Tesla Announces Cybertruck Deliveries In November, Claims 125K Production Capacity (electrek.co) 127
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: Today, Tesla released (PDF) its Q3 2023 financial results and as expected, there was an update about Cybertruck in there. In the quarterly presentation, Tesla mentioned that "pilot production" of the Cybertruck has begun: "At Gigafactory Texas, we began pilot production of the Cybertruck, which remains on track for initial deliveries this year." While that doesn't include any new information, in the photo section of the presentation, Tesla added a comment confirming that "deliveries will begin in November 2023."
The previous official comment from CEO Elon Musk was that Tesla was aiming for the end of Q3, which ended last month. Interestingly, Tesla also updated its "installed annual vehicle capacity" and added capacity for the Cybertruck for the first time. Surprisingly, Tesla already claims a capacity of "over 125,000 Cybertrucks" at Gigafactory Texas. In a company post on X, Tesla specifies that its first Cybertruck deliveries are scheduled for November 30th at Giga Texas.
These are the highlights of Tesla's Q3 shareholder update, as mentioned in the company's X post: "Cybertruck production remains on track for later this year, with first deliveries scheduled for November 30th at Giga Texas.
Production of our higher density 4680 cell is progressing as planned & we continue building capacity for cathode production & lithium refining in the US.
In Europe, Model Y remains the best-selling vehicle of any kind (based on latest available data as of August) Thank you to our European owners!
We have more than doubled the size of our AI training compute, accommodating for both our growing data set & Optimus, which is currently being trained for simple tasks through AI rather than hardcoded software, while its hardware continues to improve.
All Hertz rentals in the US & Canada now allow Tesla app access, enabling renters to use keyless lock/unlock via phone key, remotely precondition the cabin & more.
In addition, we redesigned the in-app service experience for owners, making scheduling & tracking service appointments & loaner access much simpler."
Energy deployments increased 90% YoY to 4GWh -- our highest quarterly deployment ever!
The previous official comment from CEO Elon Musk was that Tesla was aiming for the end of Q3, which ended last month. Interestingly, Tesla also updated its "installed annual vehicle capacity" and added capacity for the Cybertruck for the first time. Surprisingly, Tesla already claims a capacity of "over 125,000 Cybertrucks" at Gigafactory Texas. In a company post on X, Tesla specifies that its first Cybertruck deliveries are scheduled for November 30th at Giga Texas.
These are the highlights of Tesla's Q3 shareholder update, as mentioned in the company's X post: "Cybertruck production remains on track for later this year, with first deliveries scheduled for November 30th at Giga Texas.
Production of our higher density 4680 cell is progressing as planned & we continue building capacity for cathode production & lithium refining in the US.
In Europe, Model Y remains the best-selling vehicle of any kind (based on latest available data as of August) Thank you to our European owners!
We have more than doubled the size of our AI training compute, accommodating for both our growing data set & Optimus, which is currently being trained for simple tasks through AI rather than hardcoded software, while its hardware continues to improve.
All Hertz rentals in the US & Canada now allow Tesla app access, enabling renters to use keyless lock/unlock via phone key, remotely precondition the cabin & more.
In addition, we redesigned the in-app service experience for owners, making scheduling & tracking service appointments & loaner access much simpler."
Energy deployments increased 90% YoY to 4GWh -- our highest quarterly deployment ever!
Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:3, Insightful)
only 2 years late
Re:Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:5, Informative)
only 2 years late
And 5 years late [arstechnica.com] (so far) for full self-driving which people have paid thousands of dollars for.
Re:Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:4, Informative)
only 2 years late
And 5 years late [arstechnica.com] (so far) for full self-driving which people have paid thousands of dollars for.
And they are still delivering brand spanking new Teslas with pre-cracked gigacastings: https://www.autoevolution.com/... [autoevolution.com]. I wonder if these things were assembled in a parking lot as bonus? Not that this should surprise anybody: https://www.autoevolution.com/... [autoevolution.com] Why would a person in their right mind want to buy a car from a company that alpha-tests it's load bearing structural components on the customer?
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Full Self Driving was first sold in mid 2016, so actually it's over 7 years late now.
