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I love the fantastic designs and form factors popping up in mini-EV truck/SUV space. My worry is for the business feasibility for these. Why isn’t Tesla making

I love the fantastic designs and form factors popping up in mini-EV truck/SUV space. My worry is for the business feasibility for these. Why isn’t Tesla making these? They have the supply chain and expertise to easily pull it off and they’d be such a big hit. People switching to them for light cargo would be a REAL contribution in cutting use of carbon. I can think of one possibility. At Tesla’s scale, production becomes feasible only if they can produce X million units. This is because setting up production tooling, supply chain channels, and other associated costs is prohibitively expensive. Additionally, the demand for these vehicles will be relatively low until influential YouTubers in the construction, farming, and rural sectors become advocates and start promoting them. In my opinion, electric vehicles (EVs) are perfectly suited for this task. They are ideal for transporting heavy items between nearby destinations, such as moving Home Depot supplies to a construction site or Costco products to a restaurant or store. A range of even 200 miles is practical for this use-case and keeps the cost low (MT1 is a beast by my standard). For clarification, I am all for more competition. But I am also selfish and I really want this segment to become wildly successful . In any case, I really and truly hope they can make the business case work and be profitable/sustainable.

Dig1t 1y ago
They have to solve a real problem for people hauling cargo, they don’t really do that as they currently exist. They get significantly worse range when hauling than a normal gas or diesel truck, their only benefit is making feel better about their carbon footprint. I was legit considering getting an F150 lighting for a little while but when I saw how much your range decreases when towing something it became obvious that it’s not really practical. It’s just objectively worse at hauling than a gas car. Hopefully we see more battery tech breakthroughs that make electric trucks viable work vehicles.
- disentanglement 1y ago
  They are cheaper to run almost everywhere (depending on the cost of electricity versus gas of course). No breakthrough in battery technology needed for that.
  - bluGill 1y ago
    They don't run everywhere though. They run until the fuel runs out. At least with liquid fuels that just needs a short stop to refuel, and stations are everywhere. a recharge takes longer and places to do it are not as common. If you are towing there are places you can't get.
- dyauspitr 1y ago
  It is worse at hauling. I can get between 150 to 200 miles while towing my 4000 lb RV with my lightning. What’s nice though is I can get a full charge at my campsite for the night so I never really pay for transportation. Turns out 200 miles per day is good enough for cross country RVing. For everyday driving, I pay about $8.50 for a “full tank” of charge that gets me around 300 miles. That’s about $100 worth of gas in an equivalent gas truck. That’s being said I think the ideal truck would have about 2x-3x the current battery capacity of the extended range lightning.
  - Alive-in-2025 1y ago
    The new huge GM EV & SUV trucks do have way more battery - and weight. The GM Silverado EV Work Truck is EPA 492 miles, tested at 530 by edmonds. So take the common rule of thumb, divide range by half or maybe a little more and you get about 250 miles of towing range. https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2025/may/0509-edmunds-silverado-ev-range.html https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2025/.... In a couple of recent youtube videos, "Aging Wheels" thoroughly tested a variety of trailers towed behind a variety of vehicles and then also added weight to the trailer to see the efficiency impact of towing a trailer with a lot more weight. They found a 4.3% efficiency drop by adding weight to max out the towing, compared to towing without the extra weight. Weight isn't what matters on towing impact, it's the wind resistance of the trailer that matters much more. They did a long series of comparison drives (in the about 30 mins video) with different trailers and then loaded them with extra weight to see the impact. It was smaller than you expect. The video with all the tests is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmKf8smvGsA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmKf8smvGsA. I heard about this on the batteries included podcast where they interview the author of the video above, and kind of give high level summary with some details, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGJv-xAqcTI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGJv-xAqcTI.
    - dyauspitr 1y ago
      That first video was very well done, answers so many questions all at once. I’m going to put effort into making my setup much more aerodynamic. That’s a potential 30-50 miles more per charge there!
- masklinn 1y ago
  It’s pretty complicated. The issue with hauling is that it craters your aerodynamics and explodes your rolling resistance, so you need massive battery capacity. Or to slow down, but most people don’t want to do that. Aging wheels has a recent video on the subject: https://youtu.be/UmKf8smvGsA https://youtu.be/UmKf8smvGsA
rsync 1y ago
"I love the fantastic designs and form factors popping up in mini-EV truck/SUV space ..." Exterior designs. The interior has no design - design and UI were given over to a touchscreen. Go look at the interior renderings to see for yourself ...
Jach 1y ago
> Additionally, the demand for these vehicles will be relatively low until influential YouTubers in the construction, farming, and rural sectors become advocates and start promoting them. This is a surprising claim to me. Can you point to any other vehicles (even something from John Deere or a competitor) whose demand significantly rose in a way directly attributable to influential youtubers in those niches, and which influencers in particular you think would be particularly influential?
