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Elon Musk Confirms Tesla Pickup Truck Coming 'After Model Y' (electrek.co)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that a Tesla pickup truck is coming "right after Model Y." He said that he already has "the core design/engineering elements" in his mind and wants to bring it to market right after Model Y. Musk later added that the Tesla pickup will be "similar in size" or "slightly bigger" than a Ford F150 "to account for a really gamechanging (I think) feature I'd like to add." Electrek reports: Musk had previously confirmed that Model Y, a small SUV or crossover built on the Model 3 platform, would be Tesla's priority once Model 3 production is ramped up. That's why it was surprising for Tesla to unveil the next generation Roadster at the Tesla Semi event since the vehicle was expected to come out after Model Y, which has yet to be unveiled. At the same event, Musk also released the first image of a Tesla electric pickup truck, but some people still think it's a joke. He claimed that it was a smaller version of Tesla Semi and "a pickup truck that can carry a pickup truck." While it sounded like a joke, Musk had previously mentioned his intention to leverage work on the Tesla Semi to create a Tesla pickup truck.
They need to meet production goals for the model 3 before they can move on to other things, really.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Can we wait on the Tesla news until it's less than 2 years out?
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Is worse than Hitler.
at speaking German
must say this is becoming ridiculous. that musk, who has a record of under delivering, thinks about doing something is not tech news, i my opinion. but it is obviously /.'s.
Huh? Electric vehicles are torque monsters which is *exactly* what you'd want in a pickup truck.
We'll have Tesla models S 3 X Y...
That's now 5 generations out that he's hyping up. They don't have any meaningful production of the Model 3 yet, then there's the Roadster, the Semi, the Model Y and then the pickup. I'll be shocked (pun intended) if Tesla is still around to produce a Model Y or a pickup.
How much work do you need, slap a truck body on the power cell body and your done...
Price it under $30,000 so people who are considering (or already own) a pickup truck will actually look at this.
#DeleteChrome
All these new products are just ways to get people to pre-order.
Pre-orders are interest free loans which they need to counter the massive Model 3 cash burn. If Model 3 does not get on track, many of these new products won't see the light of day. I have no doubt Tesla will continue to exist as a battery company. But as far as vehicles are concerned, other manufacturers are nipping at their heels and they don't have cash flow or production issues.
Yeah, electric motors are the superior form of propulsion for vehicles. Any vehicle. The energy storage system is what is sorely lacking.
Let me guess... you're a liberal that lives in a big city and thinks because you have no use for a pick up truck, think that no one could possibly have a valid need for one.
I don't see what being liberal has to do with it. I'm a die-hard liberal, living in a very rural area, and I use a truck nearly every weekend. Pulling a horse trailer, managing my property, hauling firewood, etc.
More likely he is simply someone with non-trivial requirements and isn't a total blithering fanboy. It's not enough to slap the right logo on the thing. It actually has to be fit for purpose. Once you get away from the "big city", an EVs anemic range and lack of infastructure quickly becomes a likely show stopper. This is even more true for smaller non-cargo trucks that could end up in all sorts of interesting places.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Pickup trucks are about American steel and brawn, tugging a boat and your gun rack into the woods.
First of, Anonymous Coward, if you're talking about "buy American" then a Tesla is way wicked more American-made than a Ford F150.
...and as for "tugging a boat and your gun rack into the woods" you're probably describing about 5% of pickup truck owners. The only thing most pickups 'tug' is their owners' fat asses down to the Dunkin' Donuts.
They need to keep their design team working on new things. The design of the Model 3 is done. Sure, their designers will be doing some tweaks, but they need to be doing interesting stuff, or they'll move on to other companies where they can.
You can't run a successful company for the long term by focusing exclusively on the current product, even when the survival of the company depends on the success of the current product. You have to keep the product pipeline running.
Not steel anymore. The f-150 is now aluminum. The Silverado uses some composite material.
How is he going against all empirical evidence if he did 0 market research to develop empirical evidence?
Your statement doesn't make a whole lot of fucking sense.
Beware of the Leopard.
Your statement doesn't make a whole lot of fucking sense.
You just have to learn how to translate it from Hater into English before assigning semantic value.
"I don't know" "about market research" "but that guy is bad" "because he's rich and loud"
The F150 is manufactured in both Dearborn, Michigan and Claycomo, Missouri. How would that make them “less” American-made?
