Is the Cyber Truck a Flop?

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Until then, I'm going to ride this wave. $14 bucks for a fillup. $80 less per month for insurance. $0 in maintenance. 775 lb/ft of torque in a 1/2 ton truck. It's actually really really nice.

So those don’t need brake pads or anything?

 

[rontaki]

So those don’t need brake pads or anything?

Brakes last a long time of the vehicle uses regenerative braking.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I can understand not wanting to buy one yourself, but why do you derive such joy from the failure of an American automaker’s product ?
Maybe you’d prefer Chinese companies to take over, because of your personal biases against…?

It's more about a prediction coming true than taking joy in an American automaker's failure. It's a "told ya so" moment.

 

[KennyG]

Brakes last a long time of the vehicle uses regenerative braking.

Interesting aspect of electric vehicle braking: My front wheel drive hybrid lightly applies the rear brakes (for stability) when it's regenerative braking. As a result, driven conservatively, the front brakes essentially never wear out but the rear ones do - the opposite of a conventional car.

 

[tradosaurus]

I can understand not wanting to buy one yourself, but why do you derive such joy from the failure of an American automaker’s product ?
Maybe you’d prefer Chinese companies to take over, because of your personal biases against…?

Tesla is doing quite well, regardless of the CT sales numbers.

 

[NoTrespassing]

Tesla is doing quite well, regardless of the CT sales numbers.

Yep, the stock price is doing well too. Tesla P/E is incredible @ almost 250!!! Compare that to Ford at 16, GM at 9.5. Heck Nvidia is only 51!

Having said that, CT is still a big belly flop! Which is what this thread is all about.

 

[eolesen]

This could have been a lot worse if it had breached the cockpit window, a lot worse.

Perhaps, but those are laminated windows intended to survive quite a bit of impact

More details have come out, though, and it likely wasn't "space debris" but a weather balloon. At cruise, you're traveling maybe 1 mile every 7-8 seconds. Something that size probably wouldn't be visible until seconds before impact.

One leading theory is that the aircraft collided with a high-altitude weather balloon. WindBorne Systems, a company that operates long-duration research balloons, confirmed that one of its devices may have struck the jet and said it is cooperating fully with investigators.

The airplane later flew under its own power to a repair site in Illinois.

 

[Blue Mule]

So those don’t need brake pads or anything?

There IS a coolant system. It uses the same coolant a gas model uses. The coolant is for the purpose of controlling battery pack temperatures. So I suppose that at 150k miles that will need to be flushed and refilled.

There is brake fluid, of course. I never change brake fluid as a maintenance item. Haven’t in the 30 years I’ve been driving. But I know some people do.

Eventually the brake pads will wear out, but guys with 150k miles or more on these trucks say the pads last a LONG long time due to the regenerative braking system.

I believe that some guys change the gear oil in the electric motors at high mileage too.

But as far as engine oil, oil filters, trans fluid, t-case fluid, grease fittings, etc. etc…. nope there’s none of that.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I save my pads with a Jake brake and shifter.

 

[ning]

Lol.. couldn’t have said it better, myself!

Anyone who thinks Tesla’s aren’t selling due to poor performance has their head in the sand. Ugly, yes. Too expensive, yes. Range limited, on the scale of a Wyoming driver, yes. But most of the other arguments I hear against them just sound like people grabbing at straws, trying to justify an unwarranted bias.

I'm far from a T fanboy but I have to say that T completely rewrote the concept of the performance car - before them, a sub-6-second 0-60 was pretty impressive, and sub-5 was generally motorcycle territory (or 911 turbo, etc).
T comes along and everyone with a right foot can completely destroy the local mustang kid, and now everyone and their mum has a sub-6-second car.

The funny thing is, they pushed the standards of performance so far that it's pretty easy for pretty much any car maker to make a too-quick "good enough" car, and even the slower EVs are still quick enough for anything other than the most clueless driver (ok so not quick enough hahaha) on the road.