Is the Cyber Truck a Flop?

[hayden]

$0 electric bill here. We are off-grid. But I don't have enough power to charge a car, nor is one a good fit for our use.

 

[WinterDeere]

I use less than 300 KWh per month now, but I now live alone. I also heat with wood and don't need air conditioning, due to my concrete house.

I averaged $100 a month for electricity in 2024.

I also heat with wood, roughly 10 full cords per year. My house is stone, 22" - 24" thick walls, which does help reduce the need for summer air conditioning.

Our house is just shy of 300 years old, roughly 8000 ft2 built in five separate phases, so heating had to be accomplished with a mixed hodgepodge of sources:

1. Two 3 cu.ft. wood stoves, running 24/7, eating about 10 cords per year. One at either end of first floor.
2. Oil-fired boiler feeding 6 zones hydronic baseboard, using about 1000 gallons of heating oil per year.
3. Mini-split heat pumps, two outdoor units feeding three indoor units, between my 1200 ft2 shop and little 300 ft2 music studio.
4. Propane, one wall-mounted Rinnai direct-vent heating our attached garage (625 ft2) to 53F, and one ventless stove in the basement rec room for a quick heat-up when we want to play billiards or video games down there.
5. Electric baseboard or ceiling heaters in three of our bathrooms, but each is only used about 20 minutes per day, and only roughly 1.5 kW each.

Comparing dollars per month is probably not very useful, since one guy is paying 60c per kWh and I'm paying under 20c per kWh. When I lived alone, I think my usual bill was under 130 kWh/month, in a house with all electric heat for 2nd and 3rd floors. Now I'm thrilled when it's under 2500 kWh.

One factor many don't consider, is that when many of us started working from home during COVID, we were adding a lot more usage due to computers, printers, and just having more lights on during the day. My main workstation averages 10 - 15 kWh per day, let's call it 375 kWh/month for just one computer... and I have four computers in the office my wife and I share, plus a fifth in the room nextdoor for the kids. Between all of the computers, printers, routers, etc., I'd estimate we're putting an extra 800'ish kWh/month onto our bill, just by the very act of working from home. It's not insignificant.

And to tie it back to the CyberTruck topic... imagine the bill we'd be paying, if I were charging a pickup truck!

 

[Renze]

My main workstation averages 10 - 15 kWh per day, let's call it 375 kWh/month for just one computer...

Crap... maybe its time for me to turn off my PC when not in use.... thats a lot !

 

[jmc]

Or sue-one-in-reach-of-the-local-court....

Ralph Nader got rich selling a book about a big greedy corporation getting rich by cutting corners on safety, and the little man sueing them. A classic American epos, like Erin Brokovich. Its a story that sells well, and Nader found his niche ! His book wouldnt be as relatable to the American audience if he went after VW or Honda...

I bought that book (Unsafe at Any Speed, circa 1968) for my dad because I wanted to read it.

I don't think the book made Nader rich. If he ever got there, it was from suing General Motors for sending prostitutes to his hotel room to get some dirt on him.

 

[WinterDeere]

Crap... maybe its time for me to turn off my PC when not in use.... thats a lot !

It's a big computer with 32 physical processors, running heavy simulations all day and night. I think the typical laptop computer with standard Windows power profile settings, probably uses under 50 kWh per month, depending on the size of your attached monitor and hours of usage.

 

[NoTrespassing]

I also heat with wood, roughly 10 full cords per year. My house is stone, 22" - 24" thick walls, which does help reduce the need for summer air conditioning.

Our house is just shy of 300 years old, roughly 8000 ft2 built in five separate phases, so heating had to be accomplished with a mixed hodgepodge of sources:

1. Two 3 cu.ft. wood stoves, running 24/7, eating about 10 cords per year. One at either end of first floor.
2. Oil-fired boiler feeding 6 zones hydronic baseboard, using about 1000 gallons of heating oil per year.
3. Mini-split heat pumps, two outdoor units feeding three indoor units, between my 1200 ft2 shop and little 300 ft2 music studio.
4. Propane, one wall-mounted Rinnai direct-vent heating our attached garage (625 ft2) to 53F, and one ventless stove in the basement rec room for a quick heat-up when we want to play billiards or video games down there.
5. Electric baseboard or ceiling heaters in three of our bathrooms, but each is only used about 20 minutes per day, and only roughly 1.5 kW each.

Comparing dollars per month is probably not very useful, since one guy is paying 60c per kWh and I'm paying under 20c per kWh. When I lived alone, I think my usual bill was under 130 kWh/month, in a house with all electric heat for 2nd and 3rd floors. Now I'm thrilled when it's under 2500 kWh.

