Secret Cybertruck accessories parts team: What do you want them to make?

[HaulingAss]

Deer guard

Shush, quiet now, you'll rile up all the people who insist the front of the Cybertruck is too dangerous to pedestrians to be street legal. Maybe if you called it a "Pedestrian Safety Guard"., lol!

 

[HaulingAss]

4mm stainless brush guard.
Looks > range.

So, you think it's more important to look stupid than to have market leading range?

 

[Gurule92]

So, you think it's more important to look stupid than to have market leading range?

That was obviously a joke. Lol

 

[Richard V.]

We know that Tesla is making all the electronic motors and linear actuators for Optimus in-house. That's a big deal with ramifications for Cybertruck. Tesla released a video depicting a small linear actuator lifting a large piano off the floor.

I don't know for sure if Tesla has announced the system voltage of the robots, but I bet it's 48 volts! This is very exciting since the Cybertruck will be Tesla's most vertically integrated vehicle yet (most components made in-house to suit rather than purchased off-the-shelf or special ordered from an automotive supplier like legacy auto does with almost everything). This means we'll likely have some really great powered accessories that run off the native 48-volt architecture that are powerful, efficient and quiet and require little to no maintenance.

I wouldn't expect all the niche accessories to be immediately available with the initial deliveries of Cybertruck, but I think in time there will be 48V winches that integrate seamlessly, slick snowplows that run on 48 volts, maybe even a robotic arm that folds up tightly to the side of the bed, to name but a few possibilities. None of those whiny electric motors like you hear grinding and squealing away at the boatramp as people winch their boats onto their trailers, these will be high-tech, lightweight, smooth and powerful, very efficient electric motors that last the life of the vehicle.

If I recall, I heard the Bots would use the 48V architecture. It makes sense to try to keep the equipment at Tesla "standard". I believe all new vehicles will be 48V. I am not sure they will go back and make changes to existing vehicles (e.g., the semi, X, S, 3, Y). Based on the evolution of the model Y, for example, you never know what could be next.

 

[Monkchoi]

Steel body. I'm thinking, magnetic skins w/ custom designs and colors!

 

[Monkchoi]

Wheel chock for my matching sliver/black Bking!

 

[HaulingAss]

There are different classes of trucks there. Some are meant to jump and go fast, others actually carry stuff.

Either way, it's a long washboard with lots of up and down and pot holes which which is shorthand for every Forest Service road in the West.

-Crissa

The Forest Service Roads in the N. Cascades tend to be different from the most common ones in Oregon and California in that they are more often steep and rocky and the speeds people use them at are often lower because of this. Lower speeds retards washboard formation.

Washboards are an interesting phenomenon and, like moguls on a ski slope, develop in response to use. They develop differently depending upon how the road is driven and the adequacy of the vehicles suspensions that form them.

I've been casually studying how washboards develop and progress for decades, including the interaction of vehicles with them, and have concluded that under-dampened, over-sprung leaf spring suspensions accelerate development of washboards much more than vehicles with good dampers and appropriate spring rates for the load. In otherwords, washboards are largely the result of inadequate vehicle suspensions that encourage "wheel hop" and once the washboards start to form, there is no stopping their progression. Driving those vehicles at speeds just above what the suspension can adequately respond to, in other words, the speed just below where it becomes dangerous, also accelerates the formation of severe washboards.

I've been on many long, rural county roads around the Western U.S. that had washboards for hours of travel in which no vehicle could go above 15-20 mph without taking a severe pounding. The exception to this is a properly sprung/damped vehicle can sometimes achieve a nearly freeway smooth ride by accellerating to a high enough speed to only touch the tops of the washboards. This also has a beneficial "grooming" effect on the washboard surface because it is only possible to displace gravel from the high spots to the low spots. Speeds required are typically around 65 mph which means this is only possible on very uniform washbard roads, without scattered larger rocks, that are mostly straight for large distances. This actually reduces the work the vehicles dampers (shocks) must do, and the associated heat buildup which is the primary cause of wearing out dampers.

The only places I've seen washboards form this uniformly are on roads travelled almost exclusively by American pickups with leaf spring suspensions, typically in farming areas. Washboards formed by a more diverse set of vehicle types and travel speeds are not as uniform and this technique cannot be used.

