@Nakk you misunderstood the engineering fail. 4k towing, and 3500 payload are great numbers. HP and Torque numbers are exceptional as well. The specs are impressive, but the manner in which they got there is absurd, and poorly done.
Large flat sheets is about the worst shape for a truss in a dynamic application. Vibrations, wind loads, and impact factors all favor smaller shapes. 3mm thick stainless is a poor choice. A much simpler weldment of a truss could have been easily designed and fit into the packaging constraints. Aside from military and law enforcement I don't see the market for the thick bulletproof sheets. ABS plastic is equally as dent resistant random blows from hammers and tools, and weighs just a fraction. Hell, keep it a stainless skin if you like, but thin it out and us it as a skin, not a structural component. Even the new Honda Ridgeline has found a more aesthetically appealing truss shape to create a uni-body pickup. Likewise, the battery pack doesn't have to be a full width unit to accommodate the relatively narrow truss required for adequate stiffness in an automotive application.
The choice as stainless is laughable in just about all regards IMO. Are they going to make ALL the components Stainless or Aluminum? If not you will have ancillary parts rusting away while attached to that beheamouth of a chassis. What do repairs look like? It took body shops years to convert over to handle the aluminum on the F150's, some still haven't converted and most likely wont. How are they going to handle stainless repairs? It's expensive, relatively heavy (which in general is a BAD decision for anything that moves), and poses problems far beyond just manufacturing.
The power and torque comes from the electric tech, and I think we all agree on that front. Simpler is better, electric is more efficient, and it's the better decision on those numbers. The traction is a direct factor of tire compounding and torque monitoring. Once you have more torque available than traction available it goes to a torque monitoring and adjustment process. I'll take the pepsi challenge with a CT vs and a standard 4wd system. There is nothing revolutionary there, just an evolution of traction control theories. Hell even Jeep has proven you can take a standard non-locking-diff-equipped Wrangler down the Rubicon trail with just basic traction control (ABS based) systems. Anything more is overkill. I have no doubt the CT will match this capability, but it certainly isn't an engineering marvel. Ground clearance is the same rebuttal. Dodge currently offers a height adjustable air suspension for both capacity and clearance reasons, another CT evolution, not revolution.
The aerodynamic drag numbers are interesting. They're better than I expected, and excellent compared to a "traditional" pickup. That sloped windshield, lack of side mirrors, no abrupt break at the cab/bed interface, and no front cooling opening help I'm certain. No arguments that a "standard" pickup design can't match that CD number. These are benefits of the whack-a-doo styling. THOSE engineering decisions are good ones.
Speaking of good engineering solutions, they must not just solve the problem at hand, they must also be reasonable, manufacturable, and ideally elegant. The CT IMO is a "brute force" attack on the problem, and is short sighted of the over arching goal of getting more people to be EV owners. Elon stated that as the goal up front, then rolled out a truck that is so polarizing, he's going to have a hard time getting main stream buyers to change loyalties. Just look at the specs below........
250,000 deciding that they like it enough to take the time to order is a LOT more than .00001%--your number--of any group you might want to name. $100 is the deposit required on all Tesla models except the Y, and the conversion rate to actual orders is quite close to 100%. But hey, let's use your figure, 50% conversion rate. 125,000 orders in a couple of days of such a wildly different truck is VERY impressive, and also a lot more than .00001% . For that matter, 125,000 actual conversions of those orders would be one of the more successful reveals of any vehicle.
2017 pickup sales were 2.8mil according to a quick google search. 125k reservations (it will be more than 50% take rate I would guess) is VERY conservative. That's ~4.3% of the total pickup marketplace that made an order. Although, I do think the $100 refundable deposit is a REALLY low hurdle, and probably not really indicative of actual market share once released. Even more so when you consider the time it takes to ramp production to that level. That portion of the release was a relative success, but still falls short of being "game changing" IMO.
I really do think Tesla is doing the most to help move EV's forward. Even comparing the Model X to the Audi E-Tron. Audi is a shade less expensive, has more mainstream design cues, and is from a well known manufacturer with good history of quality components......yet it's sales are stale, slow, and just generally not well received. So clearly just tossing some motors into an existing package and style doesn't work. You need something else to catch the audience, and the truck was an opportunity to do just that. They missed with the polarizing styling, poor engineering choices, answering questions nobody asked, and attempting to prove that with childish stunts (cannonballs at windows, and tug of war with trucks). The CT specs might be great, but it's an arguably terrible vehicle overall.
Good points, but I still think a big factor in vehicle choice is aesthetics. The initial prototype is ugly. If you disagree and like the design you are either a Tesla fanboy, or so far out there you represent .00001% of the majority of truck buyers.
As
@MattFX4 notes here, if you like the design, you either like Tesla for what they are, or you don't represent the majority of truck owners. That is not to say they they aren't finding DIFFERENT people to buy the vehicle (or at least pre-order), just that they are mostly likely taking market share from other automotive sub sections. How many of those 250k pre-orders already own a pickup and are jumping ship to the CT vs how many are NEW pickup buyers. Clearly the 0.0001% is an exaggeration, but I would expect that it's less than the ~8% that 250k "ship jumpers" represents.......I think you're both correct here.
Hey, don't get one if you don't like it. Easy. Choice is good. But the reality is that in a few years you'll be seeing a lot of them on the road. Go ahead and laugh at the truck then. The owners will be laughing all the way to the bank. The operating cost of the Cybertruck is going to be a small fraction of running an F150. That is a simple, undeniable fact. Of course, there will be a few folks pissing into the wind denying it anyways! LOL.
I agree, the cost of ownership is most likely going to favor the electric. Energy is less expensive in general, and maintenance costs are going to be lower. Purchase price is similar (my truck had a sticker price of $57k, although I bought used for less). We will see a good number of them on the road, but I suspect it's fewer than you think. Even 10% isn't a large margin of the market to take. The further from the coasts and major cities you get the more this will be true. Taking the cars (unsure on market share there) as an example. I commute 32mi through the 12th largest city in the country every day. I might see 4-5 Teslas on my commute that is general heavily traffic. I suspect I might see a CT once or twice a week at these levels, maybe less. It will be awhile before they are even close to as main stream as the rest of the market. i will continue to laugh at them, the same as I laugh at people that currently drive Prius's over 90mph, guys that attempt to tow heavy loads with overly lifted and tiny tired 2500's, and pretty much anyone in an Aztek. Money isn't everything, especially if it means I have to drive a giant wedge on wheels
A final note......Please understand I'm attempting to be discussive here, not dismissive, or argumentative. I'm not great at getting proper inflection through in text formats, so please take my disagreements in the manner they are intended.......Garage/Shop talk and general bench racing style conversation. Happy Thanksgiving!
