Bed length revisited

[Alan]

this is a non professional rough but fairly accurate measurement. L track cutouts are 1 inch apart. Counting the visible holes I come up with 59 or 60. I drew a vertical line at the last visible hole and one at the corner of the bed. I measured the distance between the lines and drew anther line back towards the front of the bed. I count 17 to 18 holes between the lines. That adds up to a low of 76 inches and a high of 78 inches so I would say we have a 6 1/2 ft bed.

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[greggertruck]

I love it, it's entirely possible!

I drive a long bed tacoma, 2016.. I very much believe this truck is identically THAT size. But, like most EVs there's some new spaces granted with no engine / tranny. So, totally possible. Taco truck bed is 5'10". I need at LEAST that to go for this. Was really hoping for that full 6.5' however. Still hopeful!

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

this is a non professional rough but fairly accurate measurement. L track cutouts are 1 inch apart. Counting the visible holes I come up with 59 or 60. I drew a vertical line at the last visible hole and one at the corner of the bed. I measured the distance between the lines and drew anther line back towards the front of the bed. I count 17 to 18 holes between the lines. That adds up to a low of 76 inches and a high of 78 inches so I would say we have a 6 1/2 ft bed.

You did all those calculations to verify the published bed size? Did you not believe Tesla?

 

[John K]

You did all those calculations to verify the published bed size? Did you not believe Tesla?

Nobody believes until sitting in the driveway.

 

[Albern]

Having the production version with a 6.5' bed length gives CT additional competitive advantage since it'll be the largest pickup bed among other EV trucks. It'll also be able to fit most quads including their own if that comes to market.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

They made a toy quad for goodness sake; why wouldn’t they go the distance?

 

[FutureBoy]

Nobody believes until sitting in the driveway.

I do a lot of thinking while sitting in my driveway. Perhaps that would be the best time to find something to believe.

 

[Newton]

I really hope it can be tailgate up with a motorcycle in it . 6.5 ft would fit most bikes i believe.

 

[John K]

Nothing occurred to make me doubt the bed will be any size other than 6.5’-ish.

(Tesla, make me a believer and fulfill my reservation early )

 

[cvalue13]

There may be better threads to raise this but I can’t find a newer one:

has anyone seen better interior dimension measurements (or detective work) to determine the variant sizes of the CT bed?

By variant I mean the geometry of the front of the bed creates a few inches (but how many?) of the bed’s maximum depth (which is what?), then angles back toward the tailgate to create a second maximum depth near the top of the bed (which is what?).

The maximum depth would appear to allow for 2-3 sheets of plywood/drywall to nestle there under. And the angles portion of the bed would seem to allow many wheeled toys to nestle a bit further up. Basically, this lower maximum depth is the CT’s relative utilization of the “gear tunnel”

But for something taller, like a chest of drawers, the taller maximum depth would be the limiting factor.

There next appears possibly a question of the roofline’s relationship to the bed dept (green line below)

In any event, these deltas don’t appear greater than 12” and so even the smallest CT bed dimension would seem to still be somewhat longer than the completions’

That said, I separately find it interesting that Tesla seems to have in some part achieved the increased bed length (if not simply the vehicle’s overall design proportions) by “sacrificing” the rear seat legroom:

Being a full sized truck, it’s not surprising the CT’s rear seat seems better than the (for me) horribly small back seat of the Rivian:

But the CT rear seat room appears markedly smaller than other full sized trucks, such as the Lightning - here’s a photo of the F-150’s rear seat minimum, front seats near all the way back, followed by a photo of the front seats placed nearer where mine are placed (as a 6’2” driver)

This F-150 back seat room is not only comfortable, it is a significant bit of utility/cargo space:

• for families (like mine) a marked advantage of an F-150 as even the largest car seats fit backwards-facing with plenty of room

• the rear cargo area becomes an enormous space with the rear seats folded up

personally, this interior rear cargo (or toddler) space is more useful, more often, than is the concept of a longer bed length (plywood sits up on the tailgate fine when I need it, rarely).

