Haha, no problem, I did it to see if I could make sense of what looks like a massive slab. I'm working on a revised version at the moment – I'm pretty sure Franz isn't losing much sleep though.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Electric Pickup Roundup: Musk Says Tesla Truck 'Not Like Anything Else'
- Thread starter Ty_McMahan
- Start date
Well, I agree with those who say it's a Rorschach test. Elon has been very successful at creating a murky image into which we are projecting our imagination!
Regarding the "white light bar", a few points:
1. There's no way that the light strip can be representative of headlights, as some have suggested. Just look at the direction of the rays of light depicted in the original drawing... not the "enhanced" version posted earlier in this thread, which washes out subtle lighting contrasts. This light bar/strip isn't nearly bright enough to blind anyone who isn't right next to the truck. It only appears bright by contrast to the rest of the scene, which is pretty dark.
2. The picture is monochrome. Light which appears light blue or white in the drawing might in reality be red.
3. If it's an LED running light strip, as I suspect, then it may be able to switch from red to white or other colors when the truck parks.
Then there would be no need for those wide, obliquely slanted "lapels" on either side of the large central slab, nor any need to taper the "lapels" in the direction away from the "camera". In fact, with the geometry you suggest, the taper should be reversed, with the "lapel" coming to a point at the back end.
Note the lighting on the far end of the light strip indicates the outer edge of the "lapel" is slanting down toward the ground, which again fits with the central slab being a pickup bed with a hard cover on it.
Makes more sense if the "lapels" are wide enough at the back to contain the wheel wells, so those don't intrude into the pickup bed. They can taper toward the front of the bed, where there's no need for a wider section to encompass the wheels.
Barklikeadog
Active Member
OK, this is what I'm thinking we're looking at, the rear of the truck with a (hydraulic) cover over the bed, in its lowered state, and thanks to @jdevo2004 for making me realise it with the images he posted. One thing that bothered me about the image Elon released, especially when it's lightened, is that the truck seems to be very low to the ground, that's why I'm thinking it's lowered.
Apologies for how rough this is, dimensions are all out, as is scale, I have a feeling it might be bigger. The bottom's all wrong and I didn't even hazard a guess as to what the front might look like. I've left the far side open so the wheel position can be seen.
For my money, what they have released looks great – a bit like a Lambo/Bladerunner lovechild, and I love it. I might spend time taking this into photoshop and making it look good, but I've already spent waaay too much time on this already.
I also agree with @Pushmi-Pullyu when he says light which appears light blue or white in the drawing might in reality be red and if it's an LED running light strip, then it may be able to switch from red to white or other colors (which would be an amazing feature). It could all be red, then a portion of it could change to yellow for indicating (turn signals). It could also turn white for reversing.
Here it is in its lowered state in the foreground and higher, driving state in the background.
Apologies for how rough this is, dimensions are all out, as is scale, I have a feeling it might be bigger. The bottom's all wrong and I didn't even hazard a guess as to what the front might look like. I've left the far side open so the wheel position can be seen.
For my money, what they have released looks great – a bit like a Lambo/Bladerunner lovechild, and I love it. I might spend time taking this into photoshop and making it look good, but I've already spent waaay too much time on this already.
I also agree with @Pushmi-Pullyu when he says light which appears light blue or white in the drawing might in reality be red and if it's an LED running light strip, then it may be able to switch from red to white or other colors (which would be an amazing feature). It could all be red, then a portion of it could change to yellow for indicating (turn signals). It could also turn white for reversing.
Here it is in its lowered state in the foreground and higher, driving state in the background.
Uh, guys, I know this thing isn’t really aimed at the work truck market, but most my buds work their trucks and the first thing they do to a new truck is install a lumber rack. I don’t see how you can get around one to haul 16-20 foot stuff. Also, they are aero killers. There was an article the other day where some scientists tried to improve the aero on a standard pickup with covers trick gates, etc. and discovered the standard bed had better aero than their solutions. The solutions to these problems will be interesting.
Barklikeadog
Active Member
swengl
Member
lookmtb
Member
Yep, the tailpipes give it away
Not saying that you're wrong, its just that it would be SOOOOO EASY to bolt up some fake pipes to fool everyone. If I was on the development team that's the first thing I would do!
swengl
Member
The other thing is that there is nothing "Blade Runner"-ish about that body style, it looks just like every other truck out there. Man, I hope the dev team spends all of their time perfecting the design and none trying to fool folks with test mule decoys.
Not to worry, Tesla just had one two few cars going to wherever that truck was going, so he picked up something else to fill the trailer. Note that it was loaded last. That's the clue.
doghousePVD
My grandfather’s car
As a practical matter, the vast majority of trucks cube out before gross out. Any trailer carrying boxes, such as UPS, Amazon Prime, US mail, and moving companies always run out of space before going over weight. An extra thousand pounds of tractor weight won't make a difference.
Bulk carriers, such as fuel, chemicals, ore, steel, etc. are more likely to gross out, so a Tesla Semi will be less effective.
I'd suggest it's the other way around. At least that's been my experience in the trucking industry. There are far more weight constrained heavy trucks than there are volume constrained. I do believe the number of volume constrained heavy trucks have a larger percentage than they did in the past.
CjRichMar
Member
The more I look at this truck, the more the cab-over-engine design looks like the right answer, rather than the truck bed cap alternative.
1. It's been proven by a few different studies that bed caps add no aerodynamic advantage, and are actually counterproductive to fuel economy in a lot of cases.
2. Elon first showed a (probably tongue-in-cheek) picture of the Tesla pick up with an F-150 in the bed. I don't think this is representative of the volume of the bed, BUT
3. It would make sense as to the approximate length if Tesla did a "cab over engine" design. The four feet that's usually taken up by the engine block could be used for extra passengers or extra bed space.
4. Elon's comment about 7 passengers also makes a lot more sense with the cab over engine design. There's no way you can fit 7 adults comfortably in a traditional truck design without ridiculous proportions.
Last edited:
swengl
Member
I definitely agree with the cab over motor design that ICE vehicles cannot copy. That, coupled with the low center of gravity/frame rigidity that the battery pack will give the truck should yield a new and (hopefully) appealing design. And, of course, it will drive like a sports car
shlokavica22
Member
That front makes a very good case for what Elon hinted in the past- "amphibian" truck. I suspect that on features alone, the truck will win vast majority of truck users. The look will be secondary issue.
McHoffa
CyberOwners
Here's the version of that design overlaid on a Blade Runner scene
Elon said it could seat 6 people, so the cab must be big. No reason for a hood without an engine. It simply can't be the rear, because one, the light is white instead of red, and two, the badge is on top instead of where a tailgate would be, which makes no sense. No other car or truck including Tesla puts the badge on top of the rear. Not only that, but in the brightened up version below, you can see a clean line just above the badge, which looks like where glass begins. That makes no sense as a bed cover. AND, there looks to be a shadow of a wheel if you turn the picture about 45º
Similar threads