One factor many don't consider, is that when many of us started working from home during COVID, we were adding a lot more usage due to computers, printers, and just having more lights on during the day. My main workstation averages 10 - 15 kWh per day, let's call it 375 kWh/month for just one computer... and I have four computers in the office my wife and I share, plus a fifth in the room nextdoor for the kids. Between all of the computers, printers, routers, etc., I'd estimate we're putting an extra 800'ish kWh/month onto our bill, just by the very act of working from home. It's not insignificant.

And to tie it back to the CyberTruck topic... imagine the bill we'd be paying, if I were charging a pickup truck!

I think the heat bulb in the chicken house is costing me about $16/month. The $8/dozen eggs will offset that.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

2024 Cybertruck sales were 38,965. I apologize if that was already mentioned. I saw some folks asking about cost to charge. I have a Tesla model Y. I drive about 2,200 miles a month. My cost wont stack up with other folks because my employer has chargers at work and I charge for free so half my commute to work is paid for by the boss. So maybe 740 miles or about 1/3 of my driving. The rest is charging at home. We have not noticed much change in our electric bill. Maybe $20 more per month over last year’s bills. Cars are like Hammers. There are many different types of tool and for me, this is the right tool for the job. If you want to get into the more personal aspect of cars, the cool factor or luxury or just general satisfaction, This is the nicest car I have ever owned or driven. I like it a lot. I test drove some BMW and Mercedes about 15-20 years ago and drove new Hondas, Mazdas, Subaru, Ford, Nissan, Toyota before buying this one.
Full disclosure 1 month into owning it, the navigation computer failed. The car worked but cameras and gps were not working. Tesla set me up with a loaner car. Fixed my car in the time frame they said they would and gave me a free month of full self driving.

 

[NoTrespassing]

2024 Cybertruck sales were 38,965. I apologize if that was already mentioned. I saw some folks asking about cost to charge. I have a Tesla model Y. I drive about 2,200 miles a month. My cost wont stack up with other folks because my employer has chargers at work and I charge for free so half my commute to work is paid for by the boss. So maybe 740 miles or about 1/3 of my driving. The rest is charging at home. We have not noticed much change in our electric bill. Maybe $20 more per month over last year’s bills. Cars are like Hammers. There are many different types of tool and for me, this is the right tool for the job. If you want to get into the more personal aspect of cars, the cool factor or luxury or just general satisfaction, This is the nicest car I have ever owned or driven. I like it a lot. I test drove some BMW and Mercedes about 15-20 years ago and drove new Hondas, Mazdas, Subaru, Ford, Nissan, Toyota before buying this one.
Full disclosure 1 month into owning it, the navigation computer failed. The car worked but cameras and gps were not working. Tesla set me up with a loaner car. Fixed my car in the time frame they said they would and gave me a free month of full self driving.

Glad you like your truck. It seems like sales are falling though.

 

[ning]

I think if it wasnt Tesla but Toyota or GM, nobody would care if its CEO got involved in politics.

I don't think it's so much that it's a CEO, but that it's a billionaire, and not just any run-of-the-mill billionaire like most of the 2,781 of them.
Tesla gets involved because he's seen as being interchangeable with the company, and while he was a billionaire before Tesla, now he's a hundreds-of-billions'aire precisely because of Tesla.

 

[5030]

2024 Cybertruck sales were 38,965. I apologize if that was already mentioned. I saw some folks asking about cost to charge. I have a Tesla model Y. I drive about 2,200 miles a month. My cost wont stack up with other folks because my employer has chargers at work and I charge for free so half my commute to work is paid for by the boss. So maybe 740 miles or about 1/3 of my driving. The rest is charging at home. We have not noticed much change in our electric bill. Maybe $20 more per month over last year’s bills. Cars are like Hammers. There are many different types of tool and for me, this is the right tool for the job. If you want to get into the more personal aspect of cars, the cool factor or luxury or just general satisfaction, This is the nicest car I have ever owned or driven. I like it a lot. I test drove some BMW and Mercedes about 15-20 years ago and drove new Hondas, Mazdas, Subaru, Ford, Nissan, Toyota before buying this one.
Full disclosure 1 month into owning it, the navigation computer failed. The car worked but cameras and gps were not working. Tesla set me up with a loaner car. Fixed my car in the time frame they said they would and gave me a free month of full self driving.

Trust me, your 'free charging at work' is a baked into your employment asset.

Nothing is free despite what you assume.