If the truck is at a large ranch, the range may not matter as much, since there would be charging stations on areas of the property. In fact, an all electric truck would be nice, because if it had a decent inverter, one could use the batteries to power a welder, lights, or other items needed for upkeep.
My hope is that Tesla makes a one ton truck. A half-ton tends to be more of a grocery-getter than a work truck.
I thought the same, but riding around the countryside here I'm seeing a LOT of solar panels going in. 100's of kW on single farms being used for irrigation. And thinking about that, if you already have the panels and aren't too far from the nearest town it's going to be a very cheap pickup truck to run.
I was thinking farming would be a late adopter but I may be exactly wrong there.
F150s are 85% American.
Teslas are about to hit 95%.
https://chargedevs.com/newswir...
Ever run a farm?
If you are in the country, you won't be using a F-150 for much because your cargo and towing needs are a lot greater than what a half-ton provides. Yes, the half-tons look "tough" in the commercials, but run them anywhere near towing capacity, and you will be buying new transmissions and turbos for the Ecoboost models [1].
F-150s, and 1500s in general are intended for suburbia. They usually have four doors and a 5.5" bed. Yes, you can tow a trailer with it, but there is a world of difference between a vehicle intended for towing like a 3/4 or one ton, and a half-ton which is made to be fuel efficient to deal with CAFE standards.
As further proof of this, do you see factory dual alternators, or a PTO drive for half-tons? Rarely, at best.
If you try to add a fifth wheel or gooseneck to a new model... well, good luck, as it will tear through the thin aluminum bed as soon as you put load on it. A 3/4 ton or higher will have the ability to have the tow hitch ready to go from the vehicle maker.
Nothing wrong with a half ton, but don't call it a work truck. It is more of a SUV for people who don't want SUVs.
[1]: The turbocharged V-6 is great for MPG ratings and not losing power at higher elevations, but not for heavy duty towing. There is a reason why the heavier duty vehicles use bigger gasoline engines or diesels -- there is no substitute for cubes.
You might not want it to be your only vehicle, but an electric pickup might do quite well as a farm truck and in the construction industry. There are also a LOT of status symbol pickups in the city.
Except for their batteries. Which makes up a huge portion of their cars. Which are made by Panasonic (why do people think Tesla actually makes batteries?)
Did you RTFA, Anonymous Coward?
When Tesla begins using its new 2170 battery cell, which for Model 3 is expected to happen in the second quarter of this year, its vehicles will be 95% made in the US, making them the "most American" cars available.
Panasonic continues to produce battery cells in Japan and elsewhere, but will be steadily expanding production at the Gigafactory in Nevada. Tesla also plans to source much of the raw materials in those cells from the US. The company is believed to be developing a source of lithium at Silver Peak, not far from the Gigafactory, and Nevada lawmakers have proposed new tax incentives aimed at increasing lithium production in the state.
300-500 miles isn't anemic range, nor is the capacity to recharge from a solar panel after a day layover. Batteries can be swapped faster than 60 gallon diesel tanks can be filled, nobody has done it in a widespread system yet but that doesn't make it infeasible. You almost sound like a gasoline fanboy.
Or are those going away in the tax bill?
Ford will be fine for a long time, but if he can get semis in industrial niches, his trucks will find a market. More than half of trucks are just for work. I hope he truly makes a mini semi, which is to say w/sleeper, or mod to box truck or rv: what's needed in truck is modularity, to turn it into exactly what you want need. Ford is great with this invtrucks vans.
-The art of programming is the pursuit of absolute simplicity.
The F-series is pretty much the construction industry in my part of Canada at least. If you look around at a construction site, either residential or commercial, you will see a variety of cars for the workers that don't need to carry much and a bunch of F-series pickups if they need to haul stuff. Mostly they are F150s but some larger models too.
If Tesla could come out with the equivalent of an F-150 with a large towing capacity the market would be quite large.
It would be interesting if they could make it larger and the equivalent of an F-350. Some ambulances are built on that. An electric ambulance would be a decent market and ambulances could charge when dropping off patients.
you're just another clueless trumptard, just like that parent.. who is the opposite of a 'liberal'.