I'm hoping the Cybertruck will have dampers with sufficient heat dissipation capabilities to survive the challenges of washboard roads. I have hope because this is a primary requirement of performing well at Baja racing and it appears Tesla has been testing the truck in such environments.

Those new to this need to be aware that trucks used in this type of capacity need regular replacement of all dampers, no matter how well designed. Legacy American pickups largely avoid frequent damper replacement by being woefully under-damped to begin with. The dampers do so little work that not much heat is generated relative to a damper doing a good job of controlling suspension motion. Which is why the washboards form so quickly to begin with.

 

[HaulingAss]

P.S. I also disabled the auto-canceling turn signals on this trip a similar reason. The AI kept canceling them a millisecond before I did during lane changes, leading to double-activation, in addition to missing cancellations just frequently enough to keep me needing to have my finger on the stalk during every lane change. This was confusing for the drivers around me. It was better for me to do that function myself. That doesn't require an accessory to fix, though, because adequate switchgear is already installed in the vehicle -- thank the FMVSS. So, I just changed the settings to "I don't want the car to help me with this anymore", and it was all good.

I had the same problem initially with the AI auto-cancelling turn signals when I recently enabled this new feature (I was manually cancelling them at the same time the AI was cancelling them, resulting in reactivating the turn signal again). However, I realized it was operator error (mine), so I decided to stick with the automatic cancellation of turn signals to see if I could adapt. It took 200-300 miles, but, sure enough, I learned I no longer needed to cancel the turn signal and it's a very convenient function now that I've reprogrammed what it means to signal my driving intentions. Having to cancel that, after I have already completed my manuever, is no longer necessary. It's actually more liberating than I thought it would be and makes me wonder why I ever thought it should be necessary to cancel them manually.

It also took me about the same amount of time to get used to a lot of better ways of doing things when we got our first Tesla 5 years ago. Things like walk away auto lock and not having to insert/remove a key from the ignition also required that I change the way I operate a car. But it's unquestionally better, once I learned the better way of doing things. Importantly, I've never had the auto-cancel turn signals not cancel at the correct moment. If it ever does, it's a simple matter to turn them on again.

Never mistake operator error for a fault with the technology.

 

[Gurule92]

I had the same problem initially with the AI auto-cancelling turn signals when I recently enabled this new feature (I was manually cancelling them at the same time the AI was cancelling them, resulting in reactivating the turn signal again). However, I realized it was operator error (mine), so I decided to stick with the automatic cancellation of turn signals to see if I could adapt. It took 200-300 miles, but, sure enough, I learned I no longer needed to cancel the turn signal and it's a very convenient function now that I've reprogrammed what it means to signal my driving intentions. Having to cancel that, after I have already completed my manuever, is no longer necessary. It's actually more liberating than I thought it would be and makes me wonder why I ever thought it should be necessary to cancel them manually.

It also took me about the same amount of time to get used to a lot of better ways of doing things when we got our first Tesla 5 years ago. Things like walk away auto lock and not having to insert/remove a key from the ignition also required that I change the way I operate a car. But it's unquestionally better, once I learned the better way of doing things. Importantly, I've never had the auto-cancel turn signals not cancel at the correct moment. If it ever does, it's a simple matter to turn them on again.

Never mistake operator error for a fault with the technology.

I don't want my signal to cancel when I'm changing lanes followed by a slight right all the time. Or when i need to move over more than one lane. When driving normally, I would just leave the blinker on. Auto cancel makes me need to hit the blinker twice. I've found that it causes more hassle than it's worth.

I'm sure if I wanted to suffer for 200 miles of daily driving to reprogram my brain I could do it. But I would be doing that just for the sake of doing it.

Tesla usually makes pretty awesome features that make the vehicles more intuitive and overall better. But this one, I think, exists strictly to prepare you for the lack of stalks in your next vehicle. Maybe if I did more highway driving I would be less bothered by it but I.

 

[Luke42]

What a load of crap!

Tesla is going to make a killing supplying high-quality, well-engineered accessories for Cybertruck.

I hope you're right, but Tesla has failed to do much in the accessory-space, other than sell charging-accessories for their existing cars.

Why would they change that now for the Cybertruck? Their formula is basically working, and the aftermarket supplies the accessories for competing trucks.

I agree that Tesla *should* up their accessory game for the Cybertruck (and the S3XY cars). But I'll believe it when I see it!

 

[Gurule92]

I how you're right, but Tesla has failed to do much other than sell charging-accessories for their existing cars.

