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posted by takyon on Friday November 22 2019, @09:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the baby-don't-hurt-me dept.

Tesla Cybertruck

Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck. Apparently, many people think it's ugly. I absolutely love it. It took the jellybean esthetic of modern vehicles and ran it over. Twice. There's simply no point in saying anything about this truck -- you have to look at the pictures:

https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/22/20976539/tesla-cybertruck-test-drive-electric-truck-pickup-video-features-price-elon-musk

In order to make this TFS less short, a few specs, but really, they don't matter until you see if it appeals to you which it either will or won't in spades. The low end 250 mile range version is supposed to be about $40k. The body is unpainted cold rolled stainless steel. Upmodels will have a towing capacity variously described as 10-14k pounds and at the top end, a 500 mile range. They'll cost a lot more.

"Bulletproof" Musk Cybertruck fail

Elon Musk bragged that his "cybertruck" was bulletproof to a 9mm round, but two separate attempts to demonstrate just how tough it is failed when ball bearings thrown by hand literally caused the windows to come crashing down in pieces. So much for safety glass; even on cyber trucks, windows sucks.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/22/cybertruck-tesla-unveils-the-pickup-truck-we-have-to-have

We created an exoskeleton," Musk said to rapturous whoops from those attending the Los Angeles launch. "It is literally bulletproof to a 9mm handgun."

Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's chief designer, asked Musk if he could lob a metal ball at the window of the vehicle. "Really?" said Musk. The window smashed. "Oh my fucking God," said Musk. "Maybe that was a little hard."

Showing confidence in the vehicle, Von Holzhausen then suggested he should lob it at a second window. "Try that one? Really?" asked Musk moments before the rear window was also smashed. "It didn't go through, that's the plus side," a stunned Musk said.

Also at Ars Technica and Wccftech.

See also: Hot takes as opinion cools on Tesla Cybertruck
Tesla trademarked Cybertruck and 'Cybrtrk' ahead of its planned debut


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:52AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:52AM (#923644)

    in the world. Just not sold in the U.S.

    I can think of three 4 cylinder diesels used in trucks in the U.S. and the only one that was ever available in a pickup was the golf pickup from the 80's. Which was a pretty terrible engine. But the 3.9 isuzu and 4bt are generally regarded as quality easy to maintain engines. So why can I only get a diesel V8 in a pickup? And if you look at the power to weight ratios, those V8's have less steel per cubic inch than the four bangers do by a scary margin.

    Same old same old. Corruption graft and protectionism.

    But what happens if somebody puts out a 4 litre inline 4 with a close ratio 6 speed in a heavy duty pickup. A proper all-steel bosch-indirect-injected no-fucking-around diesel engine. I'll tell you what. Truck guys would buy them to save on gas tires and oil, and the V8's would vaporize.

    And if that was the case, it speaks to the viability of an electric. But it also speaks to a precarious market condition where a price point is only competitive because market conditions are artificially inflated.

  • (Score: 4, Touché) by dltaylor on Saturday November 23 2019, @09:55AM

    by dltaylor (4693) on Saturday November 23 2019, @09:55AM (#923763)

    You mean, like the Chevy Colorado with the 2.8L turbo-diesel?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @06:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @06:37PM (#924229)

    i find it annoying as hell that africa and the middle east get all the old toyota trucks and SUVs for decent prices while in the US and toyota with 300k is sold by weight in gold.