Tesla Cybertruck appears to be facing significant sales challenges. After initial hype faded, and over a million reservations turned out to be as real as unicorns, Tesla is now enabling leasing options and free upgrades to move its inventory of the futuristic pickup truck. The company’s recent silence on the Cybertruck, even omitting it from their earnings call, speaks volumes about the situation.
Tesla initially projected sales of 500,000 Cybertrucks annually and established production capacity at the Giga Texas for 250,000 units per year. After working through the initial reservation backlog with fewer than 40,000 deliveries, the automaker is now struggling to sell the remaining vehicles.
EV trucks will never make sense. Hybrids can but I have yet to see anything I would buy.
Pepsi is using EV semis going cross county. Never say never
I think they do/will make a lot of sense. Being able to drive to a job site and run your welder or other tools from the truck’s battery seems like a game changer for certain applications. The Chevy Silverado EV and the F-150 Lightning seem pretty nice to me. They’ll both be much more appealing once battery tech, charging speed, and charging infrastructure improve. I’m pretty stoked about this new company called Telo, I hope they make it. It’s a pretty small truck with an 8’ bed that’s about as long as a Mini Cooper, plus it has the solar tech from Aptera.
Edit: and I imagine the Rivian R2T and R3T will be pretty sweet.
I think a generator for that purpose would likely make a lot more sense. I can’t see buying an electric truck just so you can use its battery to weld. Maybe that’s a nice to have at best.
Yeah, a generator would be a great option for most people, I imagine.
If you actually value low end torque over everything else, electric is a gimme.
Sounds like that’s not your use case.
Electic motors are unmatched for torque and response time. No debate there but if you need to tow a big ass camper your range is going to suck if you dont have some hybrid config.
Yup, not your use case.
The Silverado EV and F150 lightning seem pretty decent from the specs, but towing anything they still seriously suck. But for most people they’re actually already pretty good… Unlike the cyber truck.
I’ve been following Edison Motors. EV and Hybrid both make sense and can work depending on the application. They managed some real work tests towing log trailers without the genset kicking on.
Personally, I would have a model line with the option to either have an all EV or hybrid drivetrain. Share parts from the battery to the wheel, but more batteries where the engine/generator would go if it’s the pure EV option.
The Ford Maverick hybrid looks quite excellent
You hit the nail on the head. If it can’t tow it’s pretty useless as a truck. If someone doesnt tow they probably dont need a truck in the first place otherwise they are better off with a gas model. The unfortunate thing is that regulations have forced manufacturers to implement shitty ICE drivetrains. Everything is a turbo now which is “more efficient” but there is no way they will last as long as the naturally aspirated V6 or V8s that would go for 400-500k miles.
You do know that turbocharged engines don’t rev as much don’t you ? They last longer.
A 1.8L NA Atsra put out 92 kW at 6000 rpm. The 1.6L turbo version put out 134kW at 2800 rpm.
Even most work trucks aren’t towing very often. Even on job sites, most of the towed equipment is either brought in the first day and stays there (though with minor relocations) or it’s brought in by the rental company, with their own vehicles.
uh, it’s pretty common for turboed diesels to go over 500k miles. It’s been standard since the late 90’s.
If that’s the case that’s great. Not familiar with turbo diesels. I know that the turbo failure rate is non-trivial for regular gas vehicles and the repairs can be expensive.
The average use case for the majority of truck owners in the US does not involve towing. Light trucks are driven an average of around 30 miles per day, which is why I say for most people they’re actually in a pretty good position, other than being pretty expensive vehicles of course. If you own a caravan or something and are doing regular massive road trips, you are the minority that these vehicles still don’t cater to.
Most people dont need more than a ford maverick which isnt even a truck. However as a hybrid vehicle it is pretty good value even if the longevity is yet to be determined.