Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Cybertruck design/features

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I would really like a pickup that has a short range battery with the ability to set an auxiliary unit on the bed for long distance or extra trailer towing capacity. A couple different sizes would be nice as well as a good size inverter integrated so it can be used on job site as a app. Build it so it can be moved with a fork lift and a loop on top for crane. Lots of possible uses for this.
 
Drop in battery is too much cost to satisfy too small a market. Maybe for later models; focus is on slashing cost and perfecting initial product. Lots of engineering issues affecting all trucks built, few customers actually using it. There’s a reason replaceable batteries are mostly not a thing now on all rechargeable products.
 
Drop in battery is too much cost to satisfy too small a market. Maybe for later models; focus is on slashing cost and perfecting initial product. Lots of engineering issues affecting all trucks built, few customers actually using it. There’s a reason replaceable batteries are mostly not a thing now on all rechargeable products.
I’m sure you’re correct about this. However, when I bought my S years ago I bought the bigger battery for the range which I do use sometimes, but only when I travel, maybe 3 or 4 times a year. The rest of the time I’m carrying around a lot of extra weight. My guess Is a lot of people will do the same with a truck. Put that extra battery capacity in a modular unit that can be added to the truck when needed and can then be easily removed to use for a myriad of other purposes and I’d pay extra for that. Maybe I’m the only one.
 
“Added when needed” - aye, there’s the rub.

This isn’t just a cellphone battery boost pack.
This is a ~1 ton pack filling several cubic feet. Few indeed will be able to install it. There must be a large expensive socket to plug it into the truck, risking damage & taking space & weight. Mounting brackets take design, $, space, weight. Separate charging plug is needed to fill & maintain charge in storage. Etc.

And good chance it won’t be installed when needed.

Cheaper to just buy the bigger permanent pack up front - with zero user effort.
 
So the ability to put it in with a forklift or a crane would basically be a requirement unless you had it in several pieces that connect togethter. Further, this wouldn't reduce the cost or even make it a similar cost to the trimotor. To do this you would need to have some way to connect it directly to the battery to be able to use while charging. Alternatively, you could have a battery pack that would be designed to charge the truck in a traditional way, but that isn't at all Tesla is likely to do. Tesla wouldn't need to do this because EV's are becoming more and more popular and there are a couple companies that are working towards portable chargers that could give enough range to make it to a charger. It would be possible to make a really big one that could give you as much range as you want, but in my personal opinion, it would be a waste of money. If your day to day driving isn't enough to make a trimotor worth it, then don't a trimotor, because by the time the Cybertruck has been delievered to everyone that preordered it, we will probably see 2-3x the amount of chargers there are today. There will be a lot more Tesla Superchargers and destination chargers, as well as tons more chargers by other companies all over the world. There will probably be very few routes in the US and Canada that don't have a charger available.
 
I’m sure you’re correct about this. However, when I bought my S years ago I bought the bigger battery for the range which I do use sometimes, but only when I travel, maybe 3 or 4 times a year. The rest of the time I’m carrying around a lot of extra weight. My guess Is a lot of people will do the same with a truck. Put that extra battery capacity in a modular unit that can be added to the truck when needed and can then be easily removed to use for a myriad of other purposes and I’d pay extra for that. Maybe I’m the only one.


This is the status quo. Most people don't only fill their ICE car with just enough gas for their trip. The benefit I see here is EV's have effectively the same weight full or empty. If you're that concerned about weight reduction you can start ripping out seats
 
  • Like
Reactions: Suns_PSD
Would be interesting to add a 5 year fuel cost estimation, now that we are at a 40 year high inflation rate. Diesel in my area is about $6 per gallon.
Cost is pretty simple... ASSUMING they can sell it for the previously advertised price, then it's a better bet. But if people are paying 80-100k like the F150E... then you are better off
buying a $50k truck and driving the wheels off of it.
Autos on the other hard are not so simple... spending $60k on a sedan, where you could buy a 30-40mpg Toyota sedan for $30k... Ice is the better bet financially.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Suns_PSD
Cost is pretty simple... ASSUMING they can sell it for the previously advertised price, then it's a better bet. But if people are paying 80-100k like the F150E... then you are better off
buying a $50k truck and driving the wheels off of it.
Autos on the other hard are not so simple... spending $60k on a sedan, where you could buy a 30-40mpg Toyota sedan for $30k... Ice is the better bet financially.
If you plan on driving the wheels off it, I’m guessing you are talking 150k-200k+ miles. At a $50k F150 compared to a $80k F150e you will make up that $30k in fuel (at current prices) and PM in ~60k miles. At 200k miles operating cost of a ICE $50k f150 you could probably buy two F150e’s.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m at $12 in fuel to drive my LX570 round trip to Costco. In my Tesla is it $0 (I have solar) even if I paid rack rate for the electricity it would be $0.10. Also have to consider PM. EVs have no oil changes, no transmission, no transfer cases, a very simple cooling system. 8 years in teslas and my PM has consisted of 4 bottles of brake fluid, I do a flush every 2 years. Same time in my LX looking at my log book (do my own work). 16 oil changes, 4 brake flushes, 4 f/r diff fluid changed, 4 transfer case fluid changes, 2 AT fluid exchange, 1 coolant exchange, 2 ACH fluid exchanges. Ballpark this was ~$3k just in fluids/filters/crush washers. Would have been $10-15k if I had it all done at the dealer, here in Alaska closer to $15k.
 