Musk's original promise was a fully self driving coast-to-coast demo in 2017. Robotaxi was announced for 2020.
Re: Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:2)
Problem with coast to coast is that you've got to deal with the regulations of each state (sometimes even county or city) that you pass though. Texas allows it, apparently:
https://twitter.com/Tesla/stat... [twitter.com]
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The bigger problem is that Full Self Driving still doesn't work, and it's 6 years after he claimed he'd do it.
Re: Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:2)
Define "doesn't work"
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It was advertised in 2016 as allowing you to take a nap while it drives you to work, then get out and let it go find a parking space by itself. That's what people bought, all those years ago, so that's why Tesla has to deliver.
Personally I'd have demanded a refund by now.
Re: Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:2)
It seems like it's already capable of all of that.
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Are you kidding? They haven't even figured out how to stop it ramming into the back of emergency vehicles yet.
Re: Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:2)
That's basically a situation of bright lights immediately in front at night in less than clear conditions creating a bloom effect on the cameras that distorts depth. It's also basically solved as far as I know. Ultimately what it's going to come down to is how low the error rate is as there are inevitably going to be no-win scenarios that not even a human driver can avoid. As of now it seems to have a lower error rate than human drivers do, so the question becomes how much lower are we going to require it b
Re:Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:5, Informative)
Summary is bad anyway. 125k is installed capacity - aka, they've built one line, and now need to ramp it. Both the shareholder deck and the call were abundantly clear that production will start low and take a year to ramp up on an S-curve. They plan to also add a second line, for a total of 250k capacity.
Musk was very bearish about the economy, and it sounds like they're sort of slow-walking further Model 3/Y production capacity and the new Mexico factory for their economy model. Not delaying it for a year like say GM, but not in a rush. On the call it was noted that all of the price cuts they've done are basically just to cancel out the impact of rising interest rates, since most people buy cars based on how much of a monthly payment they can afford, and rising interest rates equals higher monthly payments. The monthly payments are basically the same as they were before the price war started.
The main good news for Tesla was in (A) AI training infrastructure, and (B) grid storage. Both are growing incredibly rapidly, and grid storage now has nearly 25% margins, so actually contributes a meaningful amount to Tesla's bottom line, and will make up an ever-larger percentage of it going forward. Tesla's AI training expansion plans are crazy, both from buying existing hardware (e.g. NVidia) and rolling out Dojo (which has already gone live).
The main bad news was that Musk was on the call, and he spent the vast majority of it either (A) in his stump speeches about how awesome self-driving and robots will be, which everyone has heard a million times but he loves to talk about; (B) talking about how the economy is doomed, endlessly; and (C) getting angry and even audibly emotional about how much he hates work-from-home and thinks it's grossly unfair to people who have jobs that don't let them work from home. Which is some mind-numbingly stupid logic. "Hey, some people have to dig ditches in their jobs at Tesla, why should other people NOT have to dig ditches too? EVERYONE HAS TO DIG DITCHES NOW. It's only FAIR!"
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The main bad news was that Musk was on the call, and he spent the vast majority of it either (A) in his stump speeches about how awesome self-driving and robots will be, which everyone has heard a million times but he loves to talk about; (B) talking about how the economy is doomed, endlessly; and (C) getting angry and even audibly emotional about how much he hates work-from-home and thinks it's grossly unfair to people who have jobs that don't let them work from home. Which is some mind-numbingly stupid logic. "Hey, some people have to dig ditches in their jobs at Tesla, why should other people NOT have to dig ditches too? EVERYONE HAS TO DIG DITCHES NOW. It's only FAIR!"
That last bit is especially galling coming from a dude like Musk, who at this point is so far removed from manual labor that I wouldn't doubt tools flee from his hands like magnets repel each other pole to pole.
While I like some of the accomplishments Musk's companies have managed, he really, REALLY needs to figure out a way to either muzzle himself, or get a coach to help him figure out the inside voice / outside voice thing. I mean, I have big daydreams too, but I managed to learn as a kid that those thin
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Why should Musk muzzle homself? Because you don't like what he has to say? The benefit to being a billionaire is that it is money enough to not to need to care what nightflameauto or whomever, says. I bet Musk works more hours a week than you or most people in most countries.
