For me, “loathing” is exactly the right word. Pickups with gigantic tires that are jacked up six feet higher than stock and might also have tin-can mufflers that are expressly designed to not actually muffle anything are really just expressing a more enhanced version of the “recreational pickup” ideal.
As for your own vehicle, I think you’re totally on the side of Goodness and Light even if it’s a sporty car with mileage that’s not particularly great. I doubt that it has a tin-can muffler or flame decals pasted on the side! I’m an environmentalist, but the pragmatic kind who understands that not everyone want to drive a tiny shit-box powered by a lawnmower engine if they can afford better, and present-day electric vehicles aren’t for everyone, for various reasons. So you have my permission to go ahead and fully loathe recreational monster pickup trucks without feeling the slightest bit hypocritical!
On the matter of seating space, I should add that space isn’t the only issue for comfort. Another one is seating height, which affects the ease of entry and exit and becomes more important as we get older. The seating height in my old minivan was just perfect. My current “sporty” car is superior in almost every way except for passenger and cargo capacity which isn’t important any more, but the low-profile design puts the seats closer to the ground than I would prefer.
I have a thirteen-year-old 2010 Honda Fit, the deluxe model. It only cost about $21,000, which I paid in cash. I’m slightly annoyed that Honda stopped selling the model in the US and didn’t made an electric version because I’d be all over that. It’s old enough that it’s missing a lot of the smartphone-related features of newer cars but it’s also got only about 60,000 miles so I expect to still be driving it for a few more years.
For the posters that responded to my point about sneering at the dishonesty in motives - I think we’re all in agreement. That the majority of the scorn being heaped HERE which I emphasized in the original is about the dishonesty, but of course there are valid reasons to be concerned: safety, environmental impact, asshat drivers than take up 2-3 parking spaces because they can’t park their personal semi in the compact area at the grocery store, etc.
(I’m quite grumpy about the last, as you can tell)
Back to the Cybertruck though - I mean, I get it. Because as I said in the Musk thread, I’m within 4 years (younger) than Musk. There’s a part of that 80s angular aesthetic that works for my inner 12-14 year old. The rest of me says “oh hell no” but if I was offered one free and clear I’d take it and probably drive it (especially since my car is dying). But I’d never buy one with my own money.
I know it makes sense to Musk, because he gives his inner 12-14 year old the driver’s seat and keyboard all the damn time, but wonder if outside of deep 80s and Musk fans if there is any evidence of actual demand for the vehicle.
Yep–Tesla is planning on building on-the-road chargers for the Semis eventually (at truck stops, etc.), but for now PepsiCo is using the trucks for routes shorter than 450 miles. So having stations at the endpoints (i.e., the plants and the distribution centers) is sufficient. They seem to be installing 750 kW chargers, which should get them charged in a little over an hour (the batteries are 850 kWh).
Hand-painted flames, not decals. The biggest obstacle to being road-legal was the lack of fenders. But it turns out there is a weight limit under which you can have open wheels. He, uh, might have swapped in a slightly smaller engine just to get the thing registered, and then later installed the Boss 429 that it actually ran with.
It’s hard to know. There are 1.9 million preorders for the vehicle. The preorder fee is a refundable $100, so it doesn’t mean all that much. I doubt that anywhere close to 50% of those will convert to a sale. But 10% might be believable, and that’s still a decent number.
The Cybertruck does have a number of practical features (and some of which we don’t know about). There’s the rolling tonneau cover, which should prove useful for people that keep tools and equipment in their bed. It has 4-wheel steering, which should help maneuverability. The stainless should be fairly durable compared to paint. It has airbag suspension so it can kneel for easier loading. And of course it’s electric, and there just isn’t much electric competition at the moment. It’s possible they’ll sell a decent number just because they’re likely to be the only ones that can produce large quantities at a decent price.
I have strong doubts about them selling a decent number of them. Eventually, they will, but for the first year or two, I expect production to be fairly low.
I don’t know the reason they aren’t delivering them yet, but I suspect it’s problems producing the 4680 cell. They didn’t start making 4680s in any quantity until last winter; there was a report about them reaching one million and then another for 10 million (I think those were the numbers). But those reports were separated by about 4 months. That is, 4 months from the start to produce 1 million and then another 3-4 months to get to 10 million. That’s a really slow production ramp.
The thing is, the Semi, the Model Y, and the Cybertruck (plus other future vehicles) all use the 4680. They need to be producing 10 million about every couple-three weeks to support all those things and they aren’t doing that. So the Cybertruck and the Semi are getting real slow rollouts.
I saw reports on the $25K Tesla, but didn’t see any expected date of production. Not that I ever believe the production dates Musk claims. He’s always way too optimistic.
Is it? By my calculations, in the next four months they should produce 100 million cells, and in the four months after that a billion cells.
I’m joking, a little–but exponential growth should be expected during the early ramp-up. And as far as I know, only their pilot plant is in operation yet. If that’s scaling nicely, they can build out a full-size plant.
I agree that they’ll be cell-limited for a while. It’ll probably be a year before the Cybertruck or Semi are shipping in volume.
The only think I’ve heard about the $25k car is from Walter Isaacson’s book, which said they had a design review in Feb 2023. So actual production is probably quite far away.
You’re correct that discussion of the $25,000 vehicle is from articles on Isaacson’s new book. Personally, I find it difficult to believe that they’re making such an inexpensive vehicle. For one thing, $25,000 is less than even most conventional cars. Also, sales of this car are going to, in part, be at the expense of sales of the Model 3.
