Earlier quoted context omitted.
Trucks last longer in the bay area. The cost is amortized over basically... forever. Take a 10-year old california pickup to anywhere with winter and people will be amazed.
I have a 20 year old Ranger that has been through 20 northeast winters. It's showing its age but no unibody vehicle can match it for long term durability.
Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
311–320 of 1001 posts
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
Especially most trucks
> Especially most trucks I'd argue not. Many trucks are driven by folks in the trades. If I were to guess, I'd put my money on SUVs having the largest fraction of users who rarely if ever push the vehicle to its limits. That or sports cars.
I looked it up and the top 3 most selling vehicles this year were big trucks. A total of 1.3 million trucks just from the top 3 vehicles this year.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g43553191/bestselling-cars...
I doubt all these new trucks are for trades people. Honestly most tradespeople I see drive older trucks because they are beating them up anyway. There's a LOT of people driving trucks who are not trades people.
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#313Funny that the cheaper model's 0-60 time is listed as "4.1 SEC. 0-60 MPH", but the more expensive model is listed as "2.6 SEC. 0-60 MPH With rollout subtracted." The whole rollout for 0-60 thing is a big fuss in the car magazine subculture - instead of counting zero to 60 from a standstill, they now count zero to 60 in a drag race style, where you have to trip the starting light by going forward a foot or two. What t…
Zero means zero. Who decided they could change the definition of zero?
Think of it like a microbenchmark. Acceleration for the first second or so is dominated by tire/road traction. Acceleration at non-trivial speed is governed by drive train power.
Which measurement you take depends on what subsystem you want to measure. Drag nuts like tuning engines (which can be done in their shops with a high school education) and not choosing tire compositions (which requires a tire factory, and likely some polymer chemistry expertise).
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
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They made $1.4 billion in revenue on their Starlink internet service last year. Satellite internet was already a successful product before SpaceX entered the market, and they're providing much faster service at a lower price. If you look at the space industry as a whole, over 60% of all rockets launched last year were by SpaceX, and their cost per kg launched is a fraction of their competitors. It's strange to refer…
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Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#315The cheapest F150 Lightning (available today not in 2025) is $50k (vs $60k for Cybertruck), same 250 mile range but AWD standard , and is a regular pickup truck compatible with standard accessories and parts for doing actual pickup truck work. Of course, most of the buyers of either the Cybertruck or the F150 Lightning probably aren't getting much dirt under their fingernails. Everyone I know doing construction/trade…
We have a pipeline being built through our city right now. It's absolutely hilarious for me to see the temporary company parking lot for about 100 vehicles full of mostly pick up trucks because they're actually being shuttled between the construction site and the parking lot in ... buses. This is what I think of when people talk about how they need trucks :)
It's all ego. They need the large trucks to impress their coworkers who also have the large trucks.
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh. Actually, let me tell you: Most trades workers don't need full-sized pickup trucks. They do need an 8 foot bed. An amazing number of full-sized pickups come with 6.5 foot beds by default, and cost extra for the 8 foot. They won't put 2 tons of gravel in there; they will put plywood sheets and lumber and power tools; boxes of nails and air compressors; the toolbox that they always want, the toolbox for this job, a…
I think most trades would be better served by a van rather than a pickup truck. Ingress and egress is much easier. It is also easier to load and drive due to lower center of gravity. Expensive tools are out of the elements and generally safer (and so less risk of tools and material making their way onto the highway). Plus, better drag coefficient and so better efficiency. Finally, a roof rack allows for those items y…
What about when towing is required of heavy machinery?
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
> trucks are huge now due to various fuel efficiency regulations Correct. It's because of "...the fine print of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards adopted in 1975, Gerald Ford’s reluctant response to a crippling Middle East oil embargo that sent gas prices soaring. To protect American commerce, work trucks and light trucks were subject to less-strict CAFE standards than family sedans. Trucks are also exe…
CAFE standards have been around since 1975. Yes, they helped incentivize manufacturers to aggressively market trucks and SUVs, but they don't explain the recent increase in the size of those trucks. That part's new.
As I understand it, CAFE standards require small footprint trucks to meet an unreasonably high MPG rating or else pay taxes/fines. Large footprint trucks have a more realistic MPG requirement. Therefore all trucks are large trucks.
Here’s the first article I found when I googled the issue. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/how-cafe-killed-co...
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#318Earlier quoted context omitted.
yes but it's not "saving" anything. You are still spending the money on the price tag.
Except that, if you own the Tesla long enough, the savings per month will eat up the difference in cost between the Tesla and significantly cheaper cars.
Appliances with better energy efficiency don’t get to advertise a price different from what’ll ring up at the register just because they’ll cost less in electricity over time.
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#319The specs mention a “range extender” option but there don’t seem to be any details on what that actually is.
"Yep, a toolbox-sized battery against the back of the cab in the bed" https://twitter.com/baglino/status/1730337374058463305?t=Pb5...
Here's a picture of it: https://i.imgur.com/Y5WsErc.png
Re: Tesla Cybertruck Pricing and Specs
#320Interesting that the marketing image on that page is clearly meant to suggest driving around on Mars. I think it is clear from the design and marketing that this truck is meant as a fashion statement not a work vehicle. It will be interesting to see if it catches on. I like some of the ideas used in the vehicle's construction, though I do not like how dangerous it appears to be for pedestrians. If I made a prediction…
I think there are lots of people that want an EV, but drive terrible roads.
Are roads in the US that bad that you can't drive a normal car on them?