- nine_k 1y ago
  A John Deere is not a fashion statement. A car, or a daily commute truck, very much is, for many. (Sneakers, jeans, or t-shirts could be completely pragmatic, brand-oblivious items, too.)
  - ghushn3 1y ago
    A John Deere is absolutely a fashion statement, lol. You gotta meet more farmers, because the fights I see break out over Case IH, John Deere, New Holland, and Cat are unreal.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 1y ago
    Oh, you would be so surprised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv8agst9o_0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv8agst9o_0
Maken 1y ago
But Tesla already did one of these. It's called Cybertruck.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- Alive-in-2025 1y ago
  The CT is a truck and it is electric, but it has some limitations, one being the range is not that great. And it has some weaknesses.
  - ghushn3 1y ago
    It also looks like shit and carries huge social baggage. ;)
    - beAbU 1y ago
      And its fucking expensive
    - eric_cc 1y ago
      > huge social baggage. ;) Or a great social filter. Consider the type of people that would judge you over a cybertruck.
      - ghushn3 1y ago
        > Consider the type of people that would judge you over a cybertruck. I think we call those "most people".
        fruitworks 1y ago
        I don't think most people care unless you're in a super liberal area.
        1y ago
notatoad 1y ago
>My worry is for the business feasibility for these hopefully the success of the ford maverick can allay some of this concern - i don't think anybody was really expecting it to be as successful as it has been, but it seems like there's actually pretty decent demand for a smaller truck.
benzible 1y ago
I don't think Tesla's judgment should be the litmus test. They have capacity to produce 250K Cybertrucks / year, currently on pace to sell < 20K and it's only going down from here.
- jstummbillig 1y ago
  I kind of think it's cool that reality is configured such that Cybertruck exists, but only in a very meta way. Lazy-think me: It feels dumb and is probably just bad focus from a company focus standpoint.
- margalabargala 1y ago
  To be fair, the main reason for this is that the CEO of Tesla looked at "people who buy electric vehicles", and spent the last four years turning himself into a caricature of a villain to those people. At the best maybe it was some sort of misguided attempt to encourage the American right to buy EVs? If so it royally backfired and just decimated his own customer base right at the time real competition was entering the market. The Equinox EV roundly beats the Model Y head to head on range, price, AWD, etc. The Ioniq 5 is more expensive but is lovely.
  - beAbU 1y ago
    You are responding to a message about the cybertruck specifically, so I assume you are implying musk's behaviour is to blame for the poor sales of the CT? The cybertruck fell flat long before Musk's true identity was revealed (maga/nazi affiliations). Even if tesla was headed up by the most beloved CEO ever, I reckon the CT would still have sold poorly. It's just objectively a very bad, poorly designed and even worse built vehicle. And surprisingly, I feel like it's design aged very very quickly. It does not look next-gen or futuristic to me at all anymore.
    - eric_cc 1y ago
      > Elon Musk … nazi affiliations Do you have a source for this?
delabay 1y ago
Sadly, trucks like these are like the automotive "small smartphone". At first it appears there is a large vocal market, especially if you read the comment section. Alas, nobody will buy it, just like nobody actually buys small smartphones.
- girvo 1y ago
  Sadly true: and I’m one of those who walks their talk wrt. small phones. I don’t need a ute, though, so I drive a cupra born instead
- unethical_ban 1y ago
  40k with 300hp and 350 mile range? This sounds pretty awesome imo.
  - Schiendelman 1y ago
    40k will not get you a 350 mile range. There is no way they get to market at that price for that capability.
    - CarVac 1y ago
      40k gets 240 mile range.
      - dexterdog 1y ago
        The pricepoints are still vaporware.
        CarVac 1y ago
        Agreed, we'll have to see if they're even remotely close to their claims.
  - SoftTalker 1y ago
    Insane price. We need something closer to a $15k S10 or Ranger compact pickup. Simple and utilitarian.
timeon 1y ago
> Why isn’t Tesla making these? Like with most cars they have made it is because Tesla has no taste.
MetaWhirledPeas 1y ago
> Why isn’t Tesla making these? They have the supply chain and expertise to easily pull it off and they’d be such a big hit. People switching to them for light cargo would be a REAL contribution in cutting use of carbon. I get your point but I also think you are being dismissive of their ongoing contributions to cutting carbon use.
beAbU 1y ago
Here in Ireland al lot of local "last mile" services (postman, deliveries, council services, repair crews etc) are switching to electric vans. It's such a no-brainer and a great application of evs. I'm actually wondering why pickups are so popular elsewhere. A van makes so much more sense for a travelling tradie IMO - we need more electric vans!
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- gtirloni 1y ago
  Outside of farmers and heavy machinery workers, trucks are only a status/culture symbol these days. In my town, 1 out of 10 vehicles is a truck... a very clean and shiny truck that has never carried anything.
- NoLinkToMe 1y ago
  Partly driven by EU laws, most EU countries have or are introducing (ultra) low emission zones, barring non-electric now or soon from cities. Companies can see the writing on the wall and are making their 10-15 year vehicle investments accordingly.

