4 ms·

You can get a 500 mile range by towing a second, fully charged Cybertruck and switching them at mile 250.

wnevets 3y ago
Wouldn't the first truck's range be significantly reduced by the additional weight? The second truck will have to tow a third fully charged truck to get us to 500 miles.
- idlewords 3y ago
  Right, but remember you can also subtract the combined length of all these cybertrucks from the 500 mile target. So there's a sweet spot in there somewhere around the 400 car mark.
  - felixgallo 3y ago
    also, if you make the tires out of Menger Sponge, then range is infinite.
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  That's the kind of math you use Tsiolkovsky rocket equation for. Best would be to do the EV equivalent of asparagus staging - you have all trucks providing acceleration, but trucks 1 and 2 are also being recharged by truck 3. You then jettison it once its battery runs dry, leaving you with trucks 1 and 2, the latter also charging the former. Again, drop truck 2 as it runs out of juice. This lets you get rid of excess mass as early as possible, maximizing the benefit of extra batteries and thrust.
  - eunoia 3y ago
    Serious question: do any rocket launch schemes actually use asparagus staging? I vaguely remember hearing it adds too much complexity for a real world launch. Great in KSP though.
    - FeepingCreature 3y ago
      Technically the Space Shuttle, if you really stretch the definition. I'm not aware of any others. The crossfeed is just too much of a failure risk.
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      Falcon Heavy was supposed to, in early designs, but they abandoned this idea due to the complexity involved - fuel would need to be pumped, which means complex flow dynamics + extra hardware that could fail (and catastrophically so). Outside of KSP and some rocketry books, I haven't seen it.
  - resolutebat 3y ago
    This is the kind of quality shitposting I come to HN for.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
agnosticmantis 3y ago
“It beats rail!”

Wouldn't the first truck's range be significantly reduced by the additional weight? The second truck will have to tow a third fully charged truck to get us to 500 miles.

idlewords 3y ago
Right, but remember you can also subtract the combined length of all these cybertrucks from the 500 mile target. So there's a sweet spot in there somewhere around the 400 car mark.
- felixgallo 3y ago
  also, if you make the tires out of Menger Sponge, then range is infinite.
TeMPOraL 3y ago
That's the kind of math you use Tsiolkovsky rocket equation for. Best would be to do the EV equivalent of asparagus staging - you have all trucks providing acceleration, but trucks 1 and 2 are also being recharged by truck 3. You then jettison it once its battery runs dry, leaving you with trucks 1 and 2, the latter also charging the former. Again, drop truck 2 as it runs out of juice. This lets you get rid of excess mass as early as possible, maximizing the benefit of extra batteries and thrust.
- eunoia 3y ago
  Serious question: do any rocket launch schemes actually use asparagus staging? I vaguely remember hearing it adds too much complexity for a real world launch. Great in KSP though.
  - FeepingCreature 3y ago
    Technically the Space Shuttle, if you really stretch the definition. I'm not aware of any others. The crossfeed is just too much of a failure risk.
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    Falcon Heavy was supposed to, in early designs, but they abandoned this idea due to the complexity involved - fuel would need to be pumped, which means complex flow dynamics + extra hardware that could fail (and catastrophically so). Outside of KSP and some rocketry books, I haven't seen it.
- resolutebat 3y ago
  This is the kind of quality shitposting I come to HN for.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

agnosticmantis 3y ago

“It beats rail!”