Since then, a company called Bollinger has come up with an all electric SUV (that is really reminiscent of old Land Rovers or maybe a LEGO version of a Jeep). Jalopnik had a good article on it with a focus on the "front trunk" Something like that in a pickup truck could very well be a game changer and since Bollinger isn't nearly as well known as Tesla, Elon's outfit could easily garner credit for the invention in the public perception.
I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
Capable of laying down some serious rubber and just making Bobbie Sue all sorts of hot and bothered. Composite gun rack. Solar powered fridge for the long necks.
What other stereotypes did I miss...
Hey Elon, you can sell your horribly overpriced snake oil to the gullible "app" crowd but it's not going to work on TRUCK people.
I'm a truck person. My vehicle is a Ford F350, w/ a 6.7L diesel. My other car is a Nissan Leaf -- all electric.
Pickup trucks are about American steel and brawn, tugging a boat and your gun rack into the woods.
Actually, it's mostly Chinese steel, but yeah, my truck tugs a boat to the lake, a camp trailer to the woods, and a gun or three everywhere. Of course, my Leaf also hauls a gun everywhere, too.
Electric simply has no place, outside of a super-niche toy for .... Whom exactly? The people who have the $ to drop on a Tesla (rich liberals and techie wimps) likely aren't driving a truck in the first place.
I deposited $1K to reserve a Model 3, which is far from a "super-niche toy". My Leaf is fairly "niche"; its niche is "running errands around town and commuting" which isn't actually such a small niche. The Model 3 isn't niche at all, it's a solid performer that meets the needs of 90% of new sedan buyers.
As for pickups, I've been talking about how awesome an electric pickup would be for years. The torque and power of electric are ideal for trucks. Big, heavy, expensive batteries fit right in to big, heavy, expensive pickup trucks -- one-tons diesels like mine start at about $60K, decently-equipped, and weigh six tons. Range while towing heavy loads will be an issue. Mine has a 37-gallon tank which gives it 600 miles of range under "normal" conditions, not because anyone needs 600 miles of range, but because when you're hauling 10,000 pounds behind it that range is cut in half. BUT, pickups also have another advantage: a bed, which is an ideal place to put an ICE generator on those occasions when you need to extend the range. Which, frankly, isn't all that often. I'd like a generator with built-in jacks that I can back under and lower in place.
I do think an F150 replacement is the wrong angle, though. Working down from the semi is the right way. Big work trucks are expensive, heavy and require lots of torque. An electric can meet the needs of a work truck, and no one will bat an eye at a $60-80K price tag. The little half ton can come later as battery prices continue falling.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
As for pickups, I've been talking about how awesome an electric pickup would be for years. The torque and power of electric are ideal for trucks.
[...]
I do think an F150 replacement is the wrong angle, though. Working down from the semi is the right way.
It seems to me like pickup trucks are the ideal use case for hybrids. You want that torque, but you also want range. You can have both. I for one want a four door Jeep with per-wheel electric motors and no traditional drivetrain, and I would also actually like the vehicle to use hub motors. Having per-wheel motors to provide maximum torque vectoring and traction control more than makes up for the unsprung mass for a vehicle like that, IMO. It can also have reduced-size friction brakes. But I still want the range extension of liquid fuels in a vehicle like that.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Huh? Electric vehicles are torque monsters which is *exactly* what you'd want in a pickup truck.
Wrong. What you'd want in a pickup truck is a dirty piece of cardboard, a 6-pack on the front seat, and a box of chicken wing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
lucm, indeed.
You can't tell a [rather unintelligent] industry shill from a "liberal??"
Your range can get cut almost in half and you are usually going a long distance.... these are for people that want to run around town with a cover on the bed.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Elon my man, I want a gaddamed Jeep equivalent.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Most tech people get into it, buy it, make a living off of it because they really are passionate about science fiction and hope to be a part of their favorite stories coming true. They want to believe the fiction. They want to believe the hype. Bitcoin, Tesla, the whole app ecosystem, all of the insane valuations and promises are believed because of suspension of disbelief carrying over into the real world.
Why was this modded down? It's correct. We have had countless discussions about it on slashdot. How sci-fi was the gateway into technology and how inspiring it is.
Star Trek personal communicators became cellphones, padds became tablets, the ship's computer became Alexa.
There's too much "I dislike this so I'm going to mod it down." going on here. Which amusingly proves the "suspension of disbelief" coming in where it does not belong.