Dig1t 1y ago

They have to solve a real problem for people hauling cargo, they don’t really do that as they currently exist. They get significantly worse range when hauling than a normal gas or diesel truck, their only benefit is making feel better about their carbon footprint. I was legit considering getting an F150 lighting for a little while but when I saw how much your range decreases when towing something it became obvious that it’s not really practical. It’s just objectively worse at hauling than a gas car. Hopefully we see more battery tech breakthroughs that make electric trucks viable work vehicles.

disentanglement 1y ago
They are cheaper to run almost everywhere (depending on the cost of electricity versus gas of course). No breakthrough in battery technology needed for that.
- bluGill 1y ago
  They don't run everywhere though. They run until the fuel runs out. At least with liquid fuels that just needs a short stop to refuel, and stations are everywhere. a recharge takes longer and places to do it are not as common. If you are towing there are places you can't get.
dyauspitr 1y ago
It is worse at hauling. I can get between 150 to 200 miles while towing my 4000 lb RV with my lightning. What’s nice though is I can get a full charge at my campsite for the night so I never really pay for transportation. Turns out 200 miles per day is good enough for cross country RVing. For everyday driving, I pay about $8.50 for a “full tank” of charge that gets me around 300 miles. That’s about $100 worth of gas in an equivalent gas truck. That’s being said I think the ideal truck would have about 2x-3x the current battery capacity of the extended range lightning.
- Alive-in-2025 1y ago
  The new huge GM EV & SUV trucks do have way more battery - and weight. The GM Silverado EV Work Truck is EPA 492 miles, tested at 530 by edmonds. So take the common rule of thumb, divide range by half or maybe a little more and you get about 250 miles of towing range. https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2025/may/0509-edmunds-silverado-ev-range.html https://news.gm.com/home.detail.html/Pages/topic/us/en/2025/.... In a couple of recent youtube videos, "Aging Wheels" thoroughly tested a variety of trailers towed behind a variety of vehicles and then also added weight to the trailer to see the efficiency impact of towing a trailer with a lot more weight. They found a 4.3% efficiency drop by adding weight to max out the towing, compared to towing without the extra weight. Weight isn't what matters on towing impact, it's the wind resistance of the trailer that matters much more. They did a long series of comparison drives (in the about 30 mins video) with different trailers and then loaded them with extra weight to see the impact. It was smaller than you expect. The video with all the tests is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmKf8smvGsA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmKf8smvGsA. I heard about this on the batteries included podcast where they interview the author of the video above, and kind of give high level summary with some details, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGJv-xAqcTI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGJv-xAqcTI.
  - dyauspitr 1y ago
    That first video was very well done, answers so many questions all at once. I’m going to put effort into making my setup much more aerodynamic. That’s a potential 30-50 miles more per charge there!
masklinn 1y ago
It’s pretty complicated. The issue with hauling is that it craters your aerodynamics and explodes your rolling resistance, so you need massive battery capacity. Or to slow down, but most people don’t want to do that. Aging wheels has a recent video on the subject: https://youtu.be/UmKf8smvGsA https://youtu.be/UmKf8smvGsA

rsync 1y ago

"I love the fantastic designs and form factors popping up in mini-EV truck/SUV space ..." Exterior designs. The interior has no design - design and UI were given over to a touchscreen. Go look at the interior renderings to see for yourself ...

Jach 1y ago

> Additionally, the demand for these vehicles will be relatively low until influential YouTubers in the construction, farming, and rural sectors become advocates and start promoting them. This is a surprising claim to me. Can you point to any other vehicles (even something from John Deere or a competitor) whose demand significantly rose in a way directly attributable to influential youtubers in those niches, and which influencers in particular you think would be particularly influential?

nine_k 1y ago
A John Deere is not a fashion statement. A car, or a daily commute truck, very much is, for many. (Sneakers, jeans, or t-shirts could be completely pragmatic, brand-oblivious items, too.)
- ghushn3 1y ago
  A John Deere is absolutely a fashion statement, lol. You gotta meet more farmers, because the fights I see break out over Case IH, John Deere, New Holland, and Cat are unreal.
- HeyLaughingBoy 1y ago
  Oh, you would be so surprised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv8agst9o_0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv8agst9o_0