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Why should Musk muzzle homself? Because you don't like what he has to say? The benefit to being a billionaire is that it is money enough to not to need to care what nightflameauto or whomever, says. I bet Musk works more hours a week than you or most people in most countries.
I'm not telling him to shut it because of his more right-wing intewebz posts. I disagree with a lot of them, but I don't particularly feel like that sort of thing needs to be shut down without public discourse. It's more about his out-there fantasy-driven timelines. I think he hurts his own image by spouting off nonsensically out-of-touch timelines for things just because he's super excited about the subjects involved. It makes people not take anything he says seriously when he keeps popping off dates that
Re: Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:2)
Never spend more time rebutting an idiotic comment than the time it took them to make the comment.
Someone who read your original comment that said moderately "hey take a chill pill musk" and replies "nuh uh he's a billionaire who are you" deserves that much time.
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Never spend more time rebutting an idiotic comment than the time it took them to make the comment.
Someone who read your original comment that said moderately "hey take a chill pill musk" and replies "nuh uh he's a billionaire who are you" deserves that much time.
True. Sometimes I get bored between meetings.
Re: Wasn't this supposed to hit the road in 2021? (Score:2)
"Why should Musk muzzle homself? Because you don't like what he has to say?"
Because INVESTORS don't like what he has to say. But I'm happy to see him run his mouth to his own detriment.
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Free Sticker? (Score:5, Funny)
Is the sticker included? https://www.amazon.com/Tesla-B... [amazon.com]
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Oh, I thought for sure it was going to be a link to something more like this [redbubble.com].
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Is the sticker included?
It'd be rather hypocritical to put that sticker on a Cybertruck, because at that point you've fully embraced the crazy.
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Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truck? (Score:2, Interesting)
And GM is pushing back the date on its EV truck?
Re:Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truck (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truck (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus the buyers have to either buy top of the line or wait for the base model to become available someday. If they have to wait, might as well wait for the Cybertruck. I know someone that was serious enough about buying a Lightning to have gotten loan pre-approved. Three Ford dealerships couldn't be bothered to add him to any sort of wait list. Yup, now has a cybertruck reservation most of this year and just hopes price bump won't be too bad. The fact that Ford LOSES more than 100% of the purchase price is just one more thing since then that tells me it will be better to have a crazy looking truck from Tesla than be led on and ghosted for who knows how long by Ford. Yup, Tesla was the safer bet.
It seems to me that if Ford had some sort of system where you were definitely at a specified place in line (for a given trim), plus either pre-selecting a dealership for a specific markup or at least choosing between some clear dealership/markup options just before delivery, and the dealership definitely couldn't pull their "oops we forgot to add the second dealer markup to the price" or "oops we're selling it to someone else who happens to be paying more" tricks, it would take away a good share of Tesla's competitive advantage.
Unfortunately the dealerships certainly wouldn't want to go along with that; scams like that are how they make extra money!
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Kind of ironic that they went to so much effort to make the driving of the truck so much like what ICE truck drivers are used to when the outside of the vehicle looks nothing like a modern truck and everything like a car from an 80's B grade Sci Fi movie.
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The number people that were clamoring of them right now, seems to have been saturated a bit. Some folks seem to be selling EVs and going back to ICE even after living with that new way of life.
It seems the govt. is really pushing EVs too hard before the public (and infrastructure) is ready for them en masse.
So, that's one reason Ford is pushing back
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If I NEEDED a new car right now I would at least considering an EV but that's really only because I can get two free hours of charging at my work every day. If not for that option, I have no way to charge at home.
With that said, I have a Honda hybrid I love and plan to drive that for as long as I possibly can. Maybe by the time I'm ready to move on (at least 5+ years from now) there will be more charging options and more car choices from the entire market.
P,S. I doubt I'll get it, but I would love an EV El
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Not sure if OP had an autocorrect or intentionally put Blues Clues - but their semi-self driving system is called Blue Cruise. As far as I understand, it works well enough (in later versions) but one of the big drawbacks is it only works on specific, mapped roads (mostly major interstates - map here: https://www.ford.com/technolog... [ford.com]).
