Is the Cyber Truck a Flop?

[Mtsoxfan]

It seems like you get few choices with cars/trucks now. Loaded, super loaded, insanely loaded. 1 engine choice, unless you buy a high performance car like Camero etc. Then, it's a v6 that is more than capable, or a high HP performance engine. Ok, there are a few more vehicles with engine choice, but I feel its not the rule. I guess more people desire a high performance engine, otherwise they wouldn't sell. Or is it a status symbol or mid life crisis agenda being thrown out there.
P.S. I love high performance American company cars, but owning one would be a waste of money for me, as I have no desire to live like I'm 18 again.

 

[BackRoad]

That’s simply your opinion, and is certainly, not a proven fact.
Battery swapping has been tried, (not in the US). It’s not such a great concept..

Of course it is only my opinion! That's what makes open discussion lively and brings different perspectives into focus.

There is no right or wrong in this thread...but, opportunity for improvement. So EV battery swapping was tried and failed, it doesn't mean the concept is bad, but rather their attempt at it did not work...and an easily swapped battery wouldn't preclude holding onto your new battery if desired, nor charging at home...it's just merely a thoughtful exchange about EV challenges.

It's like charging interfaces for hand held devices...how much human life has been wasted just from looking for the right charging cord? There are interface standards, but it's far from standardized. We can't even solve it on phones, so I'm sure it won't be solved on EVs.

Mr. WinterDeere provided some backup context that battery life has improved since 2016. It's another variable to consider!

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

P.S. I love high performance American company cars, but owning one would be a waste of money for me, as I have no desire to live like I'm 18 again

Now you sound like my wife’s brothers when they were over and saw my 2002 S10 with a 6.0 V8 and said something about being 18 again. I’m 64 years old and will always like fast vehicles.

Why do you have to be young to have fun?

 

[DarkBlack]

Of course it is only my opinion! That's what makes open discussion lively and brings different perspectives into focus.

Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you

 

[DarkBlack]

Now you sound like my wife’s brothers when they were over and saw my 2002 S10 with a 6.0 V8 and said something about being 18 again. I’m 64 years old and will always like fast vehicles.

Why do you have to be young to have fun?

I imagine the idea, is that your reaction time is slower when you’re older, and that alone raises the risk of an accident occurring while driving a powerful vehicle, fast.
You don’t see too many 60+ year old nascar, or formula 1 drivers, for a reason

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Wife & I used to drag race & that was fun. Before that we street raced.
The truck I have now is a '93 4x4 F150 300-six 4spd I got cheap. With 206K miles though I'll probably keep it and get a brand new one.
I want a truck...2 door, 8ft bed truck. I could care less about mag wheels, stereo or 0-60 time. I just need it to haul stuff which I'm guessing is the purpose of a truck???
A few years ago my contractor friend is here and needed 2400# concrete mix. I didn't have a truck then but had a hitch on a 2014 Hyundai Accent (130 hp?) and TSC single axle 8x5 ft trailer. He laughed "this I gotta see".
So I go 10 miles each way & returned no problem.
I pulled my farrier's Ram 3500 crew cab loaded bed (probably 10K#) out of a ditch uphill on snow with my F150 six.
Most people have lost sight of a vehicle's purpose...but whatever blows their skirt.

 

[ultrarunner]

Just curious, in Cali do people want an EV, or are they being forced to buy with ICE possibly being put out to pasture? Admittingly, I do not keep up with Cali politics. Not trying to be a wise ass, genuinely want to know...

It is entirely possible that EV is the culture forming there.

Those I know chose to buy and for varied reasons… among the medical staff single occupant in carpool lane was a big incentive… this is ending.

Another was the various incentives from tax credits to grants for home EV chargers.

Another was free employer charging stations.

So far no forced that I know of but the package made EV very enticing…

A few bought to buy local as Tesla made here…

I’m sure bought as social signaling.

