Maybe Don’t Use Your Cybertruck For Towing

[crazysccrmd]

No EV is viable for towing long distances if that is your priority.

*if you want to do it in a reasonable amount of time. The actual towing performance is excellent.

 

[cricketwagon]

It's definitely got some #1 as well.

I said when it came out that it was a modern version of an oversized muscle car, with a zero to 60 of 2.6s. The truck bed and rear seat are bonuses. And the $100k price for that model is far from silly considering what other vehicles cost.

No EV is viable for towing long distances if that is your priority.

$100k was the truck loaded with a bunch of extras when they launched it. $80k truck has been available since October last year, and this year it's eligible for $7,500 point of sale tax credit lowering the purchase price to $72.5k for many buyers (there are some annual income caps). So then the question becomes - does it offer the utility and performance that's worth 70 grand or so ?

 

[cricketwagon]

*if you want to do it in a reasonable amount of time. The actual towing performance is excellent.

Even this point will be debated ad nauseam. Some people just absolutely positively have to do the 6-8-10 hour drive in one setting without stopping to stretch, take a leak (do they use coke bottles?) or have a coffee. I've never been able to do that, even before EVs became a thing.

 

[86scotty]

Even this point will be debated ad nauseam. Some people just absolutely positively have to do the 6-8-10 hour drive in one setting without stopping to stretch, take a leak (do they use coke bottles?) or have a coffee. I've never been able to do that, even before EVs became a thing.

People have limited vacation/free time and want to maximize productivity on travel days. And EV's don't charge in the time it takes to stretch and take a leak but petrol tanks fill in that time. And WTH does the urine receptable have to do with anything?

 

[tacollie]

$100k was the truck loaded with a bunch of extras when they launched it. $80k truck has been available since October last year, and this year it's eligible for $7,500 point of sale tax credit lowering the purchase price to $72.5k for many buyers (there are some annual income caps). So then the question becomes - does it offer the utility and performance that's worth 70 grand or so ?

No. Save $25k and get a Lightening.

 

[cricketwagon]

People have limited vacation/free time and want to maximize productivity on travel days. And EV's don't charge in the time it takes to stretch and take a leak but petrol tanks fill in that time. And WTH does the urine receptable have to do with anything?

They take a bit longer to charge than it takes to fill up, but not so dramatically longer that your vacation is ruined. Last part has to do with humor. Humor is the kind of thing humans sometimes use in communication. Here is a reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour

 

[cricketwagon]

No. Save $25k and get a Lightening.

Curious - what does Lightning do better ?

 

[crazysccrmd]

They take a bit longer to charge than it takes to fill up, but not so dramatically longer that your vacation is ruined. Last part has to do with humor. Humor is the kind of thing humans sometimes use in communication. Here is a reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour

With my R1T towing it was an hour or more of charging every 120 miles as opposed to a ten minute fuel stop every 350 miles in my diesel. On a long trip that adds up into days of extra time on the road, a big deal if you’re wanting to get somewhere quickly rather than just go slow and enjoy the scenery.

Drivetrain, comfort, stability, etc were all excellent but the extremely limited range got old.

 

[cricketwagon]

With my R1T towing it was an hour or more of charging every 120 miles as opposed to a ten minute fuel stop every 350 miles in my diesel. On a long trip that adds up into days of extra time on the road, a big deal if you’re wanting to get somewhere quickly rather than just go slow and enjoy the scenery.

Drivetrain, comfort, stability, etc were all excellent but the extremely limited range got old.

Modern EVs charge progressively - it's significantly faster to charge to 80% than to 100%, almost to a point you can charge two times 0-80% in amount of time it would take to charge one time to 100%. So it's a bit of a paradigm shift - stop frequently for shorter charging times.

 

[crazysccrmd]

Modern EVs charge progressively - it's significantly faster to charge to 80% than to 100%, almost to a point you can charge two times 0-80% in amount of time it would take to charge one time to 100%. So it's a bit of a paradigm shift - stop frequently for shorter charging times.

Yep, which works great until you’re towing at 1mi/kwh and less. At that point an 0-80% charge in my R1T only provided a 105 mile range, leaving little to no buffer for changes in road or weather conditions and often not enough range to make it from one DCFC to the next. A full charge was often required just to make it to the next charger with a reasonable buffer of 5-10 miles remaining.

 

[cricketwagon]

Yep, which works great until you’re towing at 1mi/kwh and less. At that point an 0-80% charge in my R1T only provided a 105 mile range, leaving little to no buffer for changes in road or weather conditions and often not enough range to make it from one DCFC to the next. A full charge was often required just to make it to the next charger with a reasonable buffer of 5-10 miles remaining.

Yup! That's certainly annoying. Also there aren't many charging stations with a pull through arrangement. More charging stations are being deployed all the time, so convenience will improve over time.

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

The modern, current EVs, were developed about a week ago (in relative terms).
The modern ICE vehicle has been developing for over 100 years.
In another 10 or 20 years, things will be very different. What we have, so far, is spectacular. Bring it on.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[ThundahBeagle]

With my R1T towing it was an hour or more of charging every 120 miles as opposed to a ten minute fuel stop every 350 miles in my diesel. On a long trip that adds up into days of extra time on the road, a big deal if you’re wanting to get somewhere quickly rather than just go slow and enjoy the scenery.

Drivetrain, comfort, stability, etc were all excellent but the extremely limited range got old.

Good breakdown of time and range. Thank you. Even a gasser k1500 might have to stop every, say, 200 - 300 miles when towing. So not as good a as diesel, but still better than the R1T times you posted.

It will be interesting to see how that all develops over the next 5 to 10 years.

 

[cricketwagon]

Good breakdown of time and range. Thank you. Even a gasser k1500 might have to stop every, say, 200 - 300 miles when towing. So not as good a as diesel, but still better than the R1T times you posted.

It will be interesting to see how that all develops over the next 5 to 10 years.

Nothing spectacular will develop. Best bet there will be some reduction in charging time and more charging stations. There is nothing promising in terms of energy density in the pipeline at the moment.

 

[Umbrarian]

More useful would be to just tow 11,000 lbs around and report back.