4 ms·

Yeah, a lot of people talking about how ugly it is. But that's exactly what a pick-up has always been. A big ugly thing with a bed in the back and a lot of util

by gexla 7y ago

Yeah, a lot of people talking about how ugly it is. But that's exactly what a pick-up has always been. A big ugly thing with a bed in the back and a lot of utility most people didn't even use. Some models over the years have looked decent. Many have (Ford especially) have been dog ugly. I could see this thing taking off, though not sure how rural truck owners would take to electric. Edit: On second thought, rural truck owners must go through a ton of gas. I bet they would love to own something like this. Edit edit: I also love that this thing can take a beating on the exterior. You don't have to worry about scratches in the paint or dents from shopping cart accidents.

chaostheory 7y ago
I want this car, but other pickups have started looking pretty decent for the past two decades now. To put it lightly, the cyber truck’s look is not conservative at all
jccooper 7y ago
Who cares about rural customers. How will the suburbs like it? That's who actually buys all those trucks.
- ctdonath 7y ago
  Days after the Jeep Gladiator (a Wrangler pickup) was available, I saw several in the suburbs. This is Tesla territory, so come 2022 there will be a bunch of Cybertrucks taking the kids to school.
- leggomylibro 7y ago
  How many rural areas have you been to? I see small houses with a half-dozen pickups sitting around all the time when I get more than 100 miles or so out of a major city. And places like ranches, farms, and orchards seem to operate small fleets of them. Of course, they usually span the past few decades of makes/models, but there are plenty of towns where the trucks outnumber the people. I think one big issue will be that a lot of people are like 50 miles from the nearest major highway or town, which makes the range a bigger issue for daily use.
  - LegitShady 7y ago
    Its a population question. just more buyers in the city.
    - leggomylibro 7y ago
      There are more people in the city, but are you sure there more truck purchases? I'm not, but all I'm saying is that I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't.
      - LegitShady 7y ago
        way more. Every rural person could buy 5 trucks a year and there'd still be 10x as many purchases in the city. and rural people dont buy 5 trucks a year. The population differences are staggering and trucks are popular.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
ip26 7y ago
Solar has been a hit for some rural folks as you can go off grid & make your own power. An electric vehicle could theoretically go part & parcel with that, although you'd need a large array.
- dba7dba 7y ago
  when the Fukushima disaster happened in 2011 and the surrounding areas became no-go zone, gasoline cars were stuck because no gas tankers were coming in to refill the gas stations. But electric cars were charging from local solar powered recharging stations just fine.
flukus 7y ago
> Yeah, a lot of people talking about how ugly it is. But that's exactly what a pick-up has always been. That's not universal, these things are common in Australia and look pretty sleek: https://www.google.com/search?q=commodore+ute&safe=active&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj61ObOhP3lAhVMJlAKHUx9D88Q_AUoAXoECBEQAw&biw=1680&bih=907 https://www.google.com/search?q=commodore+ute&safe=active&hl... But even the less pretty ones had that sort of brutal, functional, serious look. This ... does not.
- dzhiurgis 7y ago
  UTE, the symbol of bogan is sleek? These are a joke for anyone but complete degenerates.
- gexla 7y ago
  That's not a pick-up. ;) That's a car with a bed, like an El Camino.
- xvector 7y ago
  That truck you link looks horrible. I cannot fathom how some designer thought that looked good. It’s like they worked halfway on the design and then pushed straight to production. Then again some people feel the same way about the Tesla truck. Personally I think the Cybertruck looks incredible.
- losvedir 7y ago
  God I'm laughing so hard at those pictures. That is the vehicle equivalent of a mullet, business in front and party in the back.
jedberg 7y ago
Rural owners? You mean people with a ton of cheap land to put a solar farm onto?
- jmspring 7y ago
  Rural doesn't imply the individual owns land. Rural does imply long distances, modest incomes, etc. I certainly wouldn't want to charge an electric vehicle @ $0.14/KWH and I don't have the option for solar. I have a Toyota Tacoma. I expect it will go well into the multi-hundred miles (typical for Tacomas), I have 4 jerry cans filled for when exploring off-road or for times like "oh hey, the power is out, the pump in a rural town doesn't have power".
  - et2o 7y ago
    At 14c/kwh it’s still cheaper on a per mile basis than gasoline. Is it really that high? That’s what I pay in New York City.
    - jmspring 7y ago
      It's a rural coop and according to my last bill, the number is -- 0.14779/KWH. Electricity is still not an option for exploring / driving extended off road trips.
      - omgwtfbyobbq 7y ago
        Electricity wouldn't be an option for exploring / driving extended off road trips for most. An enterprising owner could use some custom PV/mounts/wiring, a battery or cap buffer, and some power electronics provide off grid charging. Someone could do this with any EV, but tossing it all in the back of a pickup is easier than a sedan or even an SUV.
  - gexla 7y ago
    You nailed it. Long distance driving as the norm. Modest incomes, but still driving expensive pick-ups. Gas is a major expense in this case. If you can save on electric, then this thing would be looking really good.
adventured 7y ago
I have a family member who has a modified Nissan truck, that is currently getting 9 mpg and driving him crazy because of it (it was a whopping 13 mpg stock). He's stupidly spending a fortune in gas. There is certainly going to be a huge market for electric trucks. I don't know if this is one of the winners, it's a super odd design choice so it's impossible to tell how the market will respond ahead of time, however some companies are going to win very big in the segment. I'm pulling for Tesla, they've placed a lot of early, risky bets trying to push passenger vehicles forward.
- gexla 7y ago
  Right. People will spend 50K on a truck because it's a major part of their livelihood and then the gas will be a big burden. This could help a lot in those cases.
01100011 7y ago
> that's exactly what a pick-up has always been. A big ugly thing As a former truck owner I have to disagree. I like modern trucks and with a few exceptions think they've looked great since they were invented. The truck shown by Tesla does not appeal to me. Frankly I think it's odd how one-sided the upvotes are going in this thread. I really don't think Tesla would bother astroturfing on HN so I dunno... I guess HN folks really like the design. Personally I just don't see it having wide appeal, especially among truck owners. A Ford F150 for example, looks 'masculine'. The Tesla truck looks... sterile? It's like comparing a sledgehammer to a scalpel.
- cycrutchfield 7y ago
  A Ford F150 looks blobby and and archaic. The Tesla truck looks like a fucking stealth fighter. How more masculine can you get?
- gexla 7y ago
  I'm assuming by "upvotes" you're referring to positive reactions to the design as opposed to the HN voting buttons. The design, of course, is subjective. We'll be seeing professional commentary which may sway our opinion. I would be interested to see if there were design constraints which weighed heavily in the final design. There's a prism of ugly and this truck fits in the region which I can live with. I have mostly found Ford designs to be ugly (1995 for example.) I also feel that truck designs have mostly been similar. If I find X year Ford to be ugly, then it's relative to the same year of Chevy. There's also utility ugly and the sort of ugly which attempts to be artistic but which fails into something I would be embarrassed to drive (curves and paint schemes which aren't meant to be functional and just look bad.) The Tesla Cybertruck has the feel of minimalist utility. It's also bold and different. Unlike the Rivian, it's not trying to be anything like the current state of the art of trucks. I think it will have a lot of appeal for being different and for having crazy specs. It's ugly, but I want one. I have been seeing good comments pointing out problems. For example, it doesn't seem to be accommodating to accessories. Maybe this is something which will get worked out before it hits production. History will judge this thing better than we can. Regardless of our opinion, it will be interesting to see if the design sticks.