If you plan on driving the wheels off it, I’m guessing you are talking 150k-200k+ miles. At a $50k F150 compared to a $80k F150e you will make up that $30k in fuel (at current prices) and PM in ~60k miles. At 200k miles operating cost of a ICE $50k f150 you could probably buy two F150e’s.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’m at $12 in fuel to drive my LX570 round trip to Costco. In my Tesla is it $0 (I have solar) even if I paid rack rate for the electricity it would be $0.10. Also have to consider PM. EVs have no oil changes, no transmission, no transfer cases, a very simple cooling system. 8 years in teslas and my PM has consisted of 4 bottles of brake fluid, I do a flush every 2 years. Same time in my LX looking at my log book (do my own work). 16 oil changes, 4 brake flushes, 4 f/r diff fluid changed, 4 transfer case fluid changes, 2 AT fluid exchange, 1 coolant exchange, 2 ACH fluid exchanges. Ballpark this was ~$3k just in fluids/filters/crush washers. Would have been $10-15k if I had it all done at the dealer, here in Alaska closer to $15k.
Sounds like you are getting robbed. Pay $50 per year for the Ford works package for an F150. Oil, fluids, tires, etc. Drive a lot... $100 per year. I negotiated 10 freebies when I bought. That's 5-7 years of service for $0.

What I have a hard time comprehending, is how EV have so few issues, less moving parts and so on... But then I drive by the local service center... And it is jam packed with customer cars. Double parked, dusty. They expanded into a stone lot next door to handle the overflow. It's been that way for years. What am I supposed to think when I see that? For years the model x was the least reliable auto on the road(most problems).
I'm speaking as someone who put down a deposit for the f150 EV by the way.
 
  • Funny
Reactions: Brando
Sounds like you are getting robbed. Pay $50 per year for the Ford works package for an F150. Oil, fluids, tires, etc. Drive a lot... $100 per year. I negotiated 10 freebies when I bought. That's 5-7 years of service for $0.

What I have a hard time comprehending, is how EV have so few issues, less moving parts and so on... But then I drive by the local service center... And it is jam packed with customer cars. Double parked, dusty. They expanded into a stone lot next door to handle the overflow. It's been that way for years. What am I supposed to think when I see that? For years the model x was the least reliable auto on the road(most problems).
I'm speaking as someone who put down a deposit for the f150 EV by the way.
Those dealer packages are good. I enjoy doing my own work and that way I also know it is being done correctly. I also use my cricket hard, off road often, tow a 7k lb camper ~10k miles a summer, so do the shorter intervals for fluids, oil every 5k, diffs/tcase every 20k, AT every 50k. I’m in Alaska and everything is more expensive. In the car service market up here there is almost no competition. The local Toyota dealer quoted my buddy $5k for the 60k service on his LX570. That service is: oil change, F/R diffs, Tcase, hydraulic AHC fluid, brake fluid exchange.

I had a model S for 4 years and now had a Model 3 for going on 4 years. Only service I’ve had was a tail light recall on the 3 that the tech did in my garage and the fore mentioned brake fluid exchanges I did in my garage with a pressure bleeder. Model X’s though did have a ton of issues with the rear doors, expectedly in the first 2-3 years.
 
Those dealer packages are good. I enjoy doing my own work and that way I also know it is being done correctly. I also use my cricket hard, off road often, tow a 7k lb camper ~10k miles a summer, so do the shorter intervals for fluids, oil every 5k, diffs/tcase every 20k, AT every 50k. I’m in Alaska and everything is more expensive. In the car service market up here there is almost no competition. The local Toyota dealer quoted my buddy $5k for the 60k service on his LX570. That service is: oil change, F/R diffs, Tcase, hydraulic AHC fluid, brake fluid exchange.

I had a model S for 4 years and now had a Model 3 for going on 4 years. Only service I’ve had was a tail light recall on the 3 that the tech did in my garage and the fore mentioned brake fluid exchanges I did in my garage with a pressure bleeder. Model X’s though did have a ton of issues with the rear doors, expectedly in the first 2-3 years.
This is what I see when I drive by. Customer cars double, triple, quadruple parked. Parked in random areas. Parked in the grass.
I worry about that stuff. I ask sales depts about service wait times. When I test drove an S many years ago I asked the wait time for service.
I like talking to humans in sales or service who can do me a favor. I have to assume it's in their best interest so I buy from them again.

