Tesla truck

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Yeah, I don't think the idea was to create a blade runner truck. I think it was born with a wishful comment like "The paint shop is a pain in the hootus and it would be nice if we didn't have to deal with any of that." and then somebody proposed this and Elon said, "yeah, I can sell that." 

In reply to STM317 :

But.. wasn't a major pain in the ass for the DeLorean the bare stainless steel skin?  Bare metal shows the tiniest flaws, and flaws are very difficult to deal with if you have a brushed surface.

You can tell when a DeLorean has had bodywork - it's been painted.

I understand that even aircraft that are sold with unpainted skins are more expensive than painted because of this.  And airliners aren't seen up close day-in-day-out the way motor vehicles are.

So, bein real:

When I first saw the thing, I laughed my ass off and thought it was either a joke, or Elon had played 8 billion hours of minecraft.

But I'm sitting on my porch right now (which is currently 100' from a busy 2-lane highway.)

Whenever possible, I sit out here for hours at a time, and see roughly 20 cars a minute...1,200 cars per hour. It's interesting just seeing what/how people drive.

Being in the country, It goes something like: Truck, truck, truck, Harley, Camry, Truck, SUV, SUV, Truck, someone who never got over Fast & Furious, Truck, SUV, Focus, etc.

Every once in a while, I'll shout to the wife: "DID YOU SEE THAT!?" Something totally weird; I've seen a couple McLarens, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, occasionally some weird "Survivor" piece of E36 M3 that Grandma purchased new in the 70's/80's and drives 10 miles a week, and washes every Sunday.

I once saw a FLEET of bagged & blown Squarebody Chevys go by and almost made in my pants.

Anyway, I'm sitting here thinking: If I saw one of those Tesla trucks, I'd probably jump in the Caddy and chase the berkeleyer down just to thank him for breaking up the monotony...assuming the Caddy could keep up.

Just a thought. YMMV.

Have they said if the panels will unbolt just in case you need a right front fender ?

and will they sell you a fender or will you need to take it to the Tesla dealer..........OOPs there are no Tesla dealers :)

Okay now for an important  question.

when does the first one get ls swapped???????

Me to Tesla truck in my best Arnold impression from Predator "You are one ugly motherberkeleyer!"

californiamilleghia said:

Have they said if the panels will unbolt just in case you need a right front fender ?

and will they sell you a fender or will you need to take it to the Tesla dealer..........OOPs there are no Tesla dealers :)

There are Tesla dealers and service centers as well as mobile service. There just aren't any independent Tesla dealers.

I haven't seen - I assume this thing has four wheel independent suspension? I'm really interested in how the three motor setup is laid out while trying to maintain reasonable suspension travel.

In reply to MotorsportsGordon :

Wasn't there an S that was being LS swapped? I know they had a lot of trouble finding a place for the engine while still keeping the chassis rigid.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

Keith beat me to it, but yeah. Rich Rebuilds last video on a model 3- where his friend got one at a salvage auction and fixed it- also shows parts availability is getting much better. Cheaper too- and and since the CYBERTRUCKs using the same motors and air suspension availability for those should be decent.

The packaging of a true EV is so totally different from an ICE I can see how it would be really difficult to swap. Bonus points if you manage to fit the gas tank in where the batteries went - I'm picturing some sort of bladder that you'd suck flat :)

Keith Tanner said:

The packaging of a true EV is so totally different from an ICE I can see how it would be really difficult to swap. Bonus points if you manage to fit the gas tank in where the batteries went - I'm picturing some sort of bladder that you'd suck flat :)

Giant Hydramat?

I guess tool boxes and lumber racks are a no go?

In reply to ChrisR :

Naw, they have to. Rear tool boxes are a literal necessity for the truck market and even Tesla would know that. Heck, Tested's youtube channel got to ride in it and they said the rearview camera is meant to be used all the time for backing.

