First thing to note is that Tesla isn't focused on the pick-up market. Pick-ups are a huge challenge. If it's a practical purchase it's tough to meet the varied requirements with a BEV and if it's not a practical purchase, then you're battling with entrenched ideas of irrational consumers. Tesla is going after the semi market because it's a large market with known parameters where a high proportion of buyers will be rational. If it can meet the obvious TCO challenge, Tesla will only have to overcome aversion to risk to succeed. I shouldn't be concerned about brand recognition. The Model 3 will be higher volume and the higher volume will bring more recognition.
This was the first thing I tried myself. Unfortunately that doesn't work either. As soon as I click the stop loading icon, it stops loading, only to immediately start refreshing the page again. It's a vicious cycle with no apparent way out. In the end I just gave up because it was too annoying.
It did work here at least. I would have tried once more if it didn't, and tried to find the right timing for clicking the "stop" icon.
I'm waiting for a full electric Pickup. Thankfully I have good patience, I can't see this being brought to production by Tesla until 2025. Other manufacturers? Hopefully sooner.
Some pickup buyers want to pull 5th wheel or goose-neck trailers, RV, horse/livestock, equipment, etc. so *towing capacity* will be important for them. Witness the battle between Ford, Dodge and Toyota.
That's the reason I still have my Ford, Tesla isn't pulling a my toy hauler anytime soon. I'll be really interested to see how long before the aftermarket crowd responds to upfitting the semi for RV usage.
Something like this is what I would like to see in a Tesla truck. But, Tesla will never make anything even close to the Bollinger. And A Tesla EV that looks like a Honda Ridgeline will never compete with the F-150!
The one in the article does not look like a read off road pickup, more like an El Camino street vehicle. Accessories should include: 120 V AC power reciptacles Winch plug Off road height adjustment Rock protection for battery Off road lighting Off Road tire and wheel packages Towing packages Off Road Nav Packages Solar charging?? foldout canopy??? Truck bed options: Cover Shell camper Convenience pockets and hold downs Rear window pass through Cargo rack Lumber and/or pipe rack Amber Turn Signals!
The Bollinger will not work for me, need more of an F-150 truck with 8 foot bed and lumber rack capable. Towing and would be nice to have 4 wheel drive.
Make sure they make more money as they do right now, if they continue to refuse working with Tesla, then they will feel it in their wallets, while they see their colleagues getting richer.
I also must say that I think it would have been more easy to make buses first, a bus got more space for a battery, a boss in buscompagnies usually is the government or anything like that and not the busdriver, on top of that, all the passengers will talk about it. So if you make an awesome bus, then that will be noticed by the mass much more easy. On top of that, it will give some extra time to develop similar batteries in a smaller shape, which will be good for trucks.
While a Bollinger will not be suitable for everybody. It does take a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and a few 12' boards can be carried with the tailgate(s) still up- all in the 2 door version. They also plan to have a four door version. The only drawback for me is long distance driving.
LCR1: If you saw the semi announcement extravaganza, you'll remember the current cab has seating for one - the driver. Gonna need some major structural changes to have seating for 5-6. IMO, that'd be more work than an upfitter would be capable of. Lloyd: Your list is a good starting point. Especially convenience outlets to eliminate the genset most contractors typically haul. Add an air compressor. Still, pretty exciting to watch Tesla / Boring / SpaceX companies readjust our perception of the future.
All I have is just the anecdote. I was talking with a couple of contractors a couple of years ago. I was saying that I would like the Tesla as my next car. They were interested in, and knew about it. They were interested in the potential of the instant torque in trucks.
At least pickup buyers aren't likely to quibble about paint nits and alacantra headliners. Same happens to me on my phone. Can't bother with the articles because of that.
And you my good sir underestimate the luxury pickup crowd. The vast majority of sales don't matter but the vocal high end guys will make multiple trips to a dealer over a loose cup holder or rattling center console. Or better yet the dreaded "sticker-gate" The instant torque will be the biggest selling point. All three of the big players have torque around 925 pounds. ( at the crank of course) however that means nothing in every case All of those numbers are at 1600 RPM All of those trucks are limited in gears 1-3 All of that power is only available at full throttle (of course) Anyone whose ever driven a vehicle in well, ever. Knows that if you floor it above 4th gear the RPMs aren't dropping, they are going to the moon. So, you can't use all that torque off the line and you can't use all that torque while driving. So when can you actually use it? #1 reason I still have my diesel after all these years and haven't upgraded, you'll never actually see these dyno numbers in real life. If Tesla doesn't limit when the torque is available they have a true bragging right on their hand