so, I wonder about the variable dimensions of the CT bed in part because to the extent it doesn’t deliver on a full/true 6.5” bed, it seems to have come at the expense of less rear seat cargo room

that said, these apparent disadvantages if end up so, may be offset by the “vault” features being contemplated. But still it all points to a trade off to be considered rather than the purported increased CT bed length being all upside

 

[cvalue13]

yes sure, to each their own!

as for car seats, my carseat phase will stretch nearly 10 years - which based on how regularly I change vehicles, is at least the life of two different vehicles

and when car seats are gone, there’s still the separate issue of cargo room - which was what was relevant to me for the first 20 of my 25 years with full sized trucks. Full sized dog kennels (or two), furniture, luggage, saddles, landscaping supplies, etc., are all the sorts of things that are nice to out inside (or otherwise still have room for if the bed is full)

no doubt there are use cases for 6.5’ beds, as proven by the range of ICE options available for same

but no doubt there are also use cases for large cabins with 5.5’ beds, as the numbers of them also show

here though wondering just how much the CT ends up being an in-between case of either the above (if the bed is functionally less than a 6.5’ in ways, with the cabin also being smaller in ways)


and so that is the question posed here: is it only a 6.5’ bed for those bottom ~3 inches at the “knotch” or is it 6.5’ at the further back panel, meaning the knotch is actually >6.5’?

 

[JBee]

yes sure, to each their own!

as for car seats, my carseat phase will stretch nearly 10 years - which based on how regularly I change vehicles, is at least the life of two different vehicles

and when car seats are gone, there’s still the separate issue of cargo room - which was what was relevant to me for the first 20 of my 25 years with full sized trucks. Full sized dog kennels (or two), furniture, luggage, saddles, landscaping supplies, etc., are all the sorts of things that are nice to out inside (or otherwise still have room for if the bed is full)

no doubt there are use cases for 6.5’ beds, as proven by the range of ICE options available for same

but no doubt there are also use cases for large cabins with 5.5’ beds, as the numbers of them also show

here though wondering just how much the CT ends up being an in-between case of either the above (if the bed is functionally less than a 6.5’ in ways, with the cabin also being smaller in ways)


and so that is the question posed here: is it only a 6.5’ bed for those bottom ~3 inches at the “knotch” or is it 6.5’ at the further back panel, meaning the knotch is actually >6.5’?

Definitely only 6.5ft on the bottom of the bed under the midgate z bend.
The rear glass has actually been extended backwards as per the latest spy photos of the 4WS model, for reasons unclear as yet. So the top limit of the bed will be less if it stays like that, meaning higher items will also have to be shorter to fit.

The rear seat space will be comparable if not better than the lightning. This will mostly depend on how far forwards the front seats will be placed, as there is heaps of dash room under the windscreen they can use, and the front wheel arches are well out of reach of the front footwells. Also there's another photo of the CT rear seat cushion that shows the underneath of the seat is hollow like on the lightning, so I'm fully expecting it to lift up as well for increasing cab storage.

All in all these are compromises I think most can live with.

As for the vault cover, I've been hopeful for a sliding glass panel that stows on top of the rear glass roof instead of the vault cover. This will also make the midgate possible without the vault cover being in the way.

 

[Bill906]

I don't know the answers to any of your questions, but I do appreciate the layout of all the pictures used in your question. You did an excellent job of representing the size and shape of the 3 dimensional truck with 2 dimensional pictures. Your pictures of the various back seats solidified the pictures in my head of how I imagine the CT.

 

[cvalue13]

The rear seat space will be comparable if not better than the lightning.

based on what? I’d be very happy to learn that

because on one hand I think it’s hard to appreciate the rear cargo room of a SuperCrew F-150 (one can’t mearly look at distance from seat back to seat front, as the rear seats themselves are massive and deep). The rear seats are ~the same size as the front seats, while the rear legroom is only ~2” less than the front seat legroom

While on the other hand, i don’t know any info about the CT other than the available photos/renderings

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