They will once the Gigafactory is fully running
you can do things in any order you want. Oh, that's right, you're irrelevant. I forgot.
In that case, please enjoy criticizing relevant people on the internet.
How many trillion $ did we spend on the gulf wars?
So you only hate certain subsidies.
sure, if you just want to drive a little while. using that torq uses power. pickup engines, while not typically having a high max power output, are usually used near to their max output, far more so than sportscars or even sedans. a shitton of weight needs a shitton of batteries.
a pickup also needs to be cheap, and he doesnt get the advantage of it being a "truck" vs. chevy, ford, nissan, isuzu, toyota etc who are in the pickup game. .. elon is just in yes man mode now. you have design elements for a pickup in your head? let me guess, its a pickup and the batteries go under the bed?
he would be a fool to not make some cheapo delivery van though, but then again his car company so far has been foolish in chasing apple status with none of apple profit margins to show for it.
like, he should have made a standard modular system for his cars a long ago.
pickups are wickedly popular in asia though - but you really think elon can make a pickup under 25k dollars?
An electric truck might run 1 million miles, be cheaper to drive and cheaper to maintain than a conventional truck. Everyone who uses trucks as fleet vehicles will want one. Electric cars will last significantly longer than conventional and that means Ford will sell significantly fewer of them *if* they even make the transition from ICE to electric. Research market transitions based upon disruptive technology and you will learn that most incumbent companies fail to survive it. Every indication is that technology trends we are currently seeing will continue and it will make no economic sense for anyone to buy an ICE vehicle only five years from now. Is Ford really in a good place to meet that future? Ford has gone from putting buggy whip manufacturers out of business to being in the same position themselves. I don't think they'll be able to adapt and they'll be dependent upon battery manufactures.
Sounds good, now I can load a whole load of extra loaded batteries in the loadbay....
If it's around 80K and can go 300 miles with a full load it would probably be worth it; at least for Los Angeles. Not for people that live in the boonies and commute 600 miles in a truck everyday.
The killer feature:
Automated swapable beds?
Completely swapable top vehicle on a battery frame? So get a dually, double cab, SUV, or standard truck. The SUV would be of interest to people that toe trailers.
Swapable batteries?
Wow, as if there weren't enough reasons not to buy a Tesla.
Fun fact
The only person confirmed not worse than Hitler:
Hitler!
There's a lot of speculation and conjecture in that article, but in all fairness you did say "about".
One thing about the study from American University (that neither chargedevs or Bankrate link to) is that the F-150 comes with several different engine options, of which some are made in different countries. For example, the V-8 5.0 liter is produced in Canada, whereas the V-6 is made in Ohio.
I don't know which engine that study used to determine that 85%.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
I'd rather prefer it to scale up production instead of bragging about supporting overpaid American "working" class
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
"I don't see what being liberal has to do with it. I'm a die-hard liberal,"
That's then why your truck doesn't have any truck-nuts, your hick-factor is too low. :-)
"Pickup trucks are about American steel and brawn, tugging a boat and your gun rack into the woods"
I'd prefer an electric truck to tug a boat or anything any day of the week. Those F150s just don't have the torque of an e-truck, even with truck-nuts as big as baseballs
Can't wait to see his stocks fall.
Actually yes. A lot of trucks are apparently already pre-ordered. I think you vastly underestimate the size of the trucking industry, and how much it means if even 1% of it is interested in a new truck.
Which, if the claims about TCO are even halfway true, way more than 1% should be.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
300-500 miles isn't anemic range
To add that, most electrical vehicles are usually plugged-in parked, meaning that this ranges applies whenever you start driving.
Batteries can be swapped faster than 60 gallon diesel tanks can be filled, nobody has done it in a widespread system yet but that doesn't make it infeasible.
Actually several companies have attempted at several level of deployment (including Tesla, Renault, etc.) but eventually drop the scheme simply due to lack of interest.
Most EV are usually charged while staying parked (in home charged during the night, chargers in public parkings during the day), and on a long trip you need to make regular breaks every few hours, so you might as well leave the car plugged in while you go pee, have a coffee, etc.
As such, battery swaping, though a nice technology, doesn't actually answer any real-world need in most use cases.
