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Comment by Element_ | Hacker News Reader

I think the reason the spare tire isn't more easily accessible is because of the importance of aerodynamics in electric vehicles (It can't just be bolted underneath or to the back). Also the CEO mentioned in an interview that the spare tire can be removed to gain a large water proof storage compartment under the bed.

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> It can't just be bolted underneath or to the back

Why not just bolt it underneath and put a cover over it? The cover would weigh less than a couple of kilos and probably improve the vehicle's overall aerodynamics anyway.

If it's like lots of other EVs, the batteries go completely across the bottom of the vehicle for a low COG.

Yeah, this is probably why they went this route, and it makes a lot of sense. It's just strange to see it advertised as a design feature. Having it called out like that as if it's something I want in a truck was very jarring, like they didn't really understand what I would be using a truck for.

Yes, some people like you use their pickups for real work. For most American drivers, a pickup truck (or SUV) is just a fashion statement. They drive it around town with (an empty bed) instead of a Honda Civic.

with regards to pickup trucks most spares are located behind the rear axle and current BEVs usually only have the battery pan between the axles.

So I put it down to a packaging issue. They had two choices and under the bed solution provided the extra benefit of being able to use that space for other purposes. Many newer vehicles do not carry spare tires and this trend has been accelerating as tire technology has improved greatly and road side assistance is common that people rarely if ever have to change a tire.

It was fun watching car spares shift to mini-spares, and now many high-end cars don't have a spare.

In over forty years of driving I have had only one flat that wasn't just a slow leak. And the weather was so bad that I chose to slowly drive home, about fifteen miles, on the flat rather than change the wheel. The next day I drove another couple of miles to a tyre supply company and just had the tyre replaced.

Not sure if I would be so quick to do it in a modern car with alloy wheels and an even mass distribution but the car in question was a tough old Volvo Amazon with steel wheels and the flat was on a back wheel; in the Amazon most of the weight of the car is over the front wheels so the flat really didn't stress the wheel much.

That was about thirty five years ago.

How many flats you get depends on where you drive more than anything. If you're only ever driving on well maintained roads that are free of debris then you will almost never get flats. Also just because a leak is slow doesn't mean you don't need the spare. If you had needed to be somewhere the following day (e.g. work) you would have put on the spare.

weird things happen sometimes. two weeks ago, I got a razorblade embedded in one of my tires exactly parallel to the tread. I think it happened while I was parking. I came out of the store only twenty minutes later to find my tire at 0 psi.

> It can't just be bolted underneath or to the back

Well, if it is bolted under, it needs its own cover/plate, which increases the weight of the surrounding structure (since whatever's there can't be structural).

It doesn't need a cover/plate. Every full-size or mid-size truck I've owned hoists the spare underneath the bed without a cover. Tires are very durable, and if something impacts the tire it's probably destroyed your differential, brakes, and/or axle too so the spare isn't terribly useful.

The aerodynamics, what parent was talking about, were why I said there would need to be a cover.

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