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Comment by chadconway | Hacker News Reader

Awesome to see BYD continue to innovate! I wish Tesla continued to push on powertrain improvements like this rather than making a triangle shaped truck.

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The triangle shaped truck was used as a testbed for several innovations: 4 wheel drive (not just for parking gimmicks), size increase of gigapressed parts, first deployment of the 4680 dry process batteries, 48V for the non-traction electrical systems, Ethernet based networking for systems interconnect.

It’s literally a concept car in production…

There's a reason most concept cars don't make it to production.

What are the reasons that truck shouldn't have entered production? I can think of a few myself (pedestrian safety, ugly, not bulletproof and shouldn't even ostensibly be, etc) but none of these reasons seem to be related to the actual technical innovations which are apparently in the truck. So where is the relevance?

> What are the reasons that truck shouldn't have entered production?

It’s selling like shit. And this was before the whole Tesla vibe shift. Instead of a leading-edge $25k EV we got a truck that can’t truck and robotaxi vapourware. Meanwhile, BYD is on its game.

What do you mean it’s before ”vibe shift”, that’s not true?

Musk said, on a 2023 earnings call, that he expected “the Tesla Cybertruck to sell between 250,000 and 500,000 units per year” [1]. It sold fewer than 40,000 in 2024 [2]. Tesla’s sales in 2024 weren’t 100+ P/E calibre, but they also didn’t yet reflect the sort of cratering we saw at the end of ‘24 in both Tesla sales and resale values [3].

Cybertruck flopped as a product before Tesla flopped as a brand. It’s why Tesla is throttling down their production [4].

[1] https://insideevs.com/news/667723/musk-estimates-tesla-could...

[2] https://insideevs.com/news/747195/tesla-cybertruck-sales-dem...

[3] https://www.cargurus.com/research/price-trends/Tesla-m112?en...

[4] https://electrek.co/2025/01/16/tesla-throttles-down-cybertru...

Sure, but that doesn't seem obviously relevant to the question of whether the truck features innovation or just a triangular shape.

> that doesn't seem obviously relevant to the question of whether the truck features innovation or just a triangular shape

The car not selling isn’t relevant to why it “shouldn't have entered production?”

It's answering a question I never asked.

To recap:

>>> Tesla didn't innovate, they just made a triangle.

>> The triangle actually has several innovations, it's basically a concept car

> Concept cars usually don't enter production for a reason

Those reasons, in this case, being unrelated to the technological innovations, as far as I can tell. Correct me if I'm wrong. Tesla's problem isn't a failure to innovate, it's their leadership deciding to make stupid and impractical cars.

> >>> Tesla didn't innovate, they just made a triangle

Don't recap with fake quotes.

Half of these don't really sound like innovations as much as they're firsts for Tesla themselves. 48 V systems and four-wheel steering (and drive) are not really innovative at this point.

My '91 Honda Prelude had 4 wheel steering! That was a fun car.

the triangle truck supports 500 kw charging

With a much larger battery. Double the battery and voilà you can charge it at twice the speed.

People love to hate on the Cybertruck for political reasons but it's literally one of the most innovative vehicles of our time.

Things were wildly overpromised. The innovation that was delivered (e.g. steer by wire) gives little advantage for customers.

Steer by wire is a huge advantage and the nimble handling is one of the most beloved things about the vehicle among owners.

Comparing to the promised 500 miles of range or 39k USD starting price?

People did not go crazy with the reservations because CT was going to have steer by wire.

Perhaps if it innovates in how shitty a car can be. Sort of an example that innovation for innovation's sake is not always desirable.

Genuinely, what innovations did the Cybertruck bring?

Since you claim an extraordinary thing without evidence...

No. It's not.

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