That seems to be a running theme among Cybertruck reviewers. Despite in many cases admitting all the issues the vehicle has, and in many cases the negatives outweigh the positives, in the end they will just handwave away all those issues and still see it positively.
I wouldn’t say that they did that. It was fun to drive in the city but the majority of the video was about the range issues once you’re away from the infrastructure.
Yeah, I wasn’t really focusing on just that video, but the general trend I’ve seen.
This is a universal human failing.
A friend had a new fifth generation Nova (appx 1988), which was a rebadged Toyota Corolla made on the exact same assembly line. The Consumer Reports reviews were interesting. The Toyota got excellent reviews, and the Nova underwhelming reviews. And the reviews were (and I only slightly exaggerate) “My Nova is a POS. I had to replace the transmission at 20K miles!” vs “My Toyota is a gem! Almost no problems, just had one repair, replaced the transmission at 20K miles!”
Way back in the day I had a Mistubishi Mighty Max which was identical to the Dodge Ram 50. It was a Mitsubishi engine and a Dodge body. Same vehicle with the same recalls*. The Dodge always had a lower resale value.
*So when there was an engine emissions recall that I had to do or I couldn’t get the car registered, I couldn’t get the work done at the Dodge dealership literally next door to my job. I had to go to the Mitsubishi dealership an hour away.
As Just_Asking_Questions said, this applies to every single thing humans interact with, ever.
But it’s mostly only noticed with new things. I drive an EV. It has some downsides compared to an ICE as well as upsides. I’ll never go back to an ICE, so is that me handwaving away the downsides?
Maybe, but having actually used one for several years now, my perspective is reversed. When I’m forced to use an ICE, the defects are readily apparent, and it seems to me that ICE drivers have been in a constant state of handwaving away all the problems while overstating the upsides. Or rather, not even noticing the problems in the first place because that’s the only way they’ve experienced a car.
At any rate, people know about the range, and it’s either a problem or not for the particular person. IMO, people tend to overstate their range requirements, and ignore the benefit of daily time savings (due to home charging) vs. the occasional road trip, but nevertheless EVs (or Cybertrucks) still aren’t for everyone yet.
I think this is how Christine started.
Once they taste blood, they have to be put down.
I know virtually nothing about EV’s. Is it possible to run one out of charge till it’s DEAD? I assume it would have be a possibility. How much warning do you get??
You certainly can. There’s an indicator of remaining battery life on the screen in either percent (like on a phone) or miles. If you are on your way to a charger or home and you may not make it, you’ll get the suggestion to reduce speed or you’ll run out (on a Tesla anyway).
If you totally run dry you call AAA and they’ll get you going same as a ICE car
Like hajaro said, you have an indicator in percent or miles. And you get a little extra past that–maybe 10-20 miles, depending on how fast you go. Not recommended, but you can do it if it means the difference between making it to a charger or not.
When it’s really, really dead, it takes more effort to get it charging again, because there’s a low-voltage battery that might be drained. So you might need the equivalent of a jump-start to get the car active again so it’ll charge. But this won’t happen right at 0%.
I’ve only been in that situation (<5% range) a couple of times. It helps a lot to cruise at 55 mph rather than 70+. Drafting a semi is even better 
. You can roughly double your range if you aren’t in a hurry and you really need to squeeze in a few miles to get to the next charger.
Tesla’s range predictions are very good, though obviously they can’t account for sudden traffic backups or the like. It’ll tell you if you won’t make it to the next charger.
But you’d use less percent per mile in stop and go traffic than cruising at 75mph.
My record efficiency was about 120 Wh/mi, which is ~3x as good as I get at normal highway speeds. I was stuck in traffic that was moving steadily at about 30 mph. Stop-and-go wastes energy but is still better than high speed. Better yet is slow but steady speeds. Not sure what the optimal point is, but it’s fairly low. Too slow and the car wastes energy just by being on.
I should add: on flat ground. I was amused to note the other day a round-trip energy use that was less than the one-way energy use. Because the trip was going up a mountain, and on the way back the battery actually charged back up a bit.
Thanks for the info!
@Dr.Strangelove knows this, but for everyone else, particularly if you review cars on YouTube. The Tesla percent/miles indicator on the screen, that is the equivalent of a fuel gage, tells you how much power is left in the battery. It can express that as a percent or as a fixed multiple of percent \times the rated Wh/mile of the car. This dash display is not an estimate based on anything except the battery’s state of charge. So there are many reviews of Teslas where people don’t understand this, and then complain that the car is wrong, and such.
To get an accurate estimate of the number of miles a Tesla can go, the power app in the car needs to be opened, which will show a very accurate estimate of achievable distance taking into account current conditions, speed, route, etc. This estimate is accurate, changes when conditions change, and what is used by the navigation system when choosing the next charging location.
So, that is my too long way of saying Teslas provide both an accurate and inaccurate estimate of range. It is totally legitimate to criticize them for this, but when a review says the range display is bad that is just because the reviewer doesn’t know where to find the accurate estimate.
Yeah–the miles shown on the indicator should be seen as a nominal figure only. It’s not wrong exactly, but it’s similar to taking the rated MPG of your gas car and multiplying by the tank capacity. The number can be achieved but it isn’t going to be what you see on any given trip. For that, as you say, you need to use the navigation system.
Some people like to just use the percentage mode since it’s always accurate. I find it easier to use the miles mode and apply a mental fudge factor based on experience.
The amusing trip I went on the other day:
The nav system knew the altitude of my destination and took that into account. I got home with 57% charge, so it was right on the money.
We did a trip this last weekend that took 45% of our Ys battery to get there, but only 20% to get back. That’s what happens when you head into the mountains.
According to the filmer, eventually a Silverado came along and pulled him out.