybrid drivetrains, so they have an interest in pushing gas focused technology.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2022/0...
The fact that the Tesla forums blame my cousin for this (it’s still not clear what they are blaming him for, considering they don’t offer any suggestions about what he should do…maybe they’re blaming him for posting about it and therefore being anti Tesla?) makes it hard to believe that Tesla actually has any incentive to improve. And with the abuse my cousin received online for being horrible enough to ask folks for suggestion would indicate that many simply don’t talk about the BS a they face with their Teslas.
A large part of it is a cult. It remains to be seen how much the cultish behavior can overcome the poor quality once real competitors come into play.
I definitely wouldn't consider it normal to be left without a car if your car needs repair (at least with most established car companies).
In the EU, Model S orders have simply been halted, with the delivery dates constantly being pushed back (orders from end of 2020 have a ship date now of some time in 2022H2, but nothing firm). I know a few people who have since cancelled their orders and gotten other high-end EVs (think Porsche, Audi). Tesla absolutely will continue to lose hearts and minds over this.
I get it that the early birds had to deal with a lot of criticism when there was a chance that they were betting their life savings on a company that could disappear overnight, or during the growing pains when they were getting vehicles that were 85% complete as compared to today. That doesn't justify the backlash I get for mentioning that some Teslas will not charge at their normal rate when the temperature drops below 26 degrees, and will take days to recharge unless connected to a supercharger. I've met people who had that happen to them. But mention that online and you'll get called bad names and receive 5 articles explaining how wrong you are when you yourself have seen the vehicle stuck in the driveway because it was too chilly outside for the tesla to charge itself with the charger.