Thinking about a Tesla truck

[Mr. Tightwad]

The reality is that no one is charging their EV to 100% if they want it to last.

Tesla already sets 90% by default to preserve headspace for regenerative braking & increasingly Superchargers (based on demand) are limiting to 80%.

As fun as it is to argue, the contrived scenario flogged through the last few pages (100% charged EV towing a heavy load starting from the top of a mountain) is unlikely happen in real life.

One can override the 80% limit by using the controls in the vehicle. Anyone can charge to 100% or whatever they like. 80% is just the default setting.

 

[Midpack]

There’s an awful lot we don’t know about the Cybertruck and extrapolating from their sedans (where it hasn’t been an issue) isn’t necessarily valid. I doubt Tesla has fully spec’d the pickup. And if the full battery regen brake overheating issue is a concern to Tesla with the Cybertruck towing, there are several simple solutions going back to locomotives and semis. They’ve dealt with hundreds of far tougher technical issues already. Why

 

[NW-Bound]

Hey, speak for yourself there. I just slept for over 8 hours straight last night and I am older than you.

(and I have a truck and tow with it) There!!

(plus, I don't nap during the day)

Eh, are you a younger brother of imoldernu?

People age at different rates. I never think I will live to 100, or even 90. In terms of what I have lived off my total time on earth, I am old.

And an old guy deserves to nap whenever he wants it. He does not have to justify nor feel bad about it.


PS. Oops. Just saw the admonition about thread hijacking. So, let me ask something relevant.

Is the bed of the Cybertruck long enough for me to take a nap in it during the day. The answer is Yes. It's 6.5 ft long, way more headroom than I need.

Is it ribbed like that of the usual pickup or flat? If ribbed, I would need to put down a plank to go under a sleeping bag.

Oh wait! I already said I am not in the market for any pickup, ICE or EV.

 

[aja8888]

Eh, are you a younger brother of imoldernu?

I feel like I am! LOL (9 years difference)

 

[brewer12345]

Unlike other pioneer auto makers of the past, Tesla is living off the new bonds and equity sales that are funded by hedge funds, etc. Plus, the rebate program has given them many willing buyers. I also should mention the company sale of emission credits that brings in lots of cash. Take away these influxes of funds and the company would not look the same. But remember, we (the world) is in a low interest rate situation and investment money is coming out of the woodwork. This has been good for Tesla and others.

When this all ends, is anyone's guess, but when it does, there will be fireworks. These are just cars (and trucks) and there will always be options for buyers. No one is going to "save the planet" by building a car or truck.

Like I said, when the capital markets are no longer incredibly permissive, Tesla and a lot of other businesses are going to have to sink or swim without large infusions of dumb/careless money. This often happens suddenly and is frequently accompanied by a recession. Auto manufacturing is an extremely cyclical business.

 

[NW-Bound]

For the three motor truck to have 500 miles of range, it must have at least a 200kWh battery in it, maybe 250kWh.

Those of you who have installed a backup generator for your house have wasted $15,000 or so. A 250kWh cybertruck would power your house for days with no noise or maintenance.

Being a geezer before my time, keep talking about so many seconds from 0 to 60 mph, then my eyes will glaze over.

But talk about how many kWh is in the battery, and I will delay my nap time to learn some more.

Is it possible to buy the largest battery option without the darn tri-motor option? The idea of having a big battery on wheels intrigues me.

Hey, I just came up with a new term, and you hear it here first. We have had self-propelled howitzers for a long time, now it's time for a "Self-Propelled Battery". I will call it SPB for short.

What can people do with 200 or 250-kWh SPB? You can have a whole-house UPS of course. That is certainly relevant for Californians in PSPS zones ("Public Safety Power Shutoff" as PG&E calls it).

But, but, but when the SPB is powering your home, how do you get around? Easily solved with a 2nd car, and I would make it an ICE car for diversification. Yes, diversification is a safe thing to do, outside of investment activities too.


PS. I wonder about the capacity of the built-in inverter. Maybe it's at least 5 kW, in order to run tools. That's not enough to run an entire house, but larger than many emergency generators.

However, I am sure that Tesla will be recording the usage of the battery, in order to honor the warranty. Li-Ion batteries have a limited number of charge/discharge cycles, and they cannot allow the users to abuse it.

 

[NW-Bound]

For people who do not know what I talked about earlier, here's the difference between a tank and a self-propelled howitzer.

 

[ls99]

8" Howitzer, self propelled.

 

[Sunset]

If I buy a truck, I still think I will get a regular one, which is $10K cheaper for a base model, than the tesla base model. I don't drive a lot, so the gas savings won't be big per year.

