I’m still scpetical that Cybertruck will be street-legal in any jurisdiction without significant redesign. Maybe Texas and Somalia.
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I’m still scpetical that Cybertruck will be street-legal in any jurisdiction without significant redesign. Maybe Texas and Somalia.
WoodWombat
Member
Tesla are not Stupid. At a bare minimum they will meet all the requirements for the US, where such large pickup trucks are everywhere. There is a reasonable chance that we will get the original full-sized CT, based on our frankly ludicrous appetite for RAM trucks, Silverados and F-trucks.
Another possibility is that we get a smaller "world truck" CT out of China or maybe even a new factory in Thailand or Indonesia. It is not like most of the twin cab utes on the Australian market are not made in Thailand anyway.
Time will tell.
Zoltrix77
Member
I know pickup trucks are a huge thing in the US and increasingly in Australia, but I still don't think its the best place to directing battery cells. Just discouraging their purchase is better use of resources.
I think you must have mistyped in the 2nd paragraph, I think you mean ARE made in Thailand.
What's the difference between an F150, RAM, or even a truck? They're all going to smoosh a pedestrian but are legal now.
Most sold vehicle in Australia is the Hilux and ford ranger is third. Iike me many people need utes for work. Only by having electric utes can we make a real difference so IMO it makes great sense to start getting electric utes into the Australian market. Saying that, I don't need a RAM size ute or super range. Just the Hilux size and a real range of 350 - 400km towing a light load would be great.
No doubt that many people need a ute type vehicle but it should be noted that the sales of these types of vehicles is highly skewed due to government policy that was introduced way back in 1986.
I believe there would be a lot less of these gas guzzlers chocking suburban streets if it wasn't for the FBT exemption.
Recent ATO 'guidelines' about FBT exemption back in 2018 was a half baked attempt to discourage the seemingly never ending uptake of utes. The ATO basically said they would not apply compliance resources to determine the private use of these vehicles if employers were following the guidelines!
Hopefully the new FBT exemption on EV's will take many of the 'best selling utes' off the road and address another mismatched Govt policy of old.
This is right, turbocharged by the instant asset writeoff provisions introduced I think in 2015. To be eligible a passenger vehicle has to have a load carrying capacity above 1 tonne (or 9 passengers). So even if your business is hairdressing or mortgage broking you still need a ute (or van, but no-one wants a van as a normal passenger car).
WoodWombat
Member
Huge pickup trucks as daily drivers are bloody stupid, yes, but they have their place as work vehicles. I need a tow vehicle to replace my diesel Prado, something that I can tour off-road and tow many trailers around for example.
I did not mistype by the way, I wrote in a double negative snarky way to say that most twin cabs are made in Thailand.
This is off topic, but vans make more sense as commercial vehicles in the city, but vans are purely utilitarian so not good for private use, same as a single cab ute. People are buying dual cab utes to pick up kids and the groceries, and to carry a motorbike/ATV/surf board/skis/landscaping supplies on the weekend. If you need to carry tools, a van provides more lockable cargo space, unless your work site is off-road, then the 4x4 utes superior off-road handling is a necessity. If you've seen a ute with a canopy, it probably should have been a van. Big dual cab utes are predominately a lifestyle vehicle, which can be seen that Europe has a preference for vans over utes.
Hopefully we see some electric vans officially brought in soon.
Hopefully we see some electric vans officially brought in soon.
Zoltrix77
Member
So we are all in agreement that the majority of Ranger/Hilux etc style utes exist not because most buyers actually need them, but government FBT policy and great marketing by auto companies on highly profitable vehicles (Imagine that lifestyle with a ute!). Until about 15 years ago, these vehicles barely existed other than the traditional Falcon and Commodore car based utes.
Unless you genuinely NEED one for work, and by need I mean traveling down roads / places where its warranted, not just the usual field managers with a couple of traffic cones in the back, they are such wasteful vehicles.
- They use 12-13l of diesel per 100km, perhaps less if you are really careful.
- Small inside
- Relatively horrible to drive compared to a on road SUV.
- Are huge on the outside.