Those with home solar are the true believers and across the board very pleased to avoid the pumps and minimize utility dependence.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

I imagine the idea, is that your reaction time is slower when you’re older, and that alone raises the risk of an accident occurring while driving a powerful vehicle, fast.
You don’t see too many 60+ year old nascar, or formula 1 drivers, for a reason

I go to many race tracks, all kinds of guys in there 60’s racing 1/4 mile, 1/8 mile and off road

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Most people have lost sight of a vehicle's purpose...but whatever blows their skirt.

Isn’t the real purpose whatever the owner of that vehicle bought it for and not what you think it should be?

The wife and I like bigger vehicles, we have 3 trucks, a one ton, a 1/2 ton and an S10.

 

[WinterDeere]

I imagine the idea, is that your reaction time is slower when you’re older, and that alone raises the risk of an accident occurring while driving a powerful vehicle, fast.

There was an interesting study done on this, and reported on in my Drivers Ed class ca.1990. Yes, reaction time slows a little, but is more than made up for by better predictive experience. It was basically proven that experienced drivers better navigate surprise obstacles and errors of other drivers by better predicting when they will occur, and this had better collision avoidance even with slightly slower reaction times.

We can see this in things like experienced drivers subconsciously moving their foot from the accelerator to hover slightly over the brake pedal when approaching intersections, whereas young drivers are more apt to foolheartedly keep their foot on the accelerator, or in the way experienced drivers might do the same when approaching roadside scrub behind which deer might be hiding and ready to jump. Neither slows down, but the experienced drivers put themselves in the position to do so, and is also more likely to spot impending disaster sooner than the inexperienced.

 

[WinterDeere]

Isn’t the real purpose whatever the owner of that vehicle bought it for and not what you think it should be?

The wife and I like bigger vehicles, we have 3 trucks, a one ton, a 1/2 ton and an S10.

Amen! That’s why I don’t understand the almost-religious hatred and fear of something like EVs. They are just another tool, good for certain people, not so much for some others.

 

[DarkBlack]

I go to many race tracks, all kinds of guys in there 60’s racing 1/4 mile, 1/8 mile and off road

Yeh. I’m wasn’t talking about running your local straight 1/4 mile, that’s why I specifically stated Nascar and Formula 1, where you need a high level of quick reaction time, and mental and physical fitness.
For example
Oldest person to win a Formula 1 race: 50
Oldest person to win the daytona 500: 53

 

[Oaktree]

That’s simply your opinion, and is certainly, not a proven fact.
Battery swapping has been tried, (not in the US). It’s not such a great concept.
Being able to charge at home is a big draw for EV adoption, not ease of charge at a station you have to drive to.
Imagine your brand new, one week old EV truck at it’s first swapping station, getting your healthy brand new battery swapped out for some old used one.
In addition, some of these vehicles employ the battery structure as an integral part of the chassis assembly.

Can't speak for others, but I was more thinking along the lines of standardization for when the batteries needed to be replaced, not swapping as a substitute for recharging. Agree that would be a huge burden on "gas stations", having to keep a stock of charged batteries on hand.

Remember that the founding principle of Tesla was, “EV’s do not need to be boring, they can be high performance“. They were specifically targeting the higher end portion of the market, with all of their early development effort. I suspect part of their reasoning in chasing this market was an acceptance that the new technology will remain expensive in the early years, so targeting the desires of enthusiast type customers makes sense than chasing the bottom of the barrel value market customers.

No argument there, there are HUGE engineering costs that need to be factored into a new product, it'd take forever for ROI on something for the masses. You've pretty much gotta aim for the deep-pocketed, need to be the first on the block to have the latest gadget crowd at least at first.
Teslas may not be boring from a performance standpoint (can't say, never driven one), but the styling sure is (at least on the cars)!!

