Killing multiple categories is not what Tesla does. Nothing they make is highly configurable from Tesla. No last mile delivery company would pay for rear wheel steering. Air suspension ….. nope. Dream all you want until gas is over $5 a gallon for good on the east coast and diesel over $6.51 the Tesla van ain’t happening.
What could happen is a Ram ProMaster with the hybrid drive. Fast DC charging is not profitable for fleets right now. Decent level 2 to get 122 miles of range in an 8 hour charge yeah that’s probably where the sweet spot is now.
Air suspension lowering the van down to kneel would make it that much easier to load and unload. I'm sure an ergonomic study would show that the decreased strain times 40 hours of work a week would reduce the probability of worker injury by a not insignificant percentage. Likewise the improvement in vehicle maneuverability provided by rear wheel steering and steer-by-wire would reduce probability of low-speed crashes. Both of these would reduce overall liability. I think these improvements are significant enough to justify a well funded and efficient delivery operation paying extra for them. If they were to cost extra--but they won't.
the Rivian EDV and the GM Brightdrop seem like the current leaders for electric cargo vans, with the Mercedes Esprinter just about to come out next year. EDV 500 is $83K and the EDV 700 is $87K. Brightdrop is $85K and the announced price for the Esprinter starts at $74K.
Tesla is planning to deliver the AWD Cybertruck for 80k and the RWD Cybertruck for 60K. I expect that both of them will have rear wheel steering and air suspension. Assuming they do, I believe that tesla could deliver a van on the same platform, with the same features for the same price, plus an additional $5K because the van body contains more metal than a truck body. I think a cybervan could easily beat all of those offerings on price.
with regards to configurability, I think the built-in L-tracks on the Cybertruck bed shows what direction they would take a van. Built in L-tracks in the Van would allow for attachment points for seats, cargo racks, etc, which could be sold by tesla or developed by third parties. I think it could also be easy to connect these accessories (seats specifcally) to the Etherloop. Like, imagine a modular seat with its own built in heating and cooling loop. Just hook it onto the L-rack and then plug it in to an ethernet port hidden under a panel. I think its possible with the 48v system.
And all of this is just talking about its use as a commercial van. A cybervan would *sugar* all over the large SUV market. It would be faster, more capable, more functional, have better much better Off-road capabilities with more significantly more (like 50% more) cargo and passenger capacity than Tahoes, Yukons, Expeditions, R1Ss...etc. Sure, there's the form factor and "looks" factor which might scare some consumers off from buying it, because in our culture vans are either mommywagons or strangers with candy, but if you were to just go by capabilities, why would anyone want to buy any of those aforementioned vehicles if a Cybervan was an option?
