cybertruck is going to fail ? I doubt it

[MXWing]

This "truck" will not be something that businesses/companies will purchase for their fleet of maintenance type vehicles.

You yourself did not qualify this statement. I don't hit disagree often as that's a lazy way to vote someone down.

I would absolutely love to make lots of deliveries with this truck.

The Cybertruck can't fulfill every single purpose for every single person. I really dislike the "it doesn't work for me". Well does it work for others?

Does it work enough for Tesla to produce it?

Using the analogy of a ship - does a ship have to be a submarine, destroyer, cruiser, and aircraft carrier all in one?

And if its an aircraft carrier, why doesn't it fit in my garage?

 

[nativewolf]

If you get into an accident, who will fix it?

That is an interesting question. Same issue faced by carbon fiber in cars. Except...stainless can be welded and cut away. With CF you often do panel replacements. Most importantly this truck is just not going to get the grocery car dents, the door banging into you in a too tight spot dent. The low impact tbone. This thickness of hardened stainless steel is going to be really hard to damage. If it fails...you have issues other than who can fix it and I suspect it will be totaled. The good news, it can be recycled.

OH MY GOODNESSS.... this may be the easiest truck to recycle in decades. No fiberglass panels, no oils. Just remove the battery. Take windows out. Maybe 5 mins to gut the interior.

Wow....

 

[ricohman]

That is an interesting question. Same issue faced by carbon fiber in cars. Except...stainless can be welded and cut away. With CF you often do panel replacements. Most importantly this truck is just not going to get the grocery car dents, the door banging into you in a too tight spot dent. The low impact tbone. This thickness of hardened stainless steel is going to be really hard to damage. If it fails...you have issues other than who can fix it and I suspect it will be totaled. The good news, it can be recycled.

OH MY GOODNESSS.... this may be the easiest truck to recycle in decades. No fiberglass panels, no oils. Just remove the battery. Take windows out. Maybe 5 mins to gut the interior.

Wow....

Remove all the glass, plastic and wiring in 5 minutes? LOL!
Seriously though. All cars get in accidents. As a body man I can see the difficulties in repairing this thing.
Perhaps owners will paint them? Delorean owners did to reduce time spent buffing stainless. It has its pros and cons. But keeping a stainless car looking good is definitely more time consuming than a painted car.
But I guess that depends on how fussy you are.

 

[mikemillar]

Like a lot of people, when I first saw cybertruck on the Reveal I was gobsmacked, and not in a very positive way. My initial thought was huh! what on earth has Elon produced now. It's certainly controversial, but just considering styling completely misses the point. Cybertruck is an insanely brilliant piece of free thinking engineering design, economics and marketing. That influences the styling, not the other way round. If you fell asleep watching OP's video link read this 5 minute article summary of why:
Tesla Cybertruck And The Art Of Rejecting Advice - Motivation For Sceptics
I still have no regrets about buying TSLA in June - Disclosure: I am long TSLA.

 

[UCF3]

You yourself did not qualify this statement. I don't hit disagree often as that's a lazy way to vote someone down.

I would absolutely love to make lots of deliveries with this truck.

The Cybertruck can't fulfill every single purpose for every single person. I really dislike the "it doesn't work for me". Well does it work for others?

Does it work enough for Tesla to produce it?

Using the analogy of a ship - does a ship have to be a submarine, destroyer, cruiser, and aircraft carrier all in one?

And if its an aircraft carrier, why doesn't it fit in my garage?

People with a fleet of maintenance vehicles are going to pay $70,000 for a range of 500 miles (comparable in range to most full size trucks)? I don’t see it. A lot of these companies are trying to scrape by

 

[acentre]

Remove all the glass, plastic and wiring in 5 minutes? LOL!
Seriously though. All cars get in accidents. As a body man I can see the difficulties in repairing this thing.
Perhaps owners will paint them? Delorean owners did to reduce time spent buffing stainless. It has its pros and cons. But keeping a stainless car looking good is definitely more time consuming than a painted car.
But I guess that depends on how fussy you are.

The new aesthetic will be the raw, untouched stainless look! The more tarnish and scratches the better.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Perhaps owners will paint them? Delorean owners did to reduce time spent buffing stainless. It has its pros and cons. But keeping a stainless car looking good is definitely more time consuming than a painted car. But I guess that depends on how fussy you are.

I'm sorry, but this is completely inaccurate. I've been a Delorean owner since 2000, and know hundreds of other owners and participate in frequent club events and national meets (every other year). Very, VERY few Delorean owners have painted their cars, and it wasn't easy for the ones who have (paint does not naturally adhere to stainless steel, so it requires significant prep). The primary reason for painting a Delorean is not for making it easier to care for the car or stainless steel finish, but rather, to hide body damage repaired with Bondo that would have been too expensive, difficult, or impossible to repair or replace (for instance, there are no more stock left front fenders available, and the ones that go up for sale are usually more than $1000).