Why would they change that now for the Cybertruck?

Trucks just have more and different accessories by their nature. Tesla has accessories for the cars but normal cars don't have the level of accessories a truck has nor the amount of people who want them

 

[Luke42]

Trucks just have more and different accessories by their nature. Tesla has accessories for the cars but normal cars don't have the level of accessories a truck has nor the amount of people who want them

I've owned pickup trucks off and on since the 1990s.

The accessories are provided by the aftermarket for the most part, and the aftermarket companies are supported by the manufacturers to some degree.

Many of these accessories are pretty much the same for Ford, Chevy, RAM, Nissan, and Toyota - except for some small change to the dimensions.

The Cybertruck bed design is weird enough that I doubt these companies will jump on it any quicker than they jumped on the Chevy Avalanche, the Honda Ridgeline, or the Subaru BRAT (all of which have sloped bedrails). And even if they did want to jump on it, they'd be starting over from scratch designwise because of the sloped bedrails - which means more R&D costs for a smaller total-addressable-market.

The same goes for commercial upfitters, except they sometimes to dig deeper into the truck by replacing the bed entirely. That's not gonna happen on the Cybertruck, because cutting a unibody truck in half and having it work afterwards is nontrivial.

I agree that Tesla needs to fill in the gap here. But they're not doing that now with the cars they sell today, and this kind of corporate about-face can easily take a year or two to get going. If they're just starting now, Tesla's way behind the curve on this part of their business.

 

[Gurule92]

I've owned pickup trucks off and on since the 1990s.

The accessories are provided by the aftermarket for the most part, and the aftermarket companies are supported by the manufacturers to some degree.

Many of these accessories are pretty much the same for Ford, Chevy, RAM, Nissan, and Toyota - except for some small change to the dimensions.

The Cybertruck bed design is weird enough that I doubt these companies will jump on it any quicker than they jumped on the Chevy Avalanche, the Honda Ridgeline, or the Subaru BRAT (all of which have sloped bedrails). And even if they did want to jump on it, they'd be starting over from scratch designwise because of the sloped bedrails - which means more R&D costs for a smaller total-addrssable-market.

The same goes for commercial upfitters, except they sometimes to deeper into the truck by replacing the bed entirely. That's not gonna happen on the Cybertruck, because cutting a unibody truck in half and having it work afterwards is nontrivial.

I agree that Tesla needs to fill in the gap here. But they're not doing that now with the cars they sell today, and this kind of corporate about-face can easily take a year or two to get going. If they're just starting now, Tesla's way being the curve on this part of their business.

They do have accessories for the existing cars though, which ones do you think they're missing? They have flaps, all weather mats, roof racks, covers, storage liners, sunshades, hitch racks, ppf, and probably more

 

[Luke42]

They do have accessories for the existing cars though, which ones do you think they're missing? They have flaps, all weather mats, roof racks, covers, storage liners, sunshades, hitch racks, ppf, and probably more

I enumerated the list of accessories I've bought and would buy earlier in the thread and it was, uh, controversial.

 

[HaulingAss]

I how you're right, but Tesla has failed to do much in the accessory-space, other than sell charging-accessories for their existing cars.

Why would they change that now for the Cybertruck? Their formula is basically working, and the aftermarket supplies the accessories for competing trucks.

I agree that Tesla *should* up their accessory game for the Cybertruck (and the S3XY cars). But I'll believe it when I see it!

Tesla is entering the pick-up truck market for the first time, and everyone knows pickups are accessorized more than sedans and hatchbacks. Tesla is also maturing as an auto company as their overall marketshare grows. Remember, Tesla still only has a U.S. marketshare of under 4% so they have been wise to stick to the basics until now.

Much of Tesla's amazing, against-all-odds, success as a new automaker was due to Elon's relentless and laser-like focus on meeting the most common needs of the market exceedingly well, and not getting distracted trying to offer solutions for every niche use case. Passenger cars are pretty standard fare in terms of getting people and luggage from A to B in a comfortable and cost-effective manner, pick-up trucks are more of a Swiss army knife, jack-of-all-trades type of vehicle and so Tesla knows they need to enable the truck to be different things to different people.

Offering compelling Cybertruck accessories is simply part of that. I don't know why you would doubt this when:

1) It makes perfect sense.
2) Tesla has said that's exactly what they are doing.