- Are far from cheap.
As a trades person that doesn't go to remote sites, a van is so much more of a practical vehicle. You can store all your tools in it and has at least 3 times the space. I have had a couple of Transit Customs and they use around 8l/100km, much more efficient, still tows 1600kg assuming tow ball down weight is okay.
For a utes real use case, EV's are not suited due to the low range (and basically no range when towing). The only thing I tow is a race car occasionally, I only go to Winton or Philip Island from Melbourne, and towing range with an EV is not enough so I just use one of the Vans or swap cars with somone else for the day. Even if you did want to go the EV towing route, not only is the charging every 150km painful, its the fact you have to disconnect the trailer to do so!.
Cementing my point that battery cells are better directed elsewhere towards regular passenger cars and commercial vans. Sure SOME use cases for a EV ute might be out there, but not many at this stage. The Ford Maverick would make a much better EV ute if it were avaiable, unibody architecture, small, light, Perfect city ute.
RareEarth
Member
'Justifiable' use of a ute / truck is not just confined to tradies. People in the bush use them for many reasons, one of which is the lousy roads that can make mincemeat of anything else.
I have a 20 year old Hilux 4WD tray back (bought second hand) which I cannot wait to replace with an electric version. If the wait goes on much longer I will seriously consider converting it to electric.
For my needs it must: 1. be a competent 4WD drive vehicle 2. have high clearance, 3. be able to go through water, 4. carry a full load of firewood, 5. have a winch for getting myself / others out of trouble, 6. be able to pull fallen trees off a road / track. I don't tow a lot so not a big deal for me, people get utes so they don't have to lug trailers around.
Zoltrix77
Member
My choice of defining "work" was incorrect, what your are describing IS work. I'm talking about everyone in our citys with a Ranger Wiltrack that someday wish to drive down a dirst road.
Maximillan
Member
Yessss, thissss.
Bring it to Australia VW, I promise to reconsider my oath to never buy your crappy quality products again.
As an Uber driver I occasionally get people in the know in my car. One guy who worked in this space said the crashworthiness of the Cybertruck won't be an issue, as crumple zones are just one means to achieving the required outcomes, and Tesla has ample active pedestrian safety & crash avoidance tech. Plus there's some weak zones in the design that sorta act like a crumple zone. The big issue he saw was whether the light bars on the prototype would be compliant here.
![[Zombie]](/tmc/data/avatars/l/236/236453.jpg?1658216431){kind=avatar}
[Zombie]
Member
noddy@teamterm
Team Terminal
The van would probably meet my needs. I am swapping a small van for an M3 with a towbar because a suitable van was not available when I pulled the pin to go EV. My use case in NT requires to be able to do a 200K round trip lightly loaded. No charging infrastructure, although there is a 50Kw charger in Darwin but it is in the wrong direction. Part of the trip is along the Stuart Highway (single lane 130KPH speed limit). You have to be at least over 100KPH or you will get run over by a road train.
If I don't get a VIN soon it might be quicker to change to a van.
AussieOwner
White M3 2021 LR
I have seen some huge 'monster trucks' as my mate has called them. I cant imagine the Cyber Truck will be an issue given how unnecessary large these trucks are (RAM for example)
Maximillan
Member
WoodWombat
Member
They are all reasonable close in dimensions (the CT was benchmarked against the F-150 for size), but I suspect that the CT will look a bit less stupid from the front and provide significantly better visibility since the bonnet height on a stock Dodge RAM is over 1470mm high. By comparison, a stock Prado 150 is about 1290mm at the rear highest part of the bonnet.
Whatever happens over the next couple of years, complete EV transition in Australia is not going to happen until we get a good selection of all types of light commercial vehicles, small and large vans, on-road utes (like the 2WD LDV mentioned above) and more rugged utes and SUVs. Issues around towing will remain for some, but for others, whose towing is usually fairly short, will be satisfied.
It is interesting to note that the 50kW chargers in Omeo are on the side of the road, so you can hook up with a trailer on, which we will need a lot more of, particularly with vehicles like Teslas that have their charge port at the rear.
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