Tesla Cybertruck Delayed Until 2022

A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes.

A BEV is like an ICE vehicle with an 800 lbs gas tank that holds 10 gallons, at most. Tesla vehicles up to this point have been highly aerodynamic with high pressure tires to reduce rolling resistance and make the most of their meager energy storage. A truck is about the worst possible application, at least until batteries become far more energy dense and that is not happening any time soon. The good news is that when your Cybertruck finally arrives it will be delivered in a Tesla Semi that drove itself cross country to your house Level 5 all the way. It will be insured with Tesla-surance and operate all by itself as a taxi while you sleep, paying for itself in a year. Also on the truck will be a Tesla Roadster with a 600 mile range capable of vertical take off and landing. Rest easy in the certain knowledge that Tesla ALWAYS delivers on ALL of their promises….

@Imagefont "A BEV is like an ICE vehicle with an 800 lbs gas tank that holds 10 gallons, at most. " A Model 3 Performace goes 0-60 in 3.1 seconds. A Ford Shelby GT500 does 0-60 a little slower at 3.3 seconds. If you look at the Mustangs range, it isn't as good as a Model 3. In fact, in city driving it's going to be much worse. So your numbers fall apart when comparing vehicles with comparable performance. https://www.edmunds.com/ford/shelby-gt500/2020/long-term-road-test/ "Tesla vehicles up to this point have been highly aerodynamic with high pressure tires to reduce rolling resistance and make the most of their meager energy storage" They have enough storage for 300 to 400 miles of driving and 4.5+ hours on a highway. That in no way is meager. "at least until batteries become far more energy dense and that is not happening any time soon." The 4680 cells are here and bump up energy density from 260 Wh/kg W/kg to 380 Wh/kg. That's a decent jump. There's been quite a bit of progress since the 140 Wh/kg (I think?) days of the first Leaf batteries to 380 Wh/kg. Modern material since is advancing density at a fairly quick rate.

@mcs This is true, but range on an ICE vehicle isn't really a concern due to times to refill the tank being minimal compared to electric so that's not really an apples to apples comparison. As of now, it would be far easier to take a long trip in an ICE vehicle with a lower range than even the long range EVs in all but the most perfect situations.

@ Art V. The majority of Tesla owners NEVER have to stop to refuel. Ever. That’s even less than a “minimal delay”. They can fully recharge at home where they would have stopped anyway, because they live there. And Teslas are not for everyone. Luckily, if your daily commute is more than 300 miles, you have hundreds of other choices - which would include almost literally every other automobile ever made. Whatever your needs, you’re covered…

mcs, I admire your enthusiasm, and you’re obviously knowledgeable about a lot of things EV, but it wouldn’t hurt to admit that the man has a point. This thing will be a hit with your west coast tech bros and urban cowboys who want to get noticed, but not so much with people who use trucks to do trucky things. The specs look impressive, for only $50k you can get one with 300 mile range and 10k lb towing capacity, what you don’t see is them talking about what the range is when towing 10k, or even 5k. You’ll be lucky to get half that, and somewhere around here we supposedly have a Supercharger station, but unless it’s different from the ones I’ve seen, you would have to unhook the trailer to charge the truck, it would take 20-30 min to charge it to 70-80%, 45 min or so for a full charge, and then you’d have to rinse and repeat every 100 miles or so. Between unhooking, charging, and hooking up the trailer again, you could be stopping every 100 miles or so for an hour at a time. No, not everyone tows, but a lot do, and that’s a deal breaker.

@285exp "This thing will be a hit with your west coast tech bros and urban cowboys who want to get noticed, but not so much with people who use trucks to do trucky things. " Well, actually there are tech bros everywhere these days. I think there are different groups of people that do trucky things. And different classifications of truck things. For some functions and some tasks it's like any other vehicle in that it won't fit all tasks. For some tasks, like heavy-duty industrial environments, it will do well. It's built as industrial equipment and actually much stronger and durable than other pickups. I can see it fitting perfectly in factory complexes and places like quarrys. Short distances and if it gets banged by a forklift, there won't be much damage. I know factory environments and it would make a great vehicle in places where its width wouldn't be an issue. Sure, like conventional trucks, it will have a lot of buyers that see it as a fashion accessory. But, I think when certain sectors see how heavily built the thing is, it will attract a different segment. Oh, and they are putting in charger stalls for vehicles that are trailering. So, you might not have to deal with unhooking.

@Art Vandelay If you have a 300 mile daily commute you should probably move. I think many people fall into the realm of recharge time generally not being an issue, but when it is an issue, it is a bigg issue. I don't need over 300 miles often, but I need it often enough that I can't gloss over the current situation (and my routes aren't currently filled with fast charging solutions). Hopefully this changes moving forward but as it sits you aren't talking a few extra minutes to grab a bite...you are talking hours.

@285exp mcs, if their market is going to be quarries and industrial settings where they’re scared of getting them dented by forklifts, that seems a bit of a niche market, and they’re going to be wanting the stripper version, not the high end(more profitable) version. And that still doesn’t address the problem. They make a big deal about their range and tow rating, but even the big honking$70k 500 mile range 14k lb tow rated version just isn’t suitable for heavy towing, in real life, the range and the charging infrastructure isn’t adequate. People who tow travel, boat, and horse trailers are a big market, especially for the high end trucks, and that thing is going to be a hard sell in that market. In flyover country, lots of us actually use trucks as trucks, that’s just a very cool toy, it’ll get a lot of attention at the country club too, but Bubba won’t be buying a bunch of them, and there’s a very big Bubba market.