I was looking at a Mach-E recently and it was one of the things I did NOT want because I rarely drive on interstates, with basically one exception, and that's even for just li
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If Blues clues isn't your speed Rick and Morty would be pretty great. "Awe Gees" as traction control kicks on. "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub' as you turn it off, etc. There's no reason why that isn't there I can only guess that car companies hate making mon
Re:Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truck (Score:5, Interesting)
And GM is pushing back the date on its EV truck?
My partner and I test drove a Model 3 before deciding on a Bolt EUV instead. While I'm sure there are people out there who really are open to owning either makes, we found the differences to be rather polarizing. You're either going to love everything that a Tesla does different than your old ICE car, or you're going to curse the damned thing and wish the infestation of the fleas of a thousand camels upon Musk's armpits. We literally sat in the car for several minutes trying to recall the instructions from the video they had us watch, and even things like setting the cruse control and adjusting the radio volume were head scratchers.
Test driving the Bolt was a completely different experience. It was just a Chevy that happens to not need gas. It even drives just like an ICE vehicle if you turn the one pedal driving off (try as we might, we couldn't find a setting that made the Model 3 replicate the feel of driving an ICE car). The fact that it was significantly cheaper was a nice bonus, too.
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You couldn't see the volume adjustment on the lower right corner of the screen? Or didn't try one of the scroll wheels on the wheel, like every other car on the market? And the braking option to drive like a classic ICE is in their very easy to use menu - or just use the search box.
I'm not sure they could have made the car any easier to use. Compare this to ICE cards with their horrible menus - some even having different menus based on how you access them or if the vehicle is in P or D.
Re:Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truck (Score:4, Interesting)
You couldn't see the volume adjustment on the lower right corner of the screen? Or didn't try one of the scroll wheels on the wheel
Thing is when you're trying to figure out everything that is different all at once, it's a little overwhelming and things get overlooked. It wasn't immediately intuitive which controls did what in the car, and at the time the primary focus was on trying to drive with an accelerator that behaved a bit like the go karts at Magic Kingdom.
And the braking option to drive like a classic ICE is in their very easy to use menu - or just use the search box.
IIRC there were like three different levels of regen it could be set to. Even on the one that was supposed to be the most ICE-like, it still felt very much like you were forced into adapting to one pedal driving. I get that some people want their electric car to drive like an electric car, and completely understand that making an electric car behave like an ICE vehicle with a slushbox is just a trick of software tomfoolery. Thing is, neither of us wanted a new driving paradigm on wheels, we just wanted a commuter car that takes the "ouch" out of having to buy gas for a 60 mile per workday commute.
I'm not sure they could have made the car any easier to use.
A keyfob, physical buttons and knobs for the HVAC and radio controls - basically all the things the Chevy has. Yes, I realize I'm probably a bit biased because I've always owned basic entry-level economy vehicles for myself, and still see all this computerized stuff as more of a distraction than as a practical addition to vehicles. I still have to remind myself when I'm driving my car (the Bolt EUV is my partner's, though I do sometimes drive it when we're going somewhere together on the weekend) that there won't be a yellow blind spot indicator letting me know that it isn't clear to merge over. The engine noise and significantly poorer acceleration generally also help me remember that I'm not driving the Bolt.
Ultimately though, since he'd be the one paying for it, the decision was my partner's and his criticisms of the Model 3 mirrored my own, with a notable exception: he also strongly wanted Android Auto, which the Tesla lacked. As you might've assumed from what I said about the car I presently drive, I couldn't care less about Android Auto / Apple Carplay functionality, but for him that was a big dealbreaker.
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IIRC there were like three different levels of regen it could be set to. Even on the one that was supposed to be the most ICE-like, it still felt very much like you were forced into adapting to one pedal driving.
Sadly, that's not easy to avoid. The brake pedal really needs to be mechanically coupled to the brakes for safety reasons, so hitting the brake pedal inherently wastes a lot of energy. Encouraging people to learn to let off the gas to slow down (where the energy is captured) rather than defaulting to pushing the brakes (where it burns up your brake pads) is really quite important, whether you're talking about an EV or a hybrid ICE car.