by gexla 7y ago

chaostheory 7y ago

I want this car, but other pickups have started looking pretty decent for the past two decades now. To put it lightly, the cyber truck’s look is not conservative at all

jccooper 7y ago

Who cares about rural customers. How will the suburbs like it? That's who actually buys all those trucks.

ctdonath 7y ago
Days after the Jeep Gladiator (a Wrangler pickup) was available, I saw several in the suburbs. This is Tesla territory, so come 2022 there will be a bunch of Cybertrucks taking the kids to school.
leggomylibro 7y ago
How many rural areas have you been to? I see small houses with a half-dozen pickups sitting around all the time when I get more than 100 miles or so out of a major city. And places like ranches, farms, and orchards seem to operate small fleets of them. Of course, they usually span the past few decades of makes/models, but there are plenty of towns where the trucks outnumber the people. I think one big issue will be that a lot of people are like 50 miles from the nearest major highway or town, which makes the range a bigger issue for daily use.
- LegitShady 7y ago
  Its a population question. just more buyers in the city.
  - leggomylibro 7y ago
    There are more people in the city, but are you sure there more truck purchases? I'm not, but all I'm saying is that I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't.
    - LegitShady 7y ago
      way more. Every rural person could buy 5 trucks a year and there'd still be 10x as many purchases in the city. and rural people dont buy 5 trucks a year. The population differences are staggering and trucks are popular.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

ip26 7y ago

Solar has been a hit for some rural folks as you can go off grid & make your own power. An electric vehicle could theoretically go part & parcel with that, although you'd need a large array.

dba7dba 7y ago
when the Fukushima disaster happened in 2011 and the surrounding areas became no-go zone, gasoline cars were stuck because no gas tankers were coming in to refill the gas stations. But electric cars were charging from local solar powered recharging stations just fine.

