Tesla pickup, possibly

[bcp]

Tesla's Elon Musk promises pick-up truck and new features - BBC News

"Tesla's chief has pledged to make a pick-up truck as part of future plans for the electric vehicle-maker."


Bruce

 

[newbury]

Guy's you need to see the artist concept:

 

[Peter 315]

Guy's you need to see the artist concept:

:thumbdown::thumbdown:

 

[bcp]

First article below is the cab forward design. It looks more like a modification of their semi- tractor.

The second article has a conventional design photo.

Tesla released some bizarre photos of its electric pickup truck yesterday – BGR

Tesla's Long-Awaited Pickup Truck Has a Target Date | Inverse



Bruce

 

[timswi]

First article below is the cab forward design. It looks more like a modification of their semi- tractor.

The second article has a conventional design photo.

Tesla released some bizarre photos of its electric pickup truck yesterday – BGR

Tesla's Long-Awaited Pickup Truck Has a Target Date | Inverse

View attachment 533563

Bruce

Based on that rendering--Ah, nope for me.

 

[rekees4300]

"Tesla's chief has pledged to make a pick-up truck as part of future plans for the electric vehicle-maker."


Bruce

Musk has big plans but Tesla has a problem called "reality".

Elon Musk's Tesla faces make-or-break year in 218

 

[timswi]

Musk has big plans but Tesla has a problem called "reality".

Elon Musk's Tesla faces make-or-break year in 218

Yup, they sure do.

 

[4570Man]

Let’s look past all of the obvious problems for a minute. Who in the heck would drive that thing?

 

[vvanders]

Based on that rendering--Ah, nope for me.

That photo is photoshopped fan art, from the text in the article.

I think there's some pretty awesome potential for an EV pickup truck. To start, it's going to have tons of torque. Our Tesla has more torque than our diesel half-ton and zero turbo lag.

You can easily do all-time 4x4 and potentially even torque vectoring per-wheel. Tesla currently uses an open differential and electrically actuated braking for sub 1-ms traction control. I'd love to have that for off-roading.

Plus since there's already an inverter for the 3-phase motor there's a chance they could re-work it to provide 120/240v right off the truck. Just imagine being able to drive out to a work-site and run your welder right from the side of the truck with no generator.

Honestly their hardest problem is probably going to be getting a shape that's aerodynamic enough at 60mph+. Wind resistance can take a pretty good chunk out of the range, I usually see ~10% drop in range when it gets below 35f.

 

[4570Man]

Maybe a grinder, but the welder is wishful thinking.

 

[vvanders]

I dunno, the pack is at 350-400V and can sustain charging rates of 300A VDC. Even at 10kW you can still discharge it for 8 hours straight from a full pack.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Well qualified lessees can call.....$$$-$$$-$$$$ The rest of us will continue to drive what we can actually afford.

 

[4570Man]

How are you going to charge it at that rate? If you had that you’d just use a plug in welder. And you don’t have the option of a full pack since you have to drive it to and from work. That’s besides the point that the average person can actually afford an engine driven welder.

 

[vvanders]

120kW charging is only when you want a full charge in 40mins, usually at a supercharger. No reason you can't just charge overnight off of a 30A dryer outlet.

There's obviously going to be cases where it's not going to work, but there's quick jobs or cases where you're running normal power tools where it would be pretty handy. I know I've done enough work out in our field where it would have been nicer to have 120 on-tap with the truck rather than dragging out the generator and all that it entails.

 

[4570Man]

But I could have a regular pickup, the best set of cordless tools, an onboard generator for the rare instance you need 110 volt, a backhoe, and money left over. Anyone who would own that truck probably doesn’t use tools anyway.

 

[vvanders]

Oh come now, isn't that a tad judgemental?

I doubt in 4+ years when we see this that li-ion prices will be anywhere near what they are now. We've already seen huge drops in prices over the last 3 years(and great gains in capacity too). I'm not saying everyone has to get one, just laying out some ideas where there are some nifty things that having an electric powertrain brings.

 

[4570Man]

Having duffel bags of $100 bills laying around would be pretty nifty too.

 

[crazyal]

If your need for a pickup is to haul your one can of trash to the dump then this isn't going to work. You will continue to need your 18 liter turbo diesel dually quab cab. If you use your truck for towing then unless it's just short trips this isn't going to work for you (drive for 2 hours, find a super charger that you can pull your truck and trailer into, then wait an hour or more for it to charge since it will most likely have a much bigger battery than any of Tesla's current offerings). Personally I think this is going to be a dud in the US for the same reason why Nissan sells so few pickups. People like their brand and aren't likely to change. Secondly people want big and beefy, not something that mixes well with energy efficient design that will benefit reducing the amount of battery charge time.

 

[vvanders]

Yup, don't disagree at all, certainly won't handle every case.

That said operating costs should be a lot lower. Right now I run about $6/300mi on our EV in electricity.

 

[mopardude318]

nope. i wouldnt want it if they gave it to me for free. ok, yea, for free id take it, sell it, and buy me a ram 3500.