For a plow, I hope it comes pre wired with some kind of open 12v socket in the front for options. Second I’m betting it won’t be a great plow truck without a robust frame, probably will handle lightweight duty fine but heavy plowing like commercial will probably destroy it rather quickly.
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Tesla Pickup Truck Question
- Thread starter azbob
- Start date
Dan Detweiler
Active Member
...and what percentage of the truck market do you think off road compared to those who tow?
Don't like it? Don't get it. But don't pretend your personal preferences are necessarily representative of the larger market.
Dan
strider
Active Member
So wait for the Wrangler EV. More and more pickup trucks are going w/ air because they are so much better at adapting to large variations in loads. People want the truck to ride well when empty and full. You can't do that w/ springs. You either get beat to death when empty or wallowing when loaded. You also get the benefit of not blinding oncoming cars when you're towing as the truck can level itself.
Easy now, I’m just saying he isn’t going function over form. Very few people tow as well as off road and even towing air is only an extremely slight advantage and can be a disadvantage with a camper when using a WD set up, I’ll also air bags are easily added to springs.
Anyone towing any significant load (other then boats) should be using a WD hitch, which eliminates squat and headlight blinding, and air under heavy load for leveling gets extremely firm. This is the big problem with air, it’s good with mid stroke suspension compliance, but when you increase the pressure to raise up or level under load you lose travel, articulation, and ride compliance.
Also air is not the only option for adjustable ride height, hydraulic with springs like Toyota Land Cruiser, Oshkosh, and even GM magnetic is superior to air for consistency when increase height and under load. These systems actually give decreased spring rate (increased travel/articulation) when raised and maintain suspension compliance under load.
Dan Detweiler
Active Member
The other advantage to the air suspension is the ability to lower the vehicle for easier entry and exit. I freely admit this is probably not an big deal for most, but it sure will make my failing knees and back happy.
Dan
strider
Active Member
No disagreement with anything you said. However, a ton of people around here tow heavy trailers w/o WD hitches (I've only seen them on campers). They are building a neighborhood next to me and all day long I see pickups hauling heavily loaded trailers and the pickup squatted down in the back (likely the bed is full of crap too). I have had a few friends over the years add air bags to their pickups for when they're towing. It's a proven tech and it's relatively cheap. Further, Tesla has experience w/ it. Which is the only thing on a pickup that they have experience with....
Your other options sound interesting, but I've guessing they are more expensive than air and are they proven for heavy loads? The GM magnetorheological (I don't know how to spell it and can't be bothered to look it up) are magic on the Corvette. They are spendy though.
Yes hydraulic is probably more expensive then air. It is also simpler and much more robust then air, It is what Toyota uses on the Land cruiser, even the 11k lb full armored ones NATO uses. I’ve driven Land cruisers for almost 30 years, been in a few that have over 300k miles of use entirely off road. The GM magnetic is a lower tech simpler version without active leveling and height adjustment.
Tesla air system is Bosch, same that MB and FCA uses, so probably cheaper due to commercially available
Yes, you can probably figure out a way to mount a snow plow but a big issue is whether doing so will void the Tesla warranty.
$40K-70K is a lot to lose.
Need Tesla to make official warranty statement and include mounting guidance.
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