(It is useful, though, on racing vehicle, being very quick. The few experiment in racing EV I've read about all relied on quick-swapping battery to dramatically reduce pit stop time).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
And I bet the semi truck models will be named model
- model H
- model Zero
- model T
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
A bigger vehicle like a truck mean more room, and thus more battery.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of them came in "200kWh battery" variations.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Where I used to work, most of the vehicles in our parking lot were shiny, never scratched, washed every weekend big pickups with large displacement engines.
The question prospective purchasers are likely to ask is, "Will the Tesla pickups enlarge your pxxxx as much?"
Interesting thing, most of the farms where I live start right on the outskirts of town and a good deal of them have large solar panel setups.
If a farm is willing to invest in solar, I don't see having an electric truck or two as being a bad secondary investment. And I guess they can take a different vehicle if needed to go to the livestock auction 90 miles up the road, though that electric truck may have more than a 180 mile range even when loaded.
The energy storage system is what is sorely lacking.
And that has been improving dramatically over the last several years. Today's batteries are much better than batteries from a decade ago. A decade from now the batteries we have will be better than the ones we have today. They keep getting better.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Let me guess... you're a liberal that lives in a big city and thinks because you have no use for a pick up truck, think that no one could possibly have a valid need for one.
To be fair 99.9% of what 95% of the population do, you don't need a truck for, and usually when a truck is useful, there is always an alternative (and I'm a former pick-up driver and will probably get a pick-up again). I used to have a little Ford Ranger (single bench, not extended cab), loved it, it was fun to drive, and at the time I thought it was incredibly useful, I loved how the air or the heating heated or cooled the tiny cab instantly...
I hated to give it up (wife convinced me to get more practical vehicle when the first kid was born). I get the love for pick-ups, and I get that a few people need them. The vast majority of people with a pick-up don't need a pick-up, and that's OK. They're fun to drive, and occasionally the bed is useful. No one needs a sports car, or a fast car, or an SUV- and plenty of people have them.
I don't need a pick up, but would love to have one again.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Does it roll coal?
I hate F150s in suburbia. They sit up high so nobody behind can see what's ahead, they're slow off the line, they get crappy gas mileage, and now you're telling me they can hardly haul anything.
If they aren't good on a farm then they're a truck with no purpose other than to pollute. The whole line and all its clones should be taxed up the wazoo.
They haven't improved significantly over the "last several years", much less dramatically. A "decade" and "several" are different things. Furthermore, "better that the ones we have today" is a given. Yes, they keep getting better, slowly. There needs to be a breakthrough in charge speed, not just incremental improvements every few years, like what has happened recently, and we need to have the infrastructure to charge them or else they will be worthless.
Torque does absolutely nothing. It's power that matters.
I suspect the only working ranch you've seen is from the highway. You don't have power run through out the property, the property is mostly for animals to graze, so range is important. If you need to weld in the field, you get a welder with a generator. Using the batteries to weld, a very power hungry process, is a good way to earn yourself a couple mile walk. Trucks are too heavy now and they get bogged down in mud pretty easily, add an extra couple thousand pounds and you will have a truck that is constantly getting stuck and can't climb hills. If Tesla can build a truck that can run for 12 hours and weights less then 6000 lbs then they will have a work truck, until then the truck will be relegated to suburban trips to the hardware store.
Knowledge = Power
P= W/t
t=Money
Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
A pickup needs to be cheap?
$50k+ pickups are common. Ford F250 SuperDuty Supercap with diesel engine starts at $44k
Tesla isn't going to be aiming at the stripper F150 market
The Tesla Model 3 batteries are made in Nevada, which is in America.
We're a long ways from replacing a small business work truck or a farm truck with an electric one, but most truck owners in the US never take their trucks anywhere that a Prius couldn't follow. I bet a whole lot of them could be sold on an electric one.
This is a cool idea, but need to see reviews first.
I'm not sure what problem you're highlighting here. If you do no research you're far more likely to go against the evidence than someone who does the research. If you do the research and then go against the available evidence, well, you're an idiot.
Musk does seem to suffer from Dunning Kruger when it comes to transportation, but he's not an idiot overall.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
I get the love for pick-ups, and I get that a few people need them.
I suppose they're great for hauling hay and pigshit...
I get the love for pick-ups, and I get that a few people need them.
I suppose they're great for hauling hay and pigshit...
