Comment by blackeyeblitzar | Hacker News Reader

Comment by blackeyeblitzar | Hacker News Reader

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blackeyeblitzar

> Tesla has missed on pricing with new vehicle programs before, and inflation has been exceptionally high in the few years between the original unveiling and pricing of the Cybertruck in 2019 and its start of production last year.

> But when it comes to specs, Tesla has generally delivered on its promises. Not with the Cybertruck.

Agree. The miss on range with the Cybertruck is too big to ignore. I can understand the price increases due to inflation or whatever. But the enticing thing was getting 500+ miles on the tri motor version, which would have made it unlike anything else - a magical mix of power, utility, and range to put it to use (or just help with range anxiety). The drop from “500+” to 320 is HUGE.

I don’t know if this range extender really makes sense either. Will people really pay 16K more to get 120 miles more while losing 1/3rd of their bed space? To me that seems like a bad deal. Why not just get a Model X at that point?

As an alternative I would prefer a PHEV truck that provides 50 miles of range so most trips are fully electric, but with a gas engine available for longer trips. The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger will provide that, with an engine that works as a generator (to power electric motors).

The drop from 500 to 320 also meant that towing a decent load dropped from like 180 to 80. It became useless for anything but around town towing.

> The 2025 Ram 1500 Ramcharger will provide that, with an engine that works as a generator (to power electric motors).

I’ve heard so little about this since the announcement I’m really worried it’s going to be killed or pushed out 4 years with the rest of the industry walking back their EV promises.

Is anyone actually using Cybertrucks for towing heavy loads? I'm under the impression it's mostly a recreational vehicle.

There are definitely pictures of people who try, one bloke put a towing crane thing in the bed of theirs: https://i.redd.it/32fsd1elmfvd1.jpeg

I think the stickers are the primary function, the crane is only to increase the liklyhood of someone photographing/sharing.

Really the primary practical use case for the Cybertruck right now is generating YouTube and TikTok content.

Not really because of the range issue I mentioned. I wanted it to tow my 9,000lb trailer.

It'd be funny to hack the range extender's protocol so you could install a diesel electric generator instead of a battery pack.

Interesting project.

I wonder if you could get a useful system without using up the entire bed. In order to get "infinite" range while towing, you'd probably want at least a 100kW ICE in the back. A 100kW diesel generator is a beefy boy, those usually come on a two axle trailer. But maybe you could build something more compact with a performance motorcycle engine...

Also, can the cybertruck charge its main battery from the range extender? Or can it drive while the charging port is supplied with current? The entire idea kind of dies if the ICE can't charge the main battery, you really want that to buffer demand.

Agreed with regard to the project dying if it can't charge the main battery.

Supposing that's not a problem, if the GP is right about the Ramcharger using an ICE to run the electric motors, then in principle we pretty much already know it's possible from a power density perspective.

I suppose one could start running the generator at the beginning of the trip instead of waiting for the main battery to drain significantly. Perhaps you couldn't get "infinite" range, but you could stretch your main battery's range out far enough that for all practical purposes you wouldn't care—you could either get to a charger or find some diesel and wait an hour or two after a 10+ hour trip for the generator to recharge the main battery.

> the Ramcharger using an ICE to run the electric motors, then in principle we pretty much already know it's possible from a power density perspective

They have the advantage building the powerplant (and all its periphery) into the chassis. That saves a lot of material on engine mounts and covers, you can skip the cabin heater heat pump, ect.

A big difference is also if you design it for towing or not. You can probably get functionally infinite highway range with a 20kW ICE if you don't want to tow. And those you can build real tiny. You can probably do with a 125cc with the cutest little turbo the world has every seen.

A generator capable of more then 20mph charging would be beyond the towing capacity.

Are you sure? Google tells me a Cybertruck uses around 400 Wh of energy per mile. 20 miles worth of charging then would be 8000 Wh. To generate that much in an hour would take an 8000 W generator.

The first 8000 W generator I found [1] is 200 lbs.

Here's a 24000 W generator [2] that weighs 455 lbs. The weight of its fuel (propane) would be a little under 17 lbs for each hour's worth.

[1] https://www.generac.com/residential-products/portable-genera...

[2] https://www.generac.com/globalassets/products/residential/st...

Yes I was exaggerating; the 455lbs 24kW generator would probably be >20mph but not the 8000W one given all the losses.

range extender wartime style:

https://x.com/KyivPost/status/1608407902242635781?lang=en

Photos of the battery show it is half only full of cells, and a lead engineer at Tesla commented as much.

I think it likely there will be a much higher range version later, but they’re cell constrained for now so they’re only putting one layer of cells into the pack

I suspect they are more constrained by cell thermals/cooling otherwise why take the obvious PR hit of providing much less range than promised.

The range extender is a bit of an odd product considering both the range added (limited) and the form factor (taking up a lot of space in the back).

While the range drop is disappointing, it's still plenty of range. More than enough for normal drivers that aren't anxiety ridden about range. Most people only drive about 12000 miles per year. And rarely over 300 in a single day. And when you do go on a long trip: relax, have a break (you'll need it) and charge up the car and yourself. It's not healthy to be on the road non stop regularly. You can charge the car up plenty over a nice lunch break. If you need a second stop after nine hours of driving or so, you need a break as well. And no, you aren't super human.

The product itself seems popular. Tesla now is starting to dominate the truck market. And they only barely started ramping up production. It's going to be interesting to see how they'll do when they reach their production volume targets. It's of course a divisive product with its styling and features. But it's arguably performing well in sales. Despite the currently high price.

>Tesla now is starting to dominate the truck market.

Do you mean “dominate” in some sort of philosophical way unrelated to numbers?

That statement is spoken by people who only look at the us second quarter ev pickup truck sales and see the cyber truck at even with all others combined. Forgetting that is a tiny niche market, the time window is favourable for the cybertruck and forget the many of petrol versions.

https://driveteslacanada.ca/news/tesla-cybertruck-dominates-...

No, as in it's the #3 EV in the US after the other two Teslas and in front of all other EV trucks combined. Based on the numbers.

If you meant the "EV truck market" you should have said that rather than completely moving the goalposts when someone called you on your false claims.

I hope that with that small caveat, you agree that the Cybertruck completely and utterly dominates the EV truck market now. Which is a notion that seems to upset a lot of people here.

As for my other "false" claims? Which are you referring to? You used the plural here. And since we're being pedantic ...

> I hope that with that small caveat…

This makes sense. Similarly, General Mills now is starting to dominate the bacon* market with their Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bacon.

https://www.kare11.com/article/life/food/2-minnesota-compani...

*cinnamon sugar encrusted bacon market

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