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Transportation

Tesla Will Unveil Its Cybertruck Pickup on Nov 21 in LA, Elon Musk Says (cnbc.com) 191

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday said Tesla will unveil the Cybertruck, its pickup truck on Nov. 21 in Los Angeles. Musk also tweeted that it's the location and month in the opening credits of the movie Blade Runner. From a report: Musk has teased the pickup truck before. In summer 2018, he said the truck would include "power outlets allowing use of heavy duty 240V high power tools in the field all day, no generator needed." In January, he said that Tesla might be ready to unveil it by the summer "It will be something quite unique, unlike anything," Musk said at the time. Then, in June, Musk said on the podcast "Ride the Lightning" that the Tesla pickup truck "will be better than a [Ford] F-150 in terms of truck-like functionality, and be a better sports car than a standard [Porsche] 911."
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Tesla Will Unveil Its Cybertruck Pickup on Nov 21 in LA, Elon Musk Says

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  • by magarity ( 164372 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2019 @01:49PM (#59387910)

    and be a better sports car than a standard [Porsche] 911

    Great; as if the typical pickup truck driver wasn't enough of a maniac on the roads.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Joce640k ( 829181 )

      A Porsche 911 is capable of staying in lane around corners, unlike the average pickup.

      Plus: This will have autopilot so the drivers can read Guns & Ammo instead of using the controls and it can drive them home after they've had "a few" beers.

    • If it can corner better than a 911 it doesn't have enough ground clearance to be a better truck than an F-150. Many F-150 owners install a small lift just because stock is insufficient for real-world terrain.

      Unless it has a radical new suspension. Change my mind, Elon.

      • You could get better travel and handling just by using arms that cross one another front and rear, but with double wishbone or even a modified mac pherson instead of ye olde Dana TTB. I'm moderately surprised nobody has done that yet, it wouldn't even be expensive.

      • The Telsatruck could probably have a comparable center of gravity thanks to the massive battery in the floor, but that's about it, I doubt the actual experience will be in any way comparable to any sports car. What Ol' Musky probably means is that it'll accelerate to 60/100 faster than the base 911, which is pretty easy to achieve with electric motors.

  • Yeah, we haven't officially seen the real Tesla truck yet, but I still prefer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2019 @01:56PM (#59387946) Journal
    Blade Runner movie opening credits mention November 2019 as the date the story happens.

    Will garner lots of free publicity based on that factoid.

    No wonder Tesla does not buy advertisement, it get free coverage!

  • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2019 @01:58PM (#59387964)
    I would like a pickup truck. But it seems every company that sells them, sells these big trucks, which you could in theory haul Tons of material. But they are too expensive for most people to drive them off road.

    I would actually like to have a small pickup truck, with a bed good enough for me to put in a riding lawnmower, refrigerator or some lumber and drive safely with it.

    Can you name the truck with four wheel drive, Smells like a steak and seats thirty five? Canyonero! Canyonero! Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down, It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown, Canyonero! Canyonero!
    12 yards long, 2 lanes wide, 65 tons of American pride! Canyonero! Canyonero! Top of the line in utility sports, Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts! Canyonero! Canyonero! She blinds everybody with her super high beams, She's a squirrel-squashin', deer smackin' drivin' machine, Canyonero! Canyonero! Canyonero! Whoa, Canyonero! Whoooooaaaa!
    • I'm pretty sure lots of people drive F-150s off road.

      • Off Road. I've driven my F-150 off road many times. In sand, gravel stream beds and over rocks 12 to 20 inches diameter. Also at 60 mph on washboard dirt roads or in 4wd when needed. I think driver experience is more important than the vehicle, my dad drove his 1959 Dodge and '49 Plymouth to remote rock collecting areas.
    • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

      I would like a pickup truck. But it seems every company that sells them, sells these big trucks, which you could in theory haul Tons of material. But they are too expensive for most people to drive them off road.

      I would actually like to have a small pickup truck, with a bed good enough for me to put in a riding lawnmower, refrigerator or some lumber and drive safely with it.

      I used to drive an 06 Tundra (had some upgrades,was more of a street truck), currently drive the 04 F150 I inhereted from my grandfather (pure farm truck with the dents and scrathes to prove it, nohting fancy). I've noticed that today's Tacoma and similarly sized trucks, that used to be the "small" trucks, are now about the same size as my old Tundra. The new "fullsize" pickups like the new F150s and Tundras almost look big enough to be mack trucks.

      • Yeah, the new rangers are at least the same size as my 98 f-150. A 95 tacoma looks like a chevy LUV in comparison to the newer tacomas.

        For all the derision truck owners are getting in this thread; the stereotype of a dumb redneck does not compute with how much those behemoths cost.

        I just want a small truck with an 8 foot bed; is that too much to ask?

    • by Ziest ( 143204 )

      I also want a small pickup not one of those big ass zip code sporting monster that are currently on the market. What is currently being sold is way too big and $40K when all is said and done. I have given up on new trucks and I'm looking for a nice, clean small Toyota or Nissian used one from the 1980's and 1990's that is in not bad shape. I'll put the money into fixing it up and it will still be less than a new one. Fuck the chicken tax.

    • Yeah what smaller ones are still around cost the same as the big ones; I'd have considered a small truck, even though mostly it'd drive me to work and back. An electric would at least take the MPG effeciency out of the equation for mostly being for commute and runs to the hardware store on the weekend.
    • by AvitarX ( 172628 )

      They all get pretty expensive when you go to 4x4.

