Potentially stupid question regarding snow handling.

[Cyber111]

Hi all, I'm originally from Michigan and now I live at high altitude in California and we get plenty of snow here too. In the past whenever I had a pickup truck in the Winter, I'd put 300 lbs. of sand bags over the rear axle to stop it from fish-tailing. Even when four wheel drive was engaged if there wasn't extra weight in the bed, the truck would fish-tail. Does anyone know if the weight/location of the battery in the Cybertruck will eliminate this pickup truck issue?

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[bang21]

I believe the CT is nearly 50/50 weight distribution. I would not think it’s needed.

 

[Jager]

Like @bang21 said, very likely not needed, at least in the context of an ICE pickup with its very high weight-forward bias.

That said, throwing some additional weight in the bed of the Cybertruck is likely to improve traction in snowy conditions, simply because you're increasing traction over the rear, always active, axle.

There's another nuance here... AFAIK, the Cybertruck has no setting for forcing the motors on both axles to remain engaged. It's an AWD vehicle and its computers will determine when/if to engage the usually-passive front axle. That's obviously going to happen if the computers determine that loss-of-traction is occurring. But that's not quite as good as a 4WD system which has both axles engaged all the time.

Adding additional weight in the bed is likely to provide a more stable situation, with less front axle cycling between engaged / disengaged. There's not much downside to doing so.

 

[Gigahorse]

The battery pack (which is a good chunk of the truck's weight) and the electric motors are spread out a LOT compared to your typical pickup that has all that motor weight up front and the back is very lightweight.
There have been some CT struggling in the snow videos lately but I think they will do much better than a standard pickup with no weight in the back.

 

[Cyber111]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it! Does anyone know if locking differentials will be an option with either the AWD or Cyberbeast?

 

[REM]

Also, electric motors have much faster response times, thus more precision control than ICE engine vehicles, so they naturally perform better in the ice and snow.

 

[Outdoors]

Locking diffs is a feature that is currently greyed out. It will be active in time. Tesla very often does this at launches. The Y was different as it was pretty much a 3 from its foundation. So it has been a while for a true new car/truck.

 

[Rutrow]

Mass for traction is a double edged sword. If your vehicle is too light for the tire treads to put themselves to full use, adding weight can improve traction. But if treads are doing all they're capable of, the added inertia will either keep your vehicle from getting going (stuck in the snow) or keep it from stopping as quickly as you'd like (driving into the ditch). Traction control will direct power to the front wheels if it senses fishtailing.

I would bet that the CyberTruck doesn't need any additional weight to achieve its maximum traction. I'd leave the sand bags at home, and if you get stuck, ask a few bystanders to hop in to see if that helps. If it works? GREAT! If not, it's easier to kick folks out of your truck than it is to off-load bags of sand to lighten your load.

 

[Woodrick]

Hi all, I'm originally from Michigan and now I live at high altitude in California and we get plenty of snow here too. In the past whenever I had a pickup truck in the Winter, I'd put 300 lbs. of sand bags over the rear axle to stop it from fish-tailing. Even when four wheel drive was engaged if there wasn't extra weight in the bed, the truck would fish-tail. Does anyone know if the weight/location of the battery in the Cybertruck will eliminate this pickup truck issue?

There are two thing in a Tesla that will help you out.

The first it the location of the battery, essentially centered between the front and rear axle. So it's no like a classic pickup with an engine sitting on the front axle and little wight on the rear axle.

The second is Tesla's traction control. Now, if the truck is sliding sideways, there's not much it can do. But in normal situations in snow it can be awesome. The traction control is incredible. In the performance version of the Model S, it has incredible power. But no matter what you do, you can't spin the wheels are do a doughnut. The traction control won't let you (For those times in the track that you really want/need to, there is a Track Mode) What that means is that the truck is really going to try it's hardest to keep any of the normal situations from happening in the first place.

 

[ideaXfactory]

Other old trick is to reduce the air pressure in the tires 3-5 psi. But not sure about doing that on the Cybertuck.

 

[VR Driving]

This is an EV, it has an extremely low center of gravity by default, so it is inherently good for low traction environments. If anything, the Cybertruck has far superior performance in snow over the Model Y or X.

 

[Crissa]

Other old trick is to reduce the air pressure in the tires 3-5 psi. But not sure about doing that on the Cybertuck.

I would not do that with snow tires. You want them to be erect to grab against the available surface and not bow or flex against snow or slush.

-Crissa

 

[PilotPete]

The second is Tesla's traction control. Now, if the truck is sliding sideways, there's not much it can do.

Hey now, think about this a bit before you say that…

There are two things the CT can do to prevent and/or correct a situation where the rear is trying to pass the front. First, you have the ability to use torque vectoring. Adding some power to one of the rear wheels will make it try to straighten the truck out. Second, 4WS. Getting the rear wheels to steer opposite the fronts as the rear swings out is an increase in resistance and an assist at getting it back in position. Add into that some really slick traction control software, and I think it will be quite effective at fixing the situation.

 

[Woodrick]

Hey now, think about this a bit before you say that…

There are two things the CT can do to prevent and/or correct a situation where the rear is trying to pass the front. First, you have the ability to use torque vectoring. Adding some power to one of the rear wheels will make it try to straighten the truck out. Second, 4WS. Getting the rear wheels to steer opposite the fronts as the rear swings out is an increase in resistance and an assist at getting it back in position. Add into that some really slick traction control software, and I think it will be quite effective at fixing the situation.

Okay, so I was trying to be a little fair by saying that it didn't do everything

 

[electricAK]

Food for thought:

I just encountered two Lightning's parked in the lot at Eaglecrest ski area in Juneau. They both had great snow tires installed. Also both had sandbags sitting in the bed. I thought that was interesting.

Does this mean the lightning wasn't performing well in the snow? Possibly. Or perhaps the owners are just being extra cautious (smart).

I've been assuming adding weight to the bed will not be needed for the CT.

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