I mean, I guess you can modify the brakes to not kick on at first, and
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My Honda Hybrid does regen when I brake but as you mention, I usually try to use these little steering wheel paddles that start to slow the car down without me using the brake. The brake also works when I need to really stop suddenly, like if I get cutoff or some such random event.
I've found that once you get really good at maximizing mpg in a hybrid, those same skills transfer back over to an ICE as well. Much more coasting, keeping rpms steady, stuff like that. I had a rental altima pushing 45mpg and was
Re: Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truc (Score:2)
" The brake pedal really needs to be mechanically coupled to the brakes for safety reasons, so hitting the brake pedal inherently wastes a lot of energy."
Nope. You know how in your normal car you can press the brake pedal enough to light the brake lights without actually braking? By the same token they could do regen braking with the first part of the travel, and friction braking with the rest of the travel.
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" The brake pedal really needs to be mechanically coupled to the brakes for safety reasons, so hitting the brake pedal inherently wastes a lot of energy."
Nope. You know how in your normal car you can press the brake pedal enough to light the brake lights without actually braking? By the same token they could do regen braking with the first part of the travel, and friction braking with the rest of the travel.
And then you'll have people angry at you for suddenly massively slowing the car down when you barely touch the brakes. I mean some car companies do it, but it has always seemed like the wrong approach, because that still leaves you the problem of users panicking when lightly touching the brake does nothing (because the battery is full or too hot or too cold).
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Do it progressively, like brakes normally work. You can get plenty of information from the wheel speed sensors if you don't just count crosses. And never charge to 100%.
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TY for your review. Haven't driven either car but just from reading all that, I'd rather just go buy the Chevy. What you describe is what I would want in an EV. A car that works like how a car has always worked but runs on electric.
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You will regret your choice on the first real roadtrip that you take in the car.
I'm guessing you missed the parts where I said it's my partner's commuter vehicle and that I still have an ICE vehicle as my car. If we were to road trip anywhere, we'd just take my car.
Now admittedly, the situation with charging on the road is supposed to improve sometime next year when there will be a dongle available for Tesla's supercharger network. Even then though, I doubt we'd bother. It's still much easier to just make the trip in my car, where range and recharging aren't an issue.
Re:Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truck (Score:5, Insightful)
The dongle won't help the pathetic DC "fast" charging speeds of the Bolt.
So far, we've DC fast charged the car a total of 0 times. Zero, nada, zilch. It's a commuter car that we level 2 charge at home and the fact it even has DC fast charging at all (in earlier Bolt models, it was an optional extra) is just an added bonus.
Basically, you bought a compromised EV because you couldn't manage to work your way through the controls. The accelerator on a Model 3 is responsive, but it's nothing a competent driver should not be able to deal with.
My partner and I both liked that the Bolt EUV had all the controls in their usual places (with the exception of the push button gear select), it drove just like the cars we've driven all our lives, and it was cheaper to boot. Thanks to Chevy being willing to cater to people like us, there's one less ICE car on the road and if I'm going to give Musk credit for one thing, it's that he at least kicked the door open to show the rest of the industry there is a demand for EVs, even if they don't all come from his company.
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You are obviously one of the people who "get" the Tesla UI.
I guess there are other people who don't.
You are like a developer complaining that people can't use their program. "All you have to do is..."
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I have worked 25 years in the IT industry, 11 of those at the Apple campus so I know a little bit about UI/UX. I loved my Model 3 for acceleration and fuel savings but I HATED the UX. It almost seems like Tesla is 2 different companies - the competent folks who make the drive control software and then the ones who make the UI/UX. It seems its done by high school interns or Boomers doing an intro to computing class.
I think of it kind of like the first iPhone, which is probably about what the iPhone would still be if Android hadn't existed to push them forwards. The early UI was unintuitive in quite a lot of areas, but it was so much better than the disaster that came before it that you could shrug your shoulders and accept its flaws.
The sad thing is that Tesla doesn't really have an Android-like competitor with good UI from what I've seen. I've driven recent cars by GM, Ford, and Nissan, and they're all just awful
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I don't think you quite understand what you are saying, or that the cognitive dissonance is just lost on you.