flukus 7y ago

> Yeah, a lot of people talking about how ugly it is. But that's exactly what a pick-up has always been. That's not universal, these things are common in Australia and look pretty sleek: https://www.google.com/search?q=commodore+ute&safe=active&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj61ObOhP3lAhVMJlAKHUx9D88Q_AUoAXoECBEQAw&biw=1680&bih=907 https://www.google.com/search?q=commodore+ute&safe=active&hl... But even the less pretty ones had that sort of brutal, functional, serious look. This ... does not.

dzhiurgis 7y ago
UTE, the symbol of bogan is sleek? These are a joke for anyone but complete degenerates.
gexla 7y ago
That's not a pick-up. ;) That's a car with a bed, like an El Camino.
xvector 7y ago
That truck you link looks horrible. I cannot fathom how some designer thought that looked good. It’s like they worked halfway on the design and then pushed straight to production. Then again some people feel the same way about the Tesla truck. Personally I think the Cybertruck looks incredible.
losvedir 7y ago
God I'm laughing so hard at those pictures. That is the vehicle equivalent of a mullet, business in front and party in the back.

jedberg 7y ago

Rural owners? You mean people with a ton of cheap land to put a solar farm onto?

jmspring 7y ago
Rural doesn't imply the individual owns land. Rural does imply long distances, modest incomes, etc. I certainly wouldn't want to charge an electric vehicle @ $0.14/KWH and I don't have the option for solar. I have a Toyota Tacoma. I expect it will go well into the multi-hundred miles (typical for Tacomas), I have 4 jerry cans filled for when exploring off-road or for times like "oh hey, the power is out, the pump in a rural town doesn't have power".
- et2o 7y ago
  At 14c/kwh it’s still cheaper on a per mile basis than gasoline. Is it really that high? That’s what I pay in New York City.
  - jmspring 7y ago
    It's a rural coop and according to my last bill, the number is -- 0.14779/KWH. Electricity is still not an option for exploring / driving extended off road trips.
    - omgwtfbyobbq 7y ago
      Electricity wouldn't be an option for exploring / driving extended off road trips for most. An enterprising owner could use some custom PV/mounts/wiring, a battery or cap buffer, and some power electronics provide off grid charging. Someone could do this with any EV, but tossing it all in the back of a pickup is easier than a sedan or even an SUV.
- gexla 7y ago
  You nailed it. Long distance driving as the norm. Modest incomes, but still driving expensive pick-ups. Gas is a major expense in this case. If you can save on electric, then this thing would be looking really good.

adventured 7y ago

I have a family member who has a modified Nissan truck, that is currently getting 9 mpg and driving him crazy because of it (it was a whopping 13 mpg stock). He's stupidly spending a fortune in gas. There is certainly going to be a huge market for electric trucks. I don't know if this is one of the winners, it's a super odd design choice so it's impossible to tell how the market will respond ahead of time, however some companies are going to win very big in the segment. I'm pulling for Tesla, they've placed a lot of early, risky bets trying to push passenger vehicles forward.

gexla 7y ago
Right. People will spend 50K on a truck because it's a major part of their livelihood and then the gas will be a big burden. This could help a lot in those cases.

01100011 7y ago

> that's exactly what a pick-up has always been. A big ugly thing As a former truck owner I have to disagree. I like modern trucks and with a few exceptions think they've looked great since they were invented. The truck shown by Tesla does not appeal to me. Frankly I think it's odd how one-sided the upvotes are going in this thread. I really don't think Tesla would bother astroturfing on HN so I dunno... I guess HN folks really like the design. Personally I just don't see it having wide appeal, especially among truck owners. A Ford F150 for example, looks 'masculine'. The Tesla truck looks... sterile? It's like comparing a sledgehammer to a scalpel.

cycrutchfield 7y ago
A Ford F150 looks blobby and and archaic. The Tesla truck looks like a fucking stealth fighter. How more masculine can you get?
gexla 7y ago
I'm assuming by "upvotes" you're referring to positive reactions to the design as opposed to the HN voting buttons. The design, of course, is subjective. We'll be seeing professional commentary which may sway our opinion. I would be interested to see if there were design constraints which weighed heavily in the final design. There's a prism of ugly and this truck fits in the region which I can live with. I have mostly found Ford designs to be ugly (1995 for example.) I also feel that truck designs have mostly been similar. If I find X year Ford to be ugly, then it's relative to the same year of Chevy. There's also utility ugly and the sort of ugly which attempts to be artistic but which fails into something I would be embarrassed to drive (curves and paint schemes which aren't meant to be functional and just look bad.) The Tesla Cybertruck has the feel of minimalist utility. It's also bold and different. Unlike the Rivian, it's not trying to be anything like the current state of the art of trucks. I think it will have a lot of appeal for being different and for having crazy specs. It's ugly, but I want one. I have been seeing good comments pointing out problems. For example, it doesn't seem to be accommodating to accessories. Maybe this is something which will get worked out before it hits production. History will judge this thing better than we can. Regardless of our opinion, it will be interesting to see if the design sticks.