Also, a Delorean stainless steel body actually requires almost no maintenance over many many years. Since the Delorean stainless steel body has a brushed, grained, finish, nobody is "buffing" their Delorean. Over time (years) if a car gets a few scratches or nicks, it's very simple to regrain the stainless with a $6 blending pad. I've done this exactly once in my time of ownership. If the scratches are deeper, one can use a powered Vonnegut Wheel or Wolf Head Wheel and then a blending pad. This is something someone might do once every two or three years if they're anal about keeping their brushed stainless finish up to "concourse" standards. I've spent hundreds of hours maintaining painted cars, and probably a total of 5 hours maintaining the Delorean finish over the years. It's almost maintenance free. The same would be true for the Cybertruck.

I know of only one owner that buffed their Delorean to a mirror like finish which would require the kind of "buffing" maintenance you are suggesting for stainless steel. As you can see, this is neither a great look for the Delorean nor would be for the Cybertruck:

 

[woodguyatl]

This "truck" will not be something that businesses/companies will purchase for their fleet of maintenance type vehicles. I see this as a niche entry for nerds, geeks and freaks; anyone that desires to be different. (Nothing against the aforementioned; I'm a nerd/geek) A truck for a guy or gal that really can get by without one but, relish the idea that they can haul an easy chair or furniture from IKEA or the likes. I certainly don't see this as a true "utilitarian" vehicle. Different, durable, somewhat functional on the low side, weekend campsite vehicle, conversation piece and apocalyptic escape vehicle...yes. Tesla already has 200K+ reservations over the last 3 days. That says something.....

EDIT: If you're going to "disagree" with my "opinion" (and that's fine if you do) …..at least have the courtesy of stating "why", in your opinion, you "disagree". I'm truly interested in peoples thoughts.

I think this will have appeal to the fleet people, at least in the construction business. Low maintenance, no paint, seats 6. The vast majority of pickups are driven by managers to job sites and used to pick up last minute materials. Construction companies with fleets are large enough and doing large enough jobs that most all materials get delivered. We have our own box trucks and stake trucks if we really need something. The ability to charge all the vehicles nightly and have very low maintenance would be very useful. We have a full time employee that does nothing but change oil, brakes, and other maintenance on our trucks.

Our fleet of 1500’s and 2500’s (except for the one or two that have 8’ beds) don’t really offer any capabilities that the Tesla doesn’t offer.

 

[woodguyatl]

People with a fleet of maintenance vehicles are going to pay $70,000 for a range of 500 miles (comparable in range to most full size trucks)? I don’t see it. A lot of these companies are trying to scrape by

they will buy the cheapest ones just like they do today. No fleet is buying top of the line ICE trucks today. Why do you think they would buy the top of the line Tesla? For fleet the ability to recharge all the vehicles nightly will eliminate most all range concerns.

 

[UCF3]

they will buy the cheapest ones just like they do today. No fleet is buying top of the line ICE trucks today. Why do you think they would buy the top of the line Tesla? For fleet the ability to recharge all the vehicles nightly will eliminate most all range concerns.

You think fleets are going to buy 250 mile range electric vehicles, load them up with supplies, and drive them in below freezing temperatures? Haha no chance. The drop in range will end up stranding these fleet vehicles on regular occasions.

Also these fleet owners are going to rely on these drivers to plug in every night without fail? That’s a recipe for disaster.

 

[ricohman]

I'm sorry, but this is completely inaccurate. I've been a Delorean owner since 2000, and know hundreds of other owners and participate in frequent club events and national meets (every other year). Very, VERY few Delorean owners have painted their cars, and it wasn't easy for the ones who have (paint does not naturally adhere to stainless steel, so it requires significant prep). The primary reason for painting a Delorean is not for making it easier to care for the car or stainless steel finish, but rather, to hide body damage repaired with Bondo that would have been too expensive, difficult, or impossible to repair or replace (for instance, there are no more stock left front fenders available, and the ones that go up for sale are usually more than $1000).

Also, a Delorean stainless steel body actually requires almost no maintenance over many many years. Since the Delorean stainless steel body has a brushed, grained, finish, nobody is "buffing" their Delorean. Over time (years) if a car gets a few scratches or nicks, it's very simple to regrain the stainless with a $6 blending pad. I've done this exactly once in my time of ownership. If the scratches are deeper, one can use a powered Vonnegut Wheel or Wolf Head Wheel and then a blending pad. This is something someone might do once every two or three years if they're anal about keeping their brushed stainless finish up to "concourse" standards. I've spent hundreds of hours maintaining painted cars, and probably a total of 5 hours maintaining the Delorean finish over the years. It's almost maintenance free. The same would be true for the Cybertruck.

I know of only one owner that buffed their Delorean to a mirror like finish which would require the kind of "buffing" maintenance you are suggesting for stainless steel. As you can see, this is neither a great look for the Delorean nor would be for the Cybertruck:

Dents will be difficult to repair. The Delorean has stainless panels fitted over top of the chassis. If the suv truck is treated like a wheelbarrow then its not a problem. Repairing a dent on an unfinished panel? Expensive and time consuming.
It will be a niche utility vehicle.

 

[RiverBrick]

Also these fleet owners are going to rely on these drivers to plug in every night without fail? That’s a recipe for disaster.