"The early UI was unintuitive in quite a lot of areas, but it was so much better than the disaster that came before it "
So, was it better, or not? Yes? No? Better but not better? Huh?
"I think of it kind of like the first iPhone, which is probably about what the iPhone would still be if Android hadn't existed to push them forwards."
Um, yeah. Nope. When was Android first to many major phone featu
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I don't think you quite understand what you are saying, or that the cognitive dissonance is just lost on you.
"The early UI was unintuitive in quite a lot of areas, but it was so much better than the disaster that came before it "
So, was it better, or not? Yes? No? Better but not better? Huh?
The original iPhone was massively better than feature phones, but that was also the lowest bar in the world. It was awful compared with computer operating systems, and had pros and cons when compared with, for example, Palm OS. Apple did the phone part a lot better, and the stylus-free UI was a game-changer, but a lot of stuff was missing, hard to do, or strangely organized. For the most obvious example, iPhone OS 1.x and 2.x didn't even have copy and paste; Apple saw how Android did it, and copied that
Re: ah yes the search box (Score:3)
The iOS UI is STILL unintuitive. Android gives you cues to help you discover the interface. iOS does not. Work issued me one and I hate it in all the ways.
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Re: Is this why buyers are avoiding Ford's EV Truc (Score:2)
They are just holding it wrong.
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Probably because GM has been building and selling garbage for decades now.
But this isn't an 80s near-future dystopia... (Score:2, Informative)
It has the aerodynamics of a brick, for absolutely no reason. And all those perfectly flat surfaces are going to show absolutely every single dent, no matter how tiny... which is part of why your car doesn't have flat surfaces, the other part being that flat thin surfaces have extremely low intrinsic resistance to bending.
Re:But this isn't an 80s near-future dystopia... (Score:5, Interesting)
This is simply not accurate.
The primary driver of automotive drag is the difference in force on the vehicle from the high pressure on the front end and the low-pressure on the back end (force = pressure times area). Hence, the critical importance of the gentle rear taper. If the rear taper gets too steep, the flow detaches and you draw a low-pressure wake from that point onward. Indeed, if you have to detach the flow, it's best to detach it abruptly to at least create swirling vortices that help fill in the wake. A large truncation = a large area = a large force. So you want long, gentle truncation down to a small cross sectional area.
Hence, the angled tonneau.
Now, angular surfaces aren't *good*. But they're not as bad as you might think. The top ridge for example does create some limited flow detachment, but the rear taper is so long and gentle that the flow reattaches (but will stay detached if you're towing a trailer and instead flow over the top of the trailer). Actually the main problematic angle is not the top ridge, but rather the A-pillars. But this is insignificant compared to the impact of the gentle rear taper, and as a result, many people have run CFD simulations of models of the Cybertruck and found that it has an excellent Cd, much better than a conventional pickup shape.
The angles are not "for now reason". The Cybertruck - at least as it was planned (we'll have to find out if it's changed) - was, instead of being built out of 0,8mm mild steel (or even alumium) panels, rather, being built of 3mm full-hard stainless steel. No "dents" being the whole point of it, it's vastly stronger (by multiple orders of magnitude) than 0,8mm mild steel (or alumium) panels. But this comes with a problem: you can't stamp it. Well, you "can", but you face massive problems of (A) the metal springing back, and (B) wearing out your tooling in short order. So you have to groove it and then fold it, like origami. Hence the angular shape. It's more appropriate to think of it rather like a light armoured vehicle.
THAT SAID, that's what was PLANNED (many years ago). It's not clear at this point that this is what we'll actually GET. We'll have to wait for the delivery event, and in particular, for the teardowns.
(Also, though you didn't bring it up, but in case it matters: there's also a major reason for the triangular shape. Namely, traditionally trucks bear their loads (most problematically, torsion) in-plane (in the frame), which is an unbraced cantilever. Unbraced cantilevers are a very mass-inefficient shape. A triangle however forms a braced cantilever, which is a much stronger shape)
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The windows are indeed the problem. A lot of bad reporting has given the impression that the windows were supposed to be bulletproof. They're not - they're only supposed to be impact resistant. It's the steel that can resist bullets (and only small arms fire). And that's assuming that they're still going with the 3mm full-hard stainless.