Grabbed a satellite image of the service center. Top left area are new cars. The rest... waiting for service.
lot1.jpg
 
That 3500 lbs payload sounded like a lot, I figured you could never put that much in the truck w/o leaving the vault open, but I did the math and it came out differently than I expected. Someone wanna check my numbers?

100 cu. ft. of storage. 6+ gallons in a single cubic foot, water weighs 6+ lbs. a gallon, so 36+ lbs. a cubic foot x 100 = 3600+ lbs.

So unless you are carrying stuff lighter than water, like gasoline or hydrogen (not likely in a CT), or maybe quadrotriticale, you could max your payload before maxing out the storage compartments. Check them for tribbles.
a gallon of water weighs about 8.3 pounds
five gallons of water weighs 41.64 pounds
cubic meter = 1,000 kgs
 
I just dropped my car off for service, my DC relay failed on a road trip so I am stranded at the SLC SvC for a week, fortunately they had a loaner when I arrived. There are lots of reasons to get an electric car serviced. I also want a new ECU so I can CCS charge, and my roof cracked when I took off the roof rack before this trip. Sheesh!

Others were getting tires or having cameras fixed or new 12V batteries, EVs still require maintenance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Suns_PSD
But then I drive by the local service center... And it is jam packed with customer cars.
Keep in mind how many Tesla’s are being serviced by that one center. Las Vegas has a population of almost 3 million and we see Teslas at every intersection. Yet all those cars are being serviced by one service center. Admittedly many are serviced by mobile techs but there is absolutely no way that many ICE’s could be serviced by one dealership. My impression of SLC is similar: large population, whole lotta Teslas driving around and just one service center.
 
  • Like
Reactions: coleAK
This is what I see when I drive by. Customer cars double, triple, quadruple parked. Parked in random areas. Parked in the grass.
I worry about that stuff. I ask sales depts about service wait times. When I test drove an S many years ago I asked the wait time for service.
I like talking to humans in sales or service who can do me a favor. I have to assume it's in their best interest so I buy from them again.

Grabbed a satellite image of the service center. Top left area are new cars. The rest... waiting for service.
View attachment 801044
Where are you? Population size? How close is the next closest Tesla service center? I’m in Anchorage, Alaska I have one Lexus Toyota/Lexus dealer in about a 100 mile radius. Population is ~280k. It is always weeks to get service done. These days they have easy 5-10x more vehicles there for service them sale. This at the dealer for some of the most reliable brands. I live ~2k miles from the nearest Tesla service center.
 

Attachments

  • DEB37F82-86AF-47F5-B171-18854341C2DF.jpeg
    DEB37F82-86AF-47F5-B171-18854341C2DF.jpeg
    371.7 KB · Views: 33
Last edited:
Keep in mind how many Tesla’s are being serviced by that one center. Las Vegas has a population of almost 3 million and we see Teslas at every intersection. Yet all those cars are being serviced by one service center. Admittedly many are serviced by mobile techs but there is absolutely no way that many ICE’s could be serviced by one dealership. My impression of SLC is similar: large population, whole lotta Teslas driving around and just one service center.
That sounds like a Tesla problem.
GM has 61m autos on the road and 4500 dealers.(in the US) that's about 13,500 autos per dealer. Course you have the right to repair elsewhere.

Tesla has sold about 1.5m in the US and has about 150 service centers. That's 10k autos per center. Then you have the mobile repair.
 
There are lots of things to service in Tesla's.

here is a short list of the things on the 3 S's we have owned:

Door handles (X8) - 6 of 8 covered by Telsa
Air shock (X2) - not covered by Tesla
MCU's (X2) - not covered by Tesla
Air suspension sensors (X1)
Adjustable rear camber links (cause Tesla was too cheap to design them in), eating rear tires like a teenager eats donuts (fixed)
12 Volt battery (X4)
HEPA Filter (X2)
Tires (X40) over 200K on 3 cars, so about every 20K
Front Windshield glass (X2)
Windshield sprayer (X1)
Windshield wipers (X10)
Brake Fluid (cant remember how many ounces)
Headlight (2016), (X4) - the damn eyebrow LED is blown again.. out of warranty now.. so add another headlight assembly
Trim issues (about 18 trips)
Leather issues (Tesla told me to go F myself)
Drive Unit (replaced before they figured out a wire was loose and causing the short code) (X1)
Half Shafts (X3), starting clicking again after 5K (out of warranty now)
lower front aft control arm catastrophic failure (X2) - not covered by Tesla
Steering bracket bolts seared off, fixed under recall warranty
21 inch wheels (X3) - cracked
19 inch wheels (X1) - cracked
Towed (flatbed) to dealer 3 times (or about once per vehicle during its life)

Other than that they are maintenance "free" with about $20k freed from my wallet with a large portion of that being the MCU's, that Tesla failed to cover.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Suns_PSD