Is the Tesla Cybertruck a Dud? An Experienced EV Reviewer Thinks So
insideevs.com
insideevs.com
I don't think it's reasonable to expect that everyone will agree.
Maybe the author feels like that about CyberTruck?
I'm sure you will around Boca Chica, but they probably won't have much of a choice either. That said, it could be a pretty good 'proving ground' if they use them to run 120/240V equipment onsite.
I really wish someone would make this happen.
"People who use trucks for a living" are a vanishingly small part of the market for trucks, though. And the trucks they buy are the low-margin vehicles, for the most part. Does the actual market want the Cybertruck? Damned if I know either. But the people to ask are precisely the socker moms and mid-life insecure tech nerds you're making fun of.
For people who don’t need the power or durability of a full size truck, the Maverick is significantly more economical as an around town truck to throw your mountain bike in the back of.
Which largely leaves us with people who currently buy for vanity or similar reasons. And I don’t see how the cybertruck is going to find significant market share in a group of people love V8 engines, lift kits, and rolling coal. And it’s not gonna work its way into the generations old argument of which truck is better Ford or Chevy.
The answer is Ford btw, or if you wanna cheat, Toyota.
As for power the cybertruck pulls 11k pounds which puts it at similar towing capacity as an f150. Some f150 engine options come in above, some below. The smallest engine f250 nearly doubles it. The cybertruck only competes in the 1/2 ton range. Everyone who buys 3/4 ton up will be losing significant capability.
The range when towing is the biggest problem as you said. It’s just pitiful. Just the other day there was a report of a cybertruck getting 160 mile range with another 6000lb tesla on a trailer. My 2011 f150 that i bought for $15k in 2015 would more than double that range. What do you suppose the range is on a 8000lb box trailer? What about when you’re headed up I-70 with 2000lb trailer?
Half the trucks out there that people complain about driving around town empty have a snowmobile trailer or a boat or a camper at home. People take those recreational items an hour or two out of town on a regular basis, typically in directions that won’t have a charger.
I aware I’m an outlier but the closest superchargers to me are 90 miles away. Around here more than half the vehicles you see are trucks and a cybertruck is just not a feasible option. I see a couple rivians around town but they’re vanity purchases, used in a capacity that could be served, by a maverick or a subaru. Which is fine. You can buy something that you think is cool. But thats the market. People thinking it’s cool. People who want their truck to do more than take the boat down to the marina 30 miles away twice a year are likely going to look elsewhere.
Really though, the only thing the cybertruck needs to do to be “successful” is to be profitable. If people buy it then it doesn’t really matter what it can or can’t do. I’ve seen number’s thrown around like 200k sales per year for breakeven etc. I don’t know the validity of any of those types of esitmates but it’s hard to imagine tesla constantly selling 30% as many cybertrucks in a year as ford does f150s. But more power to them if it does.
"Even with its shortcomings Conner wants to buy a Cybertruck but believes that Tesla oversold what the vehicle would be capable of, and for that reason, he believes it's probably Tesla's first dud."
My personal definition of the word 'dud' would definitely exclude any desire to purchase.
Clickbait crap article / title.
I know I have bought my share of scrappy computer hardware, like early PDAs or netbooks that were by many measures total flops.
I even bought Daikatana out of pure curiosity
I may just be thinking too practically though.
Still a success in the history of automobile design. Lambo-level arrogance at 10x the scale
Practically speaking, if you need to haul sod or tow your boat to the lake an hour away, it's going to be very competitive on the used market once a million units are on the road
…at some point…maybe…
Even run-of-the-mill sedans and SUVs are looking more futuristic these days, and I like the trend. :)
> it's going to be very competitive on the used market once a million units are on the road
If a million units are on the road.
An unconventional design must dominate the market, and quickly so. Otherwise it just slowly settles into the position of a niche product that's expensive to fix.
It's cool to be the first mover that inspires a whole new generation of automotive design, like I said above, but being cool is not necessarily profitable.
It might be 'innovative' but you still look like an ass in it
The obvious answer is that there’s no information in these guys.
This is not the first skeptical review of Tesla I have seen where the reviewer "still wants one" despite identifying various flaws.
If that is Tesla's usual customer, then it probably matters little whether Tesla delivers what it promises, as long as it delivers _something_.
These do not sound like discerning customers.
While I still think that’s mostly the case, I am surprised to see the thing ending up on the road, and that there’s more than one. While I hate the look of the Cybertruck, dislike Musk a lot, and don’t care much for Tesla, I’m pleased to see them hold to the plan.
The Cybertruck, for example was supposed to have a range of nearly 1000 miles.
FSD is unlikely to ever ship as promised.
7 years is an entire model generation for the broader car industry. Other manufacturers have announced, delivered, and announced the next version of cars within this time period.
Your statement amounts to "They've delivered everything they've announced except the things they've announced and never delivered".
Sure, and I understand the disappointment and impatience, but Tesla is not exactly positioning themselves as a conventional player in the car industry either. I don't think they care too much about following traditional timelines. The only thing they care about is "accelerating the world's transition to sustainable energy" (their mission statement).
Elon got on stage and told us we’d have a bulletproof, amphibious, 500mi range truck that can haul far more than it actually can for under $40k and deliveries would start years ago
Both have a sort-of futuristic look, in a non-conventional way. Both (as cars) appeal to a tiny niche of (non overlapping) users.
Most of the current appeal of a Delorean, indeed probably the only reason it even still exists, is because of BTTF. It's cool in a weird way not a practical way. It's all styling (and doors) - as a car it's, well, not great.
Cybertruck is also really all about the styling. As a truck it's not special. It may turn out to be produced in small numbers. It'll likely be desirable as a collectors piece in the future.
Obviously with styling this distinctive it's not going to appeal to everyone. Most likely think it's ugly.
So comparing it to a Delorean I think is fair (although obviously their heritage - one company bombed , the other is changing the world - is obviously not the comparison being made.
Others' differing opinions are completely valid too, it's merely a matter of personal taste, IMHO.
I don't think the comparison is saying they "look the same", but rather "they're both niche".
(Personally, I agree, the Delorean looks great, and the doors man, the doors. The cybertruck is just ugly.)
There are still Delorean owners and meetups, because 80s cars can be maintained and operated pretty much as they were back then
In 40 years will a cybertruck even have a cloud service to connect to for all the features it is sold for today? Will there even be a compatible cell network for its radios?
I have computers and peripherals way younger than a delorean and they are effectively paperweights because there is nothing to connect them to anymore. Is that the future of these cars if we can’t update them, or point them to new endpoints when Tesla ends maintenance of their cloud?
I don’t understand why everyone is going the behemoth truck route. It seems the market is ripe for a cheap, electric, light duty work truck maybe even work van shared platform.
They aren't trying to create the appearance of doing work. They're trying to create the appearance of (faux) survivalism.
VW's ID.Buzz is arriving this year. That's your one option.
Edit.. not an EV tho