Sooner or later, someone is going to try shooting up a Cybertruck, and it's going to go very, very badly.
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The Cybertruck - at least as it was planned (we'll have to find out if it's changed) - was, instead of being built out of 0,8mm mild steel (or even alumium) panels, rather, being built of 3mm full-hard stainless steel. No "dents" being the whole point of it, it's vastly stronger (by multiple orders of magnitude) than 0,8mm mild steel (or alumium) panels. But this comes with a problem: you can't stamp it.
It comes with another big problem, too. It doesn't deform when you run into a pedestrian while on autopilot, or playing with your center screen. I don't see how this design can possibly pass US pedestrian crash safety requirements.
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They built in a crumple zone, obviously. [motor1.com]
Re: But this isn't an 80s near-future dystopia... (Score:2)
I'm talking about the hard crease at the front of the hood. Other hoods have had to be made rounder and higher for this reason.
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Well that's easy. Pedestrian shouldn't of been standing there! https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: But this isn't an 80s near-future dystopia... (Score:2)
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It very much is, and the engineers were discussing this from day one. There is nothing about unibody that means trucks have to be shaped like triangles, which is why - and I can't believe this bears repeating - other trucks aren't triangles.
Braced cantilever = more strength per unit mass. You can make an unbraced cantilever do the same thing, but it requires a lot more mass. This is basic engineering.
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Well when a billionaire memelord designs his own vehicle from scratch this is what you get. Obligatory Simpsons did it reference. https://www.wired.com/2014/07/... [wired.com]
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Have you even seen a pickup truck before? From the driver's seat of my hatchback, it's a little unnerving to be at eye-level with the grille of most trucks produced these days.
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And all those perfectly flat surfaces are going to show absolutely every single dent, no matter how tiny... which is part of why your car doesn't have flat surfaces, the other part being that flat thin surfaces have extremely low intrinsic resistance to bending.
The latter is the far more important reason. Sheet metal with insufficient curve (too "low" a "crown") tends to pop back and forth under stress and make a pop noise when it does so, which is called "oilcanning" for reasons which would be obvious to anyone who's used an oilcan [wikipedia.org]. Consequently the flat surfaces on the cybertruck either have to be super thick or, more likely, supported from below by some kind of structure. The reason the flat surfaces worked on the DeLorean is that it is not a stainless-bodied c
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That tweet is an obvious joke.
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Just like his tweet about buying twitter.
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It was not.
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Given his reaction you're going to have a hard job persuading me he actually ever wanted to buy twitter. Stock market manipulating "jokes" told while you're high as fuck are not something the FTC appears t have much of a sense of humour about.
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He talked over and over, in detail, about the possibility of buying Twitter, something he had the capability to do immediately.
Versus making a dumb joke about Cybertrucks on Mars, something he'd be lucky to have the capability to do a decade from now, and oh, they wouldn't even remotely work there anyway, even if pressurized. Effectively no cooling air, wide temperature swings, no radiation hardening on electronics, not designed for the electrostatic dust, weight distribution and suspension designed for Ea
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So what are all of the panel gaps for then?
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Just don't name the supplier X [wikipedia.org]
We Are Really Going To Have To Look (Score:5, Insightful)
At these ugly motherfuckers? We finally got all the Pacers and Gremlins off the road and now this.
Re:We Are Really Going To Have To Look (Score:4, Funny)
Every generation needs their Nissan Cubes and Pontiac Azteks.
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The [1st gen] Cube is kind of cute and has a great footprint, even if (though) it is unnecessarily cramped and you're better off with a nv200. The aztek, on the other hand... hurgh blurgh. It's like a non-retro PT cruiser.
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the first time I saw one, I figured that AMC was somehow making cars again!
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I really don't mind the Cube. It's simple enough and mostly unoffensive. Now the Nissan Juke/Joke... that you can shit on all day.
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It will be interesting to see what the final product looks like. Those sharp edges and hard panels are not good for pedestrian survivability when Autopilot ploughs into them. I don't know about the US, but in Europe they would need to make very significant modifications to pass the minimum safety standards.