Maken 1y ago

But Tesla already did one of these. It's called Cybertruck.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
Alive-in-2025 1y ago
The CT is a truck and it is electric, but it has some limitations, one being the range is not that great. And it has some weaknesses.
- ghushn3 1y ago
  It also looks like shit and carries huge social baggage. ;)
  - beAbU 1y ago
    And its fucking expensive
  - eric_cc 1y ago
    > huge social baggage. ;) Or a great social filter. Consider the type of people that would judge you over a cybertruck.
    - ghushn3 1y ago
      > Consider the type of people that would judge you over a cybertruck. I think we call those "most people".
      - fruitworks 1y ago
        I don't think most people care unless you're in a super liberal area.
        1y ago

notatoad 1y ago

>My worry is for the business feasibility for these hopefully the success of the ford maverick can allay some of this concern - i don't think anybody was really expecting it to be as successful as it has been, but it seems like there's actually pretty decent demand for a smaller truck.

benzible 1y ago

I don't think Tesla's judgment should be the litmus test. They have capacity to produce 250K Cybertrucks / year, currently on pace to sell < 20K and it's only going down from here.

jstummbillig 1y ago
I kind of think it's cool that reality is configured such that Cybertruck exists, but only in a very meta way. Lazy-think me: It feels dumb and is probably just bad focus from a company focus standpoint.
margalabargala 1y ago
To be fair, the main reason for this is that the CEO of Tesla looked at "people who buy electric vehicles", and spent the last four years turning himself into a caricature of a villain to those people. At the best maybe it was some sort of misguided attempt to encourage the American right to buy EVs? If so it royally backfired and just decimated his own customer base right at the time real competition was entering the market. The Equinox EV roundly beats the Model Y head to head on range, price, AWD, etc. The Ioniq 5 is more expensive but is lovely.
- beAbU 1y ago
  You are responding to a message about the cybertruck specifically, so I assume you are implying musk's behaviour is to blame for the poor sales of the CT? The cybertruck fell flat long before Musk's true identity was revealed (maga/nazi affiliations). Even if tesla was headed up by the most beloved CEO ever, I reckon the CT would still have sold poorly. It's just objectively a very bad, poorly designed and even worse built vehicle. And surprisingly, I feel like it's design aged very very quickly. It does not look next-gen or futuristic to me at all anymore.
  - eric_cc 1y ago
    > Elon Musk … nazi affiliations Do you have a source for this?

delabay 1y ago

Sadly, trucks like these are like the automotive "small smartphone". At first it appears there is a large vocal market, especially if you read the comment section. Alas, nobody will buy it, just like nobody actually buys small smartphones.

girvo 1y ago
Sadly true: and I’m one of those who walks their talk wrt. small phones. I don’t need a ute, though, so I drive a cupra born instead
unethical_ban 1y ago
40k with 300hp and 350 mile range? This sounds pretty awesome imo.
- Schiendelman 1y ago
  40k will not get you a 350 mile range. There is no way they get to market at that price for that capability.
  - CarVac 1y ago
    40k gets 240 mile range.
    - dexterdog 1y ago
      The pricepoints are still vaporware.
      - CarVac 1y ago
        Agreed, we'll have to see if they're even remotely close to their claims.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  Insane price. We need something closer to a $15k S10 or Ranger compact pickup. Simple and utilitarian.

timeon 1y ago

> Why isn’t Tesla making these? Like with most cars they have made it is because Tesla has no taste.

MetaWhirledPeas 1y ago

> Why isn’t Tesla making these? They have the supply chain and expertise to easily pull it off and they’d be such a big hit. People switching to them for light cargo would be a REAL contribution in cutting use of carbon. I get your point but I also think you are being dismissive of their ongoing contributions to cutting carbon use.

beAbU 1y ago

Here in Ireland al lot of local "last mile" services (postman, deliveries, council services, repair crews etc) are switching to electric vans. It's such a no-brainer and a great application of evs. I'm actually wondering why pickups are so popular elsewhere. A van makes so much more sense for a travelling tradie IMO - we need more electric vans!

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
gtirloni 1y ago
Outside of farmers and heavy machinery workers, trucks are only a status/culture symbol these days. In my town, 1 out of 10 vehicles is a truck... a very clean and shiny truck that has never carried anything.
NoLinkToMe 1y ago
Partly driven by EU laws, most EU countries have or are introducing (ultra) low emission zones, barring non-electric now or soon from cities. Companies can see the writing on the wall and are making their 10-15 year vehicle investments accordingly.