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I've been wondering how far away Tesla is from a commercial van. The CyberTruck gets a lot of attention and it's been noted that it makes no sense outside of No

I've been wondering how far away Tesla is from a commercial van. The CyberTruck gets a lot of attention and it's been noted that it makes no sense outside of North America. Except, vehicles with those dimensions and cargo capacity are very widely used outside of NA, they're just covered and called vans. I don't think the CyberTruck could be converted to a van (the glass seems too sloped and the first row too far back), but it seems that when they complete the truck a van program could borrow very heavily. Imagine they keep the battery capacity, stainless steel exoskeleton design, hauling and carrying capacity, but have a design that has the glass much more vertical, one row closer to the front and a very tall, boxy back. It would sell very well.

prawn 6y ago
They should do an electric version of the Ford chassis in the USA that often gets converted into buses. E450 and so on. Could easily be flexible enough to work for buses, vanlife conversions, minivans, etc.
cptskippy 6y ago
The Cybertruck strikes me as a way to scale up materials/technology used at SpaceX to bring down their cost for SpaceX. It very much strikes me as a niche product like the Chevy SSR and not meant to be mainstream like a GMC Sierra or Ford F-150.
- sremani 6y ago
  It is evident the lower trims of Cybertruck are not tow friendly. But there are lot of people with pick-ups who do not tow, but need a truck bed to carry tools or goods etc.
  - cptskippy 6y ago
    Honestly I feel like the high trim versions will be the more popular ones for the people who own a truck for image. Those are the people buying the luxury $80k+ Sierras and F-150s.
  - omgwtfbyobbq 6y ago
    Yeah, the range will take a big hit with most normal trailers. With that said, custom trailers should be able to minimize that hit, albeit with significant restrictions to what you can tow. https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/aerodynamic-trailer-design-30653-2.html#post458831 https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/aerodynamic-trail...
sremani 6y ago
Batteries are really HEAVY, Model 3 is heavier than your average Sedan. The trick is to perfect battery weight and its effect on range, in a certain use case. Commercial vehicles would need 150+ kw batteries, with huge batteries comes huge weight and long charge times. Having said that TSLA is probably best positioned to do well and solve these trade-offs.
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 6y ago
  The C-rate of each cell doesn't change, so the charge time doesn't have to change. It depends on having a suitably powerful charger, but that's not a big issue to install at some warehouses.
- omgwtfbyobbq 6y ago
  It is, but only by ~10-15%. The Camry for instance weighs ~3200-3500lbs, while the 3 weighs ~3500-4000lbs. That includes the dual motor 3 too, whereas Toyota doesn't have the equivalent Camry. The RWD versions of the 3 weigh ~3500-3800lbs. edit - for using AWD instead of dual motor
GaryNumanVevo 6y ago
The CyberTruck isn't even considered legal in the EU because it's dangerous to pedestrians. It's also fairly dangerous to passengers because the monoframe isn't designed to crumple.

prawn 6y ago

They should do an electric version of the Ford chassis in the USA that often gets converted into buses. E450 and so on. Could easily be flexible enough to work for buses, vanlife conversions, minivans, etc.

cptskippy 6y ago

The Cybertruck strikes me as a way to scale up materials/technology used at SpaceX to bring down their cost for SpaceX. It very much strikes me as a niche product like the Chevy SSR and not meant to be mainstream like a GMC Sierra or Ford F-150.

sremani 6y ago
It is evident the lower trims of Cybertruck are not tow friendly. But there are lot of people with pick-ups who do not tow, but need a truck bed to carry tools or goods etc.
- cptskippy 6y ago
  Honestly I feel like the high trim versions will be the more popular ones for the people who own a truck for image. Those are the people buying the luxury $80k+ Sierras and F-150s.
- omgwtfbyobbq 6y ago
  Yeah, the range will take a big hit with most normal trailers. With that said, custom trailers should be able to minimize that hit, albeit with significant restrictions to what you can tow. https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/aerodynamic-trailer-design-30653-2.html#post458831 https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/aerodynamic-trail...

sremani 6y ago

Batteries are really HEAVY, Model 3 is heavier than your average Sedan. The trick is to perfect battery weight and its effect on range, in a certain use case. Commercial vehicles would need 150+ kw batteries, with huge batteries comes huge weight and long charge times. Having said that TSLA is probably best positioned to do well and solve these trade-offs.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 6y ago
The C-rate of each cell doesn't change, so the charge time doesn't have to change. It depends on having a suitably powerful charger, but that's not a big issue to install at some warehouses.
omgwtfbyobbq 6y ago
It is, but only by ~10-15%. The Camry for instance weighs ~3200-3500lbs, while the 3 weighs ~3500-4000lbs. That includes the dual motor 3 too, whereas Toyota doesn't have the equivalent Camry. The RWD versions of the 3 weigh ~3500-3800lbs. edit - for using AWD instead of dual motor

GaryNumanVevo 6y ago

The CyberTruck isn't even considered legal in the EU because it's dangerous to pedestrians. It's also fairly dangerous to passengers because the monoframe isn't designed to crumple.