Its reputation precedes it (Score:4, Insightful)
How times have changed. When the SpaceX and Tesla genius said this truck would be the new shiznatz I couldn't wait to plop my credit card down and get in line. Things have changed in the last few years. The cyber-truck has no specs, and that makes it a tough "purchase." The cyber-trailer with its cyber-trailer-solar roof is no more. It's gone from the mini-RV you want to take camping to something you want to park in the garage before your neighbor comes over to complain about how bad Twitter is. You can rename it all you like but it's still a turd... now much much worse.
SO there's this vehicle. How much is it? What eMPG does it get? What's the curb weight or power/weight ratio? What human amenities are in it -- like for example full self driving (lulz) or gull-wing doors that close on 4-year old necks. Does it charge you $1/year to talk to it, or $1000 if you're a driver that wants a blue checkmark?
Some businesses -- particularly public ones -- have some level of oversight (like a board of directors). Some leave the management to the people with the vision. In this case the man with the vision is obscuring his with marijuana smoke, late night rants, antisemitism, MAGAfilia, and megalomaniacal love for Putin, Trump, and others who don't think "the regular guy" is worth paying attention to. They don't respond to Tesla tech support; they want $95K to replace a battery pack. Their battery tech is out of date (LiOn vs LiFePo), etc.
I got my deposit back. I hope the product improves our planet like SpaceX does. I have no faith in the management of any company run by Elon.
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Their battery tech is out of date (LiOn vs LiFePo),
LiFePo4 is a type of lithium-ion battery.
50% of Teslas made in the USA use LiFePo4 batteries.
The other batteries are NCM, which is another type of Lithium-Ion battery.
I have no idea how people got the idea that LiFePo4 is not lithium-ion, but we Slashdotters should be able to do better. Let's.
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Tesla doesn't just start selling things before they release the specs, they start selling before they've done the engineering.
Electrek acting shitty about good news? Shocker. (Score:2)
Yes, very surprising that a company thinks the almost-completed factory it built to do a thing will do that thing. Jerkoff.
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Given that the plan is for a very slow rollout and ramp-up to that 125,000 production number, the snark is not unwarranted.
They aren't planning on *starting* production at 125,000/yr number, are they? I don't think so, at least.
Your "Jerkoff" comment appears to be unwarranted.
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Cybertruck Will Look Great (Score:2)
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I wouldn't think the mindless zombies on Twitter (oh sorry I mean X) will have enough money or lack of brainpower to actually buy it.
Judging by the number of Teslas I've seen painted in a factory coat of what looks like matte primer gray, there apparently is no shortage of Tesla buyers who have more money than sense of aesthetics. I think we'll be seeing more Cybertrucks on the road than common sense would dictate.
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I've had no quality problems with my Tesla, and neither has anyone I know, and Teslas continue to top owner satisfaction ratings (satisfaction with Elon however, is not so great ;) ). That said, I do absolutely agree that we'll probably see alignment problems, maybe significant, on these for a while. It's a very challenging design with challenging materials and it's going to take a time to dial it in.
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It is simply amazing, and always has been, how more than 90% of the complaints about Tesla quality come from people who don't have one.
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Did you assume I didn't have one?
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Oops
https://www.teslarati.com/tesl... [teslarati.com]
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Oops.
Tesla tops Consumer Reports 2022 Owner Satisfaction Ratings. [thedetroitbureau.com]
Those quality issues really drag ya down, don't they?
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Who cares what brainwashed Tesla owners think? We're interested in reality. "I love my Tesla, it only exploded once!"
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That's interesting. I've had nothing but good experiences with both my civic and now my insight. Guess that's the luck of the draw.
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Haven't had a Tesla, but my Hondas have been stellar. The biggest issue I've had is a starter that burned out. That's it, in 160K miles. Yes, batteries died, tires flat, one time A/C coolant replaced, oil changes, system fluids changed, belts changed, etc., but still.
And, it Sounds like you need a better garage! I wouldn't be going back to that one.
Garages I have been to have been fantastic for the most part, never felt ripped off. Perhaps because I talked their language, having repaired my share of ca
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