Plus the range is an issue, as the reason I'd buy a truck is to put an RV, and that means distance driving.
How long is it going to take to recharge the battery on these trucks at the supercharger ?

 

[Fermion]

PS. I wonder about the capacity of the built-in inverter. Maybe it's at least 5 kW, in order to run tools. That's not enough to run an entire house, but larger than many emergency generators.

However, I am sure that Tesla will be recording the usage of the battery, in order to honor the warranty. Li-Ion batteries have a limited number of charge/discharge cycles, and they cannot allow the users to abuse it.

I would guess it is somewhere around 4 or 5kW. They did say it would have 110V and 220V power outlets...interesting. Maybe 7kW if they are thinking 30 amp service for 220V.

As far as usage cycles, for a emergency generator, most are probably only used a couple of times a year during outages (except maybe California now, which seems to be always out of power). Even using the Cybertruck 20 times a year for 5 years as a backup generator would only mean 100 cycles off of a battery that is probably rated for 1500 to 2000 cycles.

 

[NW-Bound]

I would guess it is somewhere around 4 or 5kW. They did say it would have 110V and 220V power outlets...interesting. Maybe 7kW if they are thinking 30 amp service for 220V.

As far as usage cycles, for a emergency generator, most are probably only used a couple of times a year during outages (except maybe California now, which seems to be always out of power). Even using the Cybertruck 20 times a year for 5 years as a backup generator would only mean 100 cycles off of a battery that is probably rated for 1500 to 2000 cycles.

Sounds reasonable to me. If I lived in a PSPS area, I would definitely look into getting a Cybertruck to get use of its battery. By skimping on electricity usage, one should be able to use even the smaller version (100-kWh battery?) to power a refrigerator, some LED lights, a window AC, plus a laptop or two for 3 to 4 days. I think that is about as long as most outage periods. And it is a plus that you do not need anything else other than a beefy long extension cord.


About my concept of SPB ("self-propelled battery"), a company is already running on this and has products out already. Darn! There are a lot of people out there doing a lot of stuff.


Read this story about a company called Dannar. See: https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/ent...ment-its-sort-of-like-a-cybertruck/ar-BBXfYMY.

The standard model comes with three 42 kWh battery packs for a total of 126 kWh. That’s expandable right up to 625 kWh per machine...


So, this is a zero-emission 13,000-pound vehicle that has a towing capacity of 600,000 pounds. Equipped as a forklift, it has a 13,000-pound capacity. And, on top of this brute strength, it can be operated via remote control. That means in potentially dangerous situations, the operator can be at a safe distance. It’s also capable of being submerged in up to four feet of water, has four-wheel drive, and four-wheel steering...

And they build it like a giant battery pack like the Ryobi or Black & Decker battery packs at Home Depot. You can add different attachments to the battery pack to do different tasks.

 

[Midpack]

Better in (matte) black?

 

[MichaelB]

How does the cargo area of the Tesla compare with popular traditional pick up trucks?

 

[Fermion]

It is pretty wide, without any wheel wells either...56 or 58 inches wide, 6.5 feet long.

Payload is 3500 pounds which blows away all 1/2 ton pickup trucks. I thought my F150 was good at 2200 pounds.

 

[unclemick]

Hmmm - given some of the younger generation's reluctance to tie up capital will the deep pocket folks aka Home Depot, United Rental, etc buy the trucks and rent out for '$19/day'?



heh heh heh - Rent before I spend the big bucks.

 

[aja8888]

Better in (matte) black?

This side view is actually growing on me and giving me ideas.

Just raise the roof line a few inches so the blind spot is not as bad, do something else with the outer wheel fenders (mouldings), add some mirrors and get rid of those gaudy wheel covers. Then it may be a bit more attractive.

 

[aja8888]

Ok CT lovers, the Lego version is already out:

 

[aja8888]

And for those of us in a cold climate, or who just want to drive your EV without using heat (battery power), we have the CT sweater:

 

[ls99]

As a curiosity, what is cost of recycling EV batteries, is there a trade in value for the end of life battery? I am sure the recycling process is fairly complex beyond just taking apart the battery package.

Is taking apart the individual cells a manual or an automated process?
Tsla supposedly recycles their own battery packs. Do they sell refurbished battery packs made from recycled cells?

Anyone has info on this process?

 

[unclemick]

As a curiosity, what is cost of recycling EV batteries, is there a trade in value for the end of life battery? I am sure the recycling process is fairly complex beyond just taking apart the battery package.