 

[Oaktree]

I love seeing the leaves change, it has always been a big part of why I stayed in New England. What disrupts people, not only me, is when you are trying to go somewhere and tourists are holding up traffic, driving well below speed limit, say 35 in a 50. (most speed limits in our rural area) Stopping on the side of the road for pictures in areas where they can't fully pull off road, and causes a two lane to become 1 1/2. Nearby Franconia Notch in NH has gotten better, it is a major highway that naturally goes down to 1 lane each way, with people parking everywhere despite that, and walking across the road like they are in the right.

The state has gotten quite strict about parking alongside the road in Franconia Notch over the last decade or so. Used be a big problem in the summer too, lots of hiking trailheads there, and not much parking. They'll ticket/tow quite aggressively, especially in tourist season.
We locals appreciate the quiet of the too-late-for-foliage, too-early-for-skiers gap (roughly Columbus day thru mid-December).

This might belong in the "tell us something we don't know" thread, but AFAIK, I-93 thru Franconia Notch is the only stretch of the interstate highway system in the U.S. that's only 2 lanes. It was built that way for fear of damaging the old man of the mountains. Since that came down, there's really no reason not to widen the road, but there doesn't seem to be any interest in doing so.

 

[Oaktree]

Amen! That’s why I don’t understand the almost-religious hatred and fear of something like EVs. They are just another tool, good for certain people, not so much for some others.

I don't hate or fear them, but it gets old (1) the feeling that they're being forced on us and (2) the EV fanboys who treat you like you're some kind of idiot if you're not all in on them. They have their upsides, but plenty of downsides as well. They're not the best choice for everyone.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Now you sound like my wife’s brothers when they were over and saw my 2002 S10 with a 6.0 V8 and said something about being 18 again. I’m 64 years old and will always like fast vehicles.

Why do you have to be young to have fun?

I did state I like them. Just not owning one. Truth be told, not owning a fast vehicle keeps me out of trouble, including the dual sport bike I bought. I already know it's not powerful enough for me, but if it was, I'd be running it... Running top speed of 70 mph on my 250, keeps me out of trouble.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

The state has gotten quite strict about parking alongside the road in Franconia Notch over the last decade or so. Used be a big problem in the summer too, lots of hiking trailheads there, and not much parking. They'll ticket/tow quite aggressively, especially in tourist season.
We locals appreciate the quiet of the too-late-for-foliage, too-early-for-skiers gap (roughly Columbus day thru mid-December).

This might belong in the "tell us something we don't know" thread, but AFAIK, I-93 thru Franconia Notch is the only stretch of the interstate highway system in the U.S. that's only 2 lanes. It was built that way for fear of damaging the old man of the mountains. Since that came down, there's really no reason not to widen the road, but there doesn't seem to be any interest in doing so.

I never knew that was the reason. It could be quite the challenge to expand lanes through that area while keeping everything open and accessible. I admit I only drive the 45 speed limit through there when I'm behind someone doing 45. But it does become dangerous in snowy weather.

 

[scootr]

A yr ago I tried the EV car. And I like it. I charge at home and use it for local stuff 50-75 mile radius...that's about all I do anyway. We have lots of ICE vehicles for other uses... and as for old guys racing, My 65 yr old buddy ran the Chevy II down the track a few times Saturday night. Turn in good times, smoked a couple of younger drivers and had a blast.
Don't let the old man in

 

[DarkBlack]

Can't speak for others, but I was more thinking along the lines of standardization for when the batteries needed to be replaced, not swapping as a substitute for recharging.

Standardization is great for mature markets, for example residential plumbing and electrical appliances, but EV’s are a young competitive, evolving technology.
Adding government requirements for battery standardized at this early stage of development, would potentially stifle current innovation

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Amen! That’s why I don’t understand the almost-religious hatred and fear of something like EVs. They are just another tool, good for certain people, not so much for some others.

Which is why we bought stock in Ford, Chrysler, GM & Tesla. Every time we see a $100+K truck go by we say "you go buddy!".