And sporting goods (was a heck of a lot easier to load all my camping equipment, bikes, etc, when I had a truck) , and washing machines, and furniture you just bought so you don't pay extra on shipping, getting mulch in bulk for the flower beds, etc, transporting something messy you wouldn't want to dirty your car. They have Urban uses too; granted, you're not going to use the bed very often, but it is nice to have from time to time. Unless you're living on a farm, almost no household needs more than one. Handy to have one in the family though.
Most urban uses, you can get by with an alternative, but a pick up truck can be handy from time to time. They can also be more fun to drive, especially if you get a smaller one with manual transmission. The larger ones with automatic transmission you might as well be driving a soulless SUV or a minivan.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
It doesn't matter if it's improving or not. That's irrelevant. Today, it's sorely lacking.
If it can go 300 miles on a charge it really isn't; not for the overwhelming majority of times. for the few times it is lacking you can rent an ICE with money to spare from fuel savings.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
So what you are saying is that until Tesla can solve every use-case they cannot possibly sell any trucks?
-rd
I read that propaganda too. That doesn't work for a truck.
LOL. A 5th wheel hitch mounts directly to the frame, not the bed. There are many, many people out there safley towing 5,000-6,000lb trailers every weekend with F150's AND staying well under the CGVWR/Payload/Tow Ratings.
Please don't contribute to low-quality online discussions by Googleing something and pretending to be an expert. You lower the value of our community. Here is a good video showing the actual installation process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
My brother in law just bought a $100,000 pickup truck. They're not cheap in the least.
I read that propaganda too. That doesn't work for a truck.
Because you think you can't rent a truck for the rare occasions you need one that goes more than 300 mph? Or because you think most pick up drivers drive more than 300 miles at a time on a regular basis?
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
"I don't see what being liberal has to do with it. I'm a die-hard liberal,"
That's then why your truck doesn't have any truck-nuts, your hick-factor is too low. :-)
He's a liberal. The nuts are on his wife's truck
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Yes you take the train everywhere. You're really special.
Where do you live and what do you do? Clearly you seem to lack any experience or knowledge of what people actually use trucks for.
Don't confuse farmers with your average redneck.
Farming is never a late adopter. Farmers are very practical. They have no patience for technology promises and dreams, but if something new and better comes out they will be one of the first adopters. If you've been to an agricultural convention, high-tech is very much in-demand. Many farmers are even complaining that they are locked out of programming their own self-driving equipment. There is a hell of a lot of interest in an electric farm truck, and electric farm equipment in general, if someone can make it work.
Even beyond the immediately practical, there are a lot of things about electric to appeal to rural living: self-sufficiency, quieter operation, less moving parts=less breakage and more reliability. While the overall cost is king, there are enough people willing to spend a bit of a premium for what electric brings to the table. If Musk makes a decent pickup, they will have no problem selling.
i don't know about you, but i find myself needing a 300 MPH truck pretty frequently. Very, very hard to find though.
No I explicitly said the tesla truck will be a trips through suburbia to home depot truck not a work truck.
Knowledge = Power
P= W/t
t=Money
Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
Ford (or GM, any of the existing manufacturers) have *huge* advantages over Tesla.
capital, production capacity, dealer networks just for a start
Tesla needs to first overcome the engineering challenges of producing a viable electric car (mostly there), then find a way to get those cars into the hands of people (getting there), then find a way to expand production enough to lower the production costs (not even close).
The existing makers.. they just need to design and implement the drive train and charging.
So what's easier, coming up with all the infrastructure, logistics, and R or just completing the R&D and using your existing infrastructure to pivot to EV's?
Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Honda.. I'd wager they cross the finish line before Tesla -- they certainly have the luxury of sitting on the fence and slowly transitioning (we see this with the fusion energi, hybrid, chevy volt, etc.) Whereas Tesla has to get it 100% right, the first time, or they're done.
i don't know about you, but i find myself needing a 300 MPH truck pretty frequently. Very, very hard to find though.
Most of the ones that go the fastest just go round in circles on ovals... or ovals in circles.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Thing is, even if you use that truck bed once a month, it's still vital. It's the sort of thing that gets trumpeted from the rafters: "TRUCK DRIVERS DON'T USE THEM AS TRUCKS EVERY DAY!" and fulfills several gratifying stereotypes about deplorable Americans. But the truth is, when you drive a truck, if you need that bed twice a year, it was worth getting a truck.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
You know, I sympathize with your point, but I don't think it's possible to lower the value of a /. discussion of anything involving Elon Musk. To much techbro penis-envy in the room!