Is taking apart the individual cells a manual or an automated process?
Tsla supposedly recycles their own battery packs. Do they sell refurbished battery packs made from recycled cells?

Anyone has info on this process?

U - Tube.

heh heh heh - the DIY Cats are out there.

 

[ls99]

U - Tube.

heh heh heh - the DIY Cats are out there.

One outfit Deusenfeld in Germany shreds them. Pretty impressive.

 

[zinger1457]

Cybertruck takes on what appears to be an low end under powered F-150 in a tug-of-war. This could lead to some good entertainment.

https://www.motor1.com/news/384206/tesla-cybertruck-f150-tug-war/

 

[dirtbiker]

Since you have brought it up numerous times, after I had moved on...To the poster who stated "you can't get a 35k Tesla" you were proven incorrect about that.

In post #109, you stated "going down a large grade in an EV with a near full battery is problematic." Nope. Not true. If you meant to say something else, fine. As written, false.

And then "I don't have any brakes, and I can't downshift". You don't lose the ability to brake an EV just because Regen is limited. You simply use the brake peddle. That stops the vehicle. No matter what the battery charge is in an EV, the brakes don't stop working. Perhaps you meant to say something else. I don't know. But as written, inaccurate statement.

You probably will continue to shift the focus away from what you wrote and distract by mentioning other details. There was a poster above who gave you some excellent advice. Please consider it.

Moving on, a different poster asked if an ATV came with the Tesla truck. There is an electric ATV that is optional. Other options are a tent and a slide out electric stove.

You truly don't understand the concept of burning up friction brakes while towing/carrying a load, do you? NOBODY said that an EV doesn't have traditional friction brakes when fully charged. Nobody.

The reality is that no one is charging their EV to 100% if they want it to last.

Tesla already sets 90% by default to preserve headspace for regenerative braking & increasingly Superchargers (based on demand) are limiting to 80%.

As fun as it is to argue, the contrived scenario flogged through the last few pages (100% charged EV towing a heavy load starting from the top of a mountain) is unlikely happen in real life.

This is interesting. I had never considered that factory settings would be 80-90% charged. I'm assuming the listed range is at 100% though? Which means if the 250 mile Cybertruck is preset to 80%, that actual range would be 200 miles, assuming a the relationship between range and battery charge is linear.

Cybertruck takes on what appears to be an low end under powered F-150 in a tug-of-war. This could lead to some good entertainment.

https://www.motor1.com/news/384206/tesla-cybertruck-f150-tug-war/

I saw this video, and it really does just look like marketing hype. For one, the Tesla had a head start and had momentum going before the Ford even started pulling, plus it's either a RWD model, or they didn't have 4WD engaged. And to top it off, we don't know which motors/engines were in either competitor.

 

[Ronstar]

Cybertruck takes on what appears to be an low end under powered F-150 in a tug-of-war. This could lead to some good entertainment.

https://www.motor1.com/news/384206/tesla-cybertruck-f150-tug-war/

And now Ford is fighting back

https://www.businessinsider.com/for...1gWLbuT4wECGferVvXBSLk_JckRgnJ2kv6KMVm1vwfubE

 

[ERD50]

RE: Towing video -

....
I saw this video, and it really does just look like marketing hype. For one, the Tesla had a head start and had momentum going before the Ford even started pulling, plus it's either a RWD model, or they didn't have 4WD engaged. And to top it off, we don't know which motors/engines were in either competitor.

And now Ford is fighting back

https://www.businessinsider.com/for...1gWLbuT4wECGferVvXBSLk_JckRgnJ2kv6KMVm1vwfubE

Looks like they are both guilty of marketing hype, though Tesla's was directed smack at a competitor, so rather poor form, IMO.

Yes, people are claiming the Ford is the smaller version (2.7L?) and clearly 2W drive, which would have it losing right there in this sort of demo.

Though I'd expect that even a $ to $ match to a Ford configured truck might lose to the Tesla. EVs do have low end torque, and are heavy with all those batteries, so could have better traction. But it's not a meaningful test, I don't think pickup towing is limited in this same way in real life situations. Would it ever be? Actual truck owners can correct me if I'm wrong about that.

And in that rebuttal, they say Ford demo'd their electric truck, towing a 1,000,000 pound train. That is also just marketing hype. Towing train cars (steel wheels on steel rails) has almost no bearing on what a truck can do in real life on a road.

Earlier this year, Ford showed off an electric F-150 prototype that handily towed 1 million pounds of train cars for 1,000 feet. (For context, a properly configured Ford F-150 pickup truck can tow 13,200 pounds.)

Apparently, a human can tow train cars of about 1/3rd that weight.

-ERD50