3 ms·

> With the ability to pull near infinite mass and a towing capability of over 14,000 pounds, Cybertruck can perform in almost any extreme situation with ease.

> With the ability to pull near infinite mass and a towing capability of over 14,000 pounds, Cybertruck can perform in almost any extreme situation with ease. Can someone explain the “near infinite mass” claim?

chaps 3y ago
Give a tiny tug to something enormous and static and you'd technically be towing it. Its speed, however...
zzzeek 3y ago
The mass is made of bullshit. Now read the sentence again
ben_w 3y ago
Sounds like either pure BS or "well technically" BS e.g. in the form "it has a gravitational field, which means it will pull on all objects in the universe". That said, I don't see that quote in the article…
smrq 3y ago
It's marketing nonsense, obviously. The basis for this claim is that an electric engine can generate torque at an arbitrarily low RPM, so given low enough friction on the load it can move an arbitrarily massive object. That particular given, of course, renders the whole claim BS.
thfuran 3y ago
Well, as long as you set the mass on a frictionless plane in a vacuum, the car can pull pretty much any amount of mass. At some point, it'll all collapse into a black hole and the towing cable will stop working properly, so the capacity is only near infinite.
- ChatGTP 3y ago
  So a completely useless claim then ?
  - thfuran 3y ago
    "Meaningful and accurate" and "useful" aren't really the same thing when it comes to advertising.
- callalex 3y ago
  That’s not true at all though, because there are stopping distance requirements to legally sell the vehicle.
  - appplication 3y ago
    This is worked around if you have one pulling the opposite direction.
coolspot 3y ago
It can pull any mass, near infinite, as long as it doesn’t exceed 14k pounds of weight. Might refer to the fact that EVs have high torque, hence high bollard pull force, which is the maximum force that a vehicle can generate at zero speed.
jamdamu 3y ago
My layman interpretation is that you can use the truck to pull on an immovable object and the truck won’t disintegrate. Pulling != towing so the marketing dept is threading a fine line here.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
burkaman 3y ago
A common marketing stunt for trucks is to film them towing something really heavy: https://jalopnik.com/watch-an-electric-ford-f-150-prototype-tow-a-1-million-1836632603 https://jalopnik.com/watch-an-electric-ford-f-150-prototype-.... Tesla apparently doesn't feel like doing the actual stunt, so they've done the equivalent in writing.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  That is actually pretty nuts
  - ben_w 3y ago
    Not as nuts as a human pulling a C-17, even if the plane is the lighter of the two: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0xpuub2DBB8 https://youtube.com/watch?v=0xpuub2DBB8
- smileysteve 3y ago
  The Model Xes have been used to pull "The Boring Co" waste (on rails), so it seems like Tesla have done this stunt. (One would hope that the CyberTruck can do even more?) https://www.thedrive.com/news/19529/watch-a-tesla-model-x-pull-rail-cars-packed-with-250000-pounds-of-debris https://www.thedrive.com/news/19529/watch-a-tesla-model-x-pu...
- coolspot 3y ago
  They did similar stunt pulling a very big rocket engine - https://news.yahoo.com/news/awesome-video-shows-cybertruck-towing-203035224.html https://news.yahoo.com/news/awesome-video-shows-cybertruck-t...
riku_iki 3y ago
All numbers are nearly equal with some level of precision.
callalex 3y ago
Well, you see, the buyers of pickup trucks in the US are statistically never going to tow anything, doubly so for the “techie” crowd interested in the Tesla truck. So they can make claims that mean absolutely nothing, because the buyers don’t have any context for what the numbers mean anyway, so just go for a bigger number than the competitors.
btilly 3y ago
Since everyone else gave ridiculous answers, I'll give a real one. The Cybertruck is electric. Electric engines have theoretically infinite torque at 0 MPH, decreasing with speed. The actual limit is the materials, the friction of the tires, and the point at which the vehicle flips over. Between a heavy vehicle, good tires and a low center of gravity, it can tow several times its own weight.

chaps 3y ago

Give a tiny tug to something enormous and static and you'd technically be towing it. Its speed, however...

zzzeek 3y ago

The mass is made of bullshit. Now read the sentence again

ben_w 3y ago

Sounds like either pure BS or "well technically" BS e.g. in the form "it has a gravitational field, which means it will pull on all objects in the universe". That said, I don't see that quote in the article…

smrq 3y ago

It's marketing nonsense, obviously. The basis for this claim is that an electric engine can generate torque at an arbitrarily low RPM, so given low enough friction on the load it can move an arbitrarily massive object. That particular given, of course, renders the whole claim BS.

thfuran 3y ago

Well, as long as you set the mass on a frictionless plane in a vacuum, the car can pull pretty much any amount of mass. At some point, it'll all collapse into a black hole and the towing cable will stop working properly, so the capacity is only near infinite.

ChatGTP 3y ago
So a completely useless claim then ?
- thfuran 3y ago
  "Meaningful and accurate" and "useful" aren't really the same thing when it comes to advertising.
callalex 3y ago
That’s not true at all though, because there are stopping distance requirements to legally sell the vehicle.
- appplication 3y ago
  This is worked around if you have one pulling the opposite direction.

coolspot 3y ago

It can pull any mass, near infinite, as long as it doesn’t exceed 14k pounds of weight. Might refer to the fact that EVs have high torque, hence high bollard pull force, which is the maximum force that a vehicle can generate at zero speed.

jamdamu 3y ago

My layman interpretation is that you can use the truck to pull on an immovable object and the truck won’t disintegrate. Pulling != towing so the marketing dept is threading a fine line here.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

burkaman 3y ago

A common marketing stunt for trucks is to film them towing something really heavy: https://jalopnik.com/watch-an-electric-ford-f-150-prototype-tow-a-1-million-1836632603 https://jalopnik.com/watch-an-electric-ford-f-150-prototype-.... Tesla apparently doesn't feel like doing the actual stunt, so they've done the equivalent in writing.

ethanbond 3y ago
That is actually pretty nuts
- ben_w 3y ago
  Not as nuts as a human pulling a C-17, even if the plane is the lighter of the two: https://youtube.com/watch?v=0xpuub2DBB8 https://youtube.com/watch?v=0xpuub2DBB8
smileysteve 3y ago
The Model Xes have been used to pull "The Boring Co" waste (on rails), so it seems like Tesla have done this stunt. (One would hope that the CyberTruck can do even more?) https://www.thedrive.com/news/19529/watch-a-tesla-model-x-pull-rail-cars-packed-with-250000-pounds-of-debris https://www.thedrive.com/news/19529/watch-a-tesla-model-x-pu...
coolspot 3y ago
They did similar stunt pulling a very big rocket engine - https://news.yahoo.com/news/awesome-video-shows-cybertruck-towing-203035224.html https://news.yahoo.com/news/awesome-video-shows-cybertruck-t...

riku_iki 3y ago

All numbers are nearly equal with some level of precision.

callalex 3y ago

Well, you see, the buyers of pickup trucks in the US are statistically never going to tow anything, doubly so for the “techie” crowd interested in the Tesla truck. So they can make claims that mean absolutely nothing, because the buyers don’t have any context for what the numbers mean anyway, so just go for a bigger number than the competitors.

btilly 3y ago

Since everyone else gave ridiculous answers, I'll give a real one. The Cybertruck is electric. Electric engines have theoretically infinite torque at 0 MPH, decreasing with speed. The actual limit is the materials, the friction of the tires, and the point at which the vehicle flips over. Between a heavy vehicle, good tires and a low center of gravity, it can tow several times its own weight.