This old chestnut will never go away. People have been using it as an argument against electric vehicles for as long as I can remember.

I guess companies will never issue cell phones to employees, either. Can't trust the help to recharge their phones.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Dents will be difficult to repair. The Delorean has stainless panels fitted over top of the chassis. If the suv truck is treated like a wheelbarrow then its not a problem. Repairing a dent on an unfinished panel? Expensive and time consuming.

Dents? Did you see the sledgehammer demo?

 

[MXWing]

You think fleets are going to buy 250 mile range electric vehicles, load them up with supplies, and drive them in below freezing temperatures? Haha no chance. The drop in range will end up stranding these fleet vehicles on regular occasions.

Also these fleet owners are going to rely on these drivers to plug in every night without fail? That’s a recipe for disaster.

Freezing is 30F where I live.

Again, people have this huge problem where they extrapolate localized micro anecdotes and apply it on a global macroscale.

Due to a 250 mile range truck not working well in subzero, the addressable market is not going to be 2 million trucks.

It's going to be more than 0.

As I said over a year ago, the Model 3 was going to completely decimate the Model S.

The people with the 100lb dogs disagreed with me saying the 100lb dogs was not going to fit in the Model 3 trunk.

How many people have 100lb dogs?

......

 

[glide]

People who think this appeals to a fleet owner have clearly never owned or operated a fleet.

Another case of Silicon Valley thinking they know what is best for working-class people.

 

[Revelation]

People who think this appeals to a fleet owner have clearly never owned or operated a fleet.

Another case of Silicon Valley thinking they know what is best for working-class people.

That really depends on the fleet and the purpose they server as to whether it makes practical sense or not. Claiming that it won't work at all is just as naive as someone claiming the contrary position.

 

[woodguyatl]

You think fleets are going to buy 250 mile range electric vehicles, load them up with supplies, and drive them in below freezing temperatures? Haha no chance. The drop in range will end up stranding these fleet vehicles on regular occasions.

Also these fleet owners are going to rely on these drivers to plug in every night without fail? That’s a recipe for disaster.

I’d be shocked if any of our trucks see more than 150 miles per day. My neighbor owns a pool maintenance company. He has reserved five. Geography will play a role for sure. Here in GA we don’t get much cold so I don’t see a problem. Also, as I mentioned, if trucks are regularly getting loaded with supplies it is because somebody did a bad job ordering. Our current project is 250 room hotel. There are not a lot of problems that a quick trip to a supply house or Home Depot can fix when mistakes are X 250.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

I’d be shocked if any of our trucks see more than 150 miles per day. My neighbor owns a pool maintenance company. He has reserved five. Geography will play a role for sure. Here in GA we don’t get much cold so I don’t see a problem. Also, as I mentioned, if trucks are regularly getting loaded with supplies it is because somebody did a bad job ordering. Our current project is 250 room hotel. There are not a lot of problems that a quick trip to a supply house or Home Depot can fix when mistakes are X 250.

FIVE! Excellent! Tell your neighbor that some guy named Mike from the Internet said he rocks. LOL

 

[woodguyatl]

FIVE! Excellent! Tell your neighbor that some guy named Mike from the Internet said he rocks. LOL

He reserved five to test. He owns over a hundred vehicles.

 

[Hugh Mannity]

This "truck" will not be something that businesses/companies will purchase for their fleet of maintenance type vehicles. I see this as a niche entry for nerds, geeks and freaks; anyone that desires to be different. (Nothing against the aforementioned; I'm a nerd/geek) A truck for a guy or gal that really can get by without one but, relish the idea that they can haul an easy chair or furniture from IKEA or the likes. I certainly don't see this as a true "utilitarian" vehicle. Different, durable, somewhat functional on the low side, weekend campsite vehicle, conversation piece and apocalyptic escape vehicle...yes. Tesla already has 200K+ reservations over the last 3 days. That says something.....

EDIT: If you're going to "disagree" with my "opinion" (and that's fine if you do) …..at least have the courtesy of stating "why", in your opinion, you "disagree". I'm truly interested in peoples thoughts.

I think this truck will work for many fleet applications; in my company we purchase Dodge 1500 or F150 V8 powered trucks for all the supervisors and managers that work in the field; most of them throw a couple tool boxes and some other stuff in the back; replacing these with cybertrucks would be an economic and practical no brainer; particularly in that all of our trackside sites; (i work for a railway); have 240V connections on them to connect gas powered generators to. If you had to, (mostly you probably wouldn't), you could top up the charge on the truck by plugging into one of these sites when you are doing a site visit.

Oh and I know that these trucks cost on average $100 to $175 / per week for fuel. We have over 1000 of these trucks; I haven't done the quick math but I know it's an "OMG" number when you look at the annual budget. The F350's we have for the unionised staff are up over $200 / week; insane. If someone can figure out how to add a utility body to the back of cybertruck we could replace the thousands of F350's we have out there too !!

oh and when it comes to economics; the Rams are 50+ grand a piece; the F350's once we get them outfitted with the utility box and the hi rail gear for the tracks are all up over 100G's a piece. Oh I'm talking Canadian dollars if that seems surprisingly high to you.