      You can get a Frontier for under 30 4x4 though.

    • by Dread Cthulhu ( 5435800 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2019 @02:42PM (#59388170)
      There are several somewhat smaller pickups available for sale in the US (Ford Ranger, GM's Colorado/Canyon twins, Toyota Tacoma, Nissan Frontier, and the Honda Ridgeline) but one issue they run into is that they just aren't that much cheaper than an F-150 or Tundra. The issue is that making a big vehicle really isn't much more expensive than making a small one; the design cost is the same, setting up the tooling & assembly line costs the same, the raw materials to make it bigger are cheap; steel is less than $800 per ton, all the electronic bits and stuff will cost the same, and so on. The only real difference is the bigger engine & transmission costing a few grand more to make. So overall, when big pickups cost only a few thousand more to make than mid-sized ones, it should surprise no one when they sell for only a few grand more, and that many people will be willing to pay that extra bit for the larger size.
      • by G00F ( 241765 )

        The pickups you list are no longer small.

        Toyota Tacoma is huge now days. All the others are bigger than what they use to be in the 80's and 90's.

    • by lazarus ( 2879 )

      So, you're not going to believe this, but the reason you don't see more small pickup trucks in the USA is because of the "chicken tax" [wikipedia.org]. No foreign competition means that domestic auto makers don't have to make them and can charge more for full-size trucks.

      This is finally starting to change with the re-introduction of the Ranger and the Jeep Comanche ugh, I mean Gladiator. When my Ranger finally bit the dust I ended up with an F150 *standard cab* as the best compromise I could find at the time.

      Unless there

      • I was excited when the 'new' ranger was announced back to the US, then you see that it is closer in size to the F-150 than the old mazda-ranger. The smaller version was what I was interested in, but the new ranger isn't it, and throw in the pricing which makes it even closer to the F-150 and no thanks. I guess it's a crossover for me.

        Sadly small trucks don't seem to be a market segment anymore?
    • by MobyDisk ( 75490 )

      You want a modern version of the Chevrolet El Camino [wikipedia.org].

    • Collision standards went way up for pickups and vans of late, they have to pass the small offset crash test. They've also had a lot of content added, and are expected to carry more people in comfort.

  • This one feature: (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Shotgun ( 30919 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2019 @02:28PM (#59388110)

    the truck would include "power outlets allowing use of heavy duty 240V high power tools in the field all day, no generator needed."

    This one feature will set it beyond the reach of every ICE driven truck out there and make it the envy of every construction worker. Hauling a generator out to a remote job site is a royal PIA. Maintaining jugs of gas makes it worse. Having to listen to the damn thing rattle on all day sucks. Then the truck is great to haul everything out to a camp or hunting site, but you don't want to run a generator for heat as you'll either have to listen to it or it'll scare off the game.

    One reason the IBM PC took off ahead of "better" systems, was that IBM made it modular. The ability to add functionality with plug-in cards made the machine adaptable to different situations. I'm going to go ahead and predict that flexibility will soon be killer-feature that will drive adoption. From being able to power my house during an outage, to having power in remote locations, the electric car provides more than just transport.

    • A friend has a Ford Ranger with included inverter and 110 V outlet. The Tesla solution is probably much better given the increased battery capacity, but it is certainly not revolutionary. It also introduces some problems such as how do you drive home after work when work drained your battery? Set a max discharge limit? That will certainly not cause anyone any problems.

      But in general, it is a great idea. Many will benefit from such a design.

      • This video from Ford for the 2015 F-150 says to only use the 110V outlet to charge power tools [ford.com], not as a main power source (see about 30 seconds into the video). Of course, the CyberTruck isn't out yet, so we'll see what it can do.
      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        EV batteries have so much capacity that it's unlikely to be a problem. If you are replacing a 6kW generator that is running continuously, a full 8-hour day would use about half of a 100kWh battery... But in real life, nobody uses the full capacity from morning until night. E.g. various power tools only draw power for a few seconds at a time and otherwise sit idle. If the power is coming from a battery there'd be no waste. This would be a great innovation if you're building something off-grid.

    • Then the truck is great to haul everything out to a camp or hunting site, but you don't want to run a generator for heat as you'll either have to listen to it or it'll scare off the game.

      Talk about a killer app.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by guruevi ( 827432 )

      I'd like to see a battery pack produce the energy a 100 gallon tank of diesel can produce. A welder, some water pumps, lighting is not at all unusual on a job site for 8-12h at a time. I wonder how many contractors will get stuck in the middle of nowhere without any juice on the batteries.

  • I for one am not reacting very well to the artist rendering. It looks like a burnt-out spermatozoa.

  • As a 6' 4" guy who hates cars, but doesn't want to pay $100/week for gas for my Chevy Avalanche here in California, I welcome this. I've been wanting to go electric as I have solar and charging stations at work. The only issue has been that a decent sized car like a Tesla costs a small fortune. Gonna check this out.
  • I'm surprised no one has brought up the Rivian R1T [rivian.com]. Of course, it's got kind of a small bed...

  • Will it come with a dense black smoke generator, so that Tesla drivers can finally coal-roll jerks in diesel pickups for a change?
    • Nahh, you've got the wrong concept there.

      It comes with an optional Tesla Coil to bring the lightning down on the coal rollers...

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