Well, the tool box can still fit but it’s not going to hang over the sides of the bed. You could build a lumber rack, it would just have short legs up front. 

I anticipate a soft option for the bed cover and some sort of mounting system or stake holes on the bed sides. I think those bed sides are going to be the biggest challenge for those looking for a work truck. 

What would a single cab or extra cab version look like?

I have no idea how tall Musk is, but the picture of him standing next to the truck makes it look not to work truck friendly. That's going to be a reach to get anything out of the bed... from the side anyway. Maybe it has got a hidden man step? Seems strange to pigeon hole your truck like that. Kind of like a Ridgeline. You can do "truck like" stuff with it, but....  Seems he is excluding a whole segment of truck buyers. I guess that's not his target audience? And I might add, that backseat looks like it has no headroom.

More and more I am convinced that if Pontiac came out with the Aztek in today's market, the thing would have been a home run.

I swear, this truck cracks me up. The internet is just frothing at the mouth if you mention it. I would drive one, tesla's auto-pilot is awesome in spite of it's failures (i.e. being treated as autonomous). And something I could conceivably tow my crappy little race car to the track with and have auto-pilot/ general comfort is pretty cool IMO. Height adjustable suspension? Insane 0-60 even in the pedestrian models? Come-on, what's really not to love if they deliver something even close to as promised. It's certainly (and ironically) no more gaudy than the current crop of bro-trucks from the factory I've seen. 

NickD said:

If Tesla is going all retro-futuristic on us, then they better build us the Cyberpunk 2077 car next.

Looks like someone's taking care of that for you.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txh1p_W9Jkk

Yeah, due to all vehicles having a compromised design, I kinda' look at all vehicles with the thought of, "How can I make this look better"? 

I think the Cyberpunk is only a wheel upgrade and  a more robust looking fender flare away from looking proper. I think adding some of those auto retracting steps matching the design would work too. $100 bux to get in line is kinda tantalizing! 

Don't know if anyone saw this, but I spotted it on Face last night.

Upside, the internet got an injection of "not impeachment" for a bit.

Size comparison with a Model 3. I didn't generate this, I assume it came from someone comparing length but I have not verified. The Cybertruck is about the same length as my 2500 crew cab short bed.

I'm not going to sit here and say it's an attractive design, but it's grown on me and I like it.  I grew up watching movies like Total Recall and Bladerunner - Total Recall is one of my favorite old movies!  So this literally looks like a vehicle of the future for me.  It's kinda like a pug, a bit ugly but you smile when you see one.  And the base model is reasonably affordable and the specs are more than enough for whatever truck usage I would need in the foreseeable future.  And if I wind up with a better job making more money, then I could get a version of this truck that'll toast everyone 0-60 except for well-driven literbikes.  I'm down.  

In reply to Keith Tanner :

https://electrek.co/2019/11/25/tesla-cybertruck-tug-war-against-ford-f150-size-comparison/

The Cybertruck looks to have nearly the same footprint as the f150 it's tugging in this video (though it really fills out the space ... and wheelbase looks more spread out for sure). It looks even more comic book when set right next to a "normal" car/truck. It's like someone skipped a generation or 6 of vehicles.

In reply to sobe_death :

For those of us not as well versed in aerodynamics software, is what I'm looking at awesome or abysmal(or both)?

In reply to ebelements :

It means that the design is surprisingly slick in the air stream. While the big wheels and tires won't allow it to have an astoundingly low drag coefficient like the Model 3, the aerodynamics are very much better than most trucks. There is no high pressure zone at the base of the windshield, and the slab sides and tailgate cover keep things smooth until the back end, where the sharp edges act like a Kammback design.  The blue vortices at the rear are moving essentially at the same relative speed as the vehicle, and the region is shaped to further keep the airflow off the truck going in a straight line, reducing induced drag back there.  Imagine if the back of the vehicle was shaped like a teardrop, the blue is effectively acting as an aerodynamic extension of the vehicle.