Torque is EVERYTHING. If you aren't making the torque, you aren't pulling the load. IC engines don't make significant torque until they're well into the power band. Electric motors make 100% of their torque at 0 rpm, and it tapers off linearly until max rpm. Imagine being able to control a truck pulling a heavy load as if you were pulling feathers. Acceleration responsiveness you could dream about at 0 or 65 mph. It's not all about raw available power, but the ability to apply power quickly and accurately. If you've ever operated a truck with a sloppy pedal and slow spooling big diesel engine you know the pedal/brake dance when backing up, and the agony of smashing the pedal and waiting 3-4 seconds for actual power to start. Electric motors are going to replace the final drive mechanism of every land vehicle. It just makes sense.
Tesla isn't going to be aiming at the stripper F150 market
I never knew exotic dancers drove F150s.
WTB [sig], PST!!!
Torque does not move anything I'm afraid sweetie, but you're not the only one I encounter who doesn't understand what actually matters in that equation, experienced engineers among them. I still encounter people, like the total nonsense you've posted, who think acceleration is all about torque and somehow top speed is about power. That crap comes up all the time. Hilarious.
As Mauro Forghieri famously said, "Power comes from speed; torque without speed is nothing."
It doesn't matter if it's improving or not. That's irrelevant. Today, it's sorely lacking.
Yeah, who gives a shit about the future? It sucks today, so we should just stop trying to improve it.
Once you get away from the "big city", an EVs anemic range and lack of infastructure quickly becomes a likely show stopper.
Because there are no use cases for light trucks anywhere within 50 miles of a "big city" (where "big" is probably defined as 50k people)? You're absolutely right, there isn't any kind of construction work anywhere near population centers.
What you seem to have said is that lots of people, including experienced engineers, are wrong. You've provided no support for your argument. I'm not convinced.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
No, if you do no research you aren't more likely to go against the evidence, because you won't have evidence. You're more likely to get things right if you do the research.
So far, Musk seems to be doing pretty well at making electric vehicles and sending stuff into orbit. I'm not nearly as impressed by the Hyperloop, but two out of three ain't bad.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
Worrying, isn't it? Thankfully, Mauro Forghieri is one of the greatest engine engineers ever and he is right because he had to be.
The essential truth is I can produce more torque with a wrench and my bare hands than any engine you'd care to mention. Sadly, it doesn't mean anything without angular speed and it won't move a vehicle.
That's a pretty stupid way to look at the world. Almost as dumb as pretending the world is as you wish it to be rather than as it actually is.
I mean, it's almost like gearboxes don't exist to some people. ROTFL.
They haven't improved significantly over the "last several years", much less dramatically. A "decade" and "several" are different things. Furthermore, "better that the ones we have today" is a given. Yes, they keep getting better, slowly. There needs to be a breakthrough in charge speed, not just incremental improvements every few years, like what has happened recently, and we need to have the infrastructure to charge them or else they will be worthless.
Indeed so. What's also a still a major problem with electric vehicles that get their electricity from battery power is that the lovely range figure goes totally out of the window when it comes to air con and heater usage making things impossible to estimate. You then add the charge time required on top to get that energy back. These are problems that still need solving, despite the blind optimism.
If it can go 300 miles on a charge it really isn't; not for the overwhelming majority of times. for the few times it is lacking you can rent an ICE with money to spare from fuel savings.
300 miles carrying what load?
I hope they get built in the Southeast. First, the area is anti-union and that seems to be something Tesla doesn't want to deal with. Second, the cost of land and labor is so much cheaper than out west. Third, trucks are popular in the region. Fourth, you'll be giving folks good jobs that they might just support politically in states that traditionally don't support greener things. Fifth, it'd help build up infrastructure in states that are likely ignored.
Seems like a net win across the board to me.
Use of "Wicked" and "Dunkin Donuts" in the same sentence? Gotta be from New England. Source: I'm from New England.
The only thing that screams "I'm from New England!" louder than that?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
67.5% Slashdot Pure I guess I need to work on that....
Fun fact
The only person confirmed not worse than Hitler:
Hitler!
Wait, wait. This just in: Hitler also confirmed to be worse than himself.