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Tesla to pull the plug on Cybertruck in mid-2027 after years of poor sales. (www.reuters.com)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/cars@lemmy.world
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[–] 3 points 1 day ago (1 child)

I also am not a truck person, but I believe your assessment is mostly correct. Truck people who use trucks as trucks, not the city folk who use them like a status icon, want a truck because of its utility. The Cybertuck, along with other full EV trucks, just don't match the utility of their diesel and gasoline counterparts.

  • EVs are ridiculously heavy, and their power to weight ratio as it pertains to offroading is pretty bad. The weight also makes recovery a nightmare, as they get stuck in mud and wet sand often and practically need a construction crane to pull them out.

  • Towing capacity is not as good. In addition, range, especially while towing, is pretty bad compared to non-EV options.

  • Recreational use is also pretty muted because there is no engine making sound. You dont hear or feel the rumble from an engine. I can personally feel this one even as a road car fan.

  • Charging infrastructure absolutely sucks anywhere someone is going to use a truck for anything other than a status symbol. Farmers don't have easy access to charge stations, for example, and it would be very expensive and time consuming to expand into their atea because they are so spread out.

Basically, every reason a person would choose a truck for, is a really bad choice to pick an EV truck, except "it's needlessly expensive and makes people think I have a lot of money."

I think advancements in a hybrid electric technology could make some benefits, but all in all, the diesel and gas utility is not matched by EVs still. I still think hydrogen needs more research and could be the way better option.

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  • [–] 2 points 18 hours ago*

    Prescribing some weird qualifications of acceptability is... weird.

    Truck people who use trucks as trucks, not the city folk who use them like a status icon, want a truck because of its utility

    Here's my cherry picked class of valid subject to support my opinion.

    Ignoring that the Cybertruck was rejected by "truck people" because it was uniquely strange (versus electric trucks broadly) & "that city folk who use them like a status icon" probably make up the overwhelming majority of truck sales, there's still more to consider.

    Most fleet trucks are basic ass 2WD long beds. Real "truck people" don't look for off road capabilities and real off roaders are choosing SUVs over trucks every time. Your hypothetical farmer on dirt roads is probably outnumbered by municipal services and contractors just wanting to throw a miter saw in the bed and pull up to a driveway 1:100.

    But EV trucks were rejected by the markets. Why?

    • A lack of downward pressure - continued fossil fuel subsidies and almost total lack of government pressure for fleets to switch or for new buyers to choose electric.

    • Poor economic conditions at launch - combined with the above, EV trucks launched well after EV cars, at a higher price point than ICE trucks, and at a time when most consumers were cash-strapped. With both options available, very few were able to afford the theoretically cheaper-to-run EV truck.

    • Culture wars & confused marketing - you touched on this but gave it too much emphasis IMO. EV trucks just got brought in to generic culture war garbage. The people who like EVs unfairly don't like trucks; the people who like trucks unfairly don't like electric drivetrains. Ford and GM blth made cars they din't knlw how to sell. The Cybertruck was incidentally the one truck to get past this, just not in a way I think most of us would find agreeable.

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