Official Cybertruck Accessory store is live!! Includes: Tailgate ramp, Basecamp, wrap, franz ball decal and more

[Ogre]

Instead of a complicated PTO off of one of the drive motors, why not just a smaller motor that mounts to the front or back that handles all of these PTO functions? Tesla can certainly make little motors with the correct rpms/gear ratios needed for compressors or winches. This motor could even plug in via the ethernet bus to the main pc of the car if it needs to be controlled at the driver's seat for plows, etc. They say that the main drive motors cost $1K each so it's anyone's guess what this may sell for.

I only say this to get folks spun up about 5 Motor Cybertrucks, which makes quads look sensible.

Why not just simplify it one step further and eliminate the extra drive shaft and interfaces and just have a motor on the accessories. A winch with a built in motor is going to be more compact than one that has to interface with a PTO. They make some great ones that mount on the tow hitch that you can move to the front of the vehicle (if you have a front tow hitch… which would be fantastic if the CT had one stock).

Many of these things people keep mentioning are already extremely common on the market with motors built in and the ones which sell using AC power are far more affordable than the alternatives which use a PTO and are more portable to boot.

We have 2 fantastic ways to deliver power from the truck to whatever accessory people want… Alternating Current and Direct Current. It’s the new thing.

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[HaulingAss]

You are my hero! See you can already get a PTO for your F150. link. So if the CT doesnt have a way to add a PTO its already behind the competition.

There are tens of millions of F-150's in N. America.

Do you want to take a guess how many of them have a PTO? That's right, less than 1/20th of 1 percent. Far less. It's not because they are incredibly expensive, nor because they require huge amounts of maintenance, but because truck owners don't need them.

edit: Oh, wait, the link you provided is not even applicable to the F-150. So, probably less than 1/100th of one percent of F-150's have PTO's.

Cybertruck is not behind their competition, they are far ahead.

 

[anionic1]

There are tens of millions of F-150's in N. America.

Do you want to take a guess how many of them have a PTO? That's right, less than 1/20th of 1 percent. Far less. It's not because they are incredibly expensive, nor because they require huge amounts of maintenance, but because truck owners don't need them.

Cybertruck is not behind their competition, they are far ahead.

If you had one and had readily available attachments that worked with the CT are you saying you would never use it?

 

[HaulingAss]

If you had one and had readily available attachments that worked with the CT are you saying you would never use it?

No, I'm saying I wouldn't buy a mechanical PTO for the Cybertruck and I wouldn't buy any mechanical PTO accessories for a Cybertruck. It's an outdated concept and the wrong platform for applications that use a mechanical PTO.

I'm also saying I wouldn't want Tesla to compromise the drivetrain of the Cybertruck to adapt a PTO to it.

 

[anionic1]

No, I'm saying I wouldn't buy a mechanical PTO for the Cybertruck and I wouldn't buy any mechanical PTO accessories for a Cybertruck. It's an outdated concept and the wrong platform for applications that use a mechanical PTO.

I'm also saying I wouldn't want Tesla to compromize the drivetrain of the Cybertruck to adapt a PTO to it.

hmmm.

 

[anionic1]

Why not just simplify it one step further and eliminate the extra drive shaft and interfaces and just have a motor on the accessories. A winch with a built in motor is going to be more compact than one that has to interface with a PTO. They make some great ones that mount on the tow hitch that you can move to the front of the vehicle (if you have a front tow hitch… which would be fantastic if the CT had one stock).

Many of these things people keep mentioning are already extremely common on the market with motors built in and the ones which sell using AC power are far more affordable than the alternatives which use a PTO and are more portable to boot.

We have 2 fantastic ways to deliver power from the truck to whatever accessory people want… Alternating Current and Direct Current. It’s the new thing.

If you like carrying around a bunch of extra motors then that's a great solution. You should bring a side car for your passengers too.

Super overly complicated very risky and wasteful PTO accessory option:

 

[SolarWizard]

Anyone have any thoughts on an electric hi-lift jack?

I use one of these depending on the situation. both are nearly effortless to lift a vehicle and much safer than a hi lift. The ARB jack weighs about 80% less than a hi lift. The pro eagle doesn’t care about water, mud, sand etc being all over it and mostly won’t sink.

 

[Scott Beall]

You are correct in that having a seperate 5th motor would be a better way of doing it. You probably missed it, but essentially would only have to be a a 3 phase connection to the oboard inverter that can also act as a speed controller. That way the motor could be added aftermarket and be attached directly to the implement, and it would cost less than a $100 to add to the CT. We've been calling it a ePTO here and on other threads.

Ah. Thanks JBee. I did misunderstand that. I was thinking that ePTO meant electric PTO but still connected to a drive motor somehow. it's an EXTERNAL PTO, like eGPU is external GPU. Or even External Electric PTO.

I suppose that it’s all in how you look at the Cybertruck for this application. It can be like a tractor with a PTO, or like a variable power supply as you suggest.

Maybe this pushes us way off topic, but I’m seeing the Cybertruck as a computer that can control a huge 48V power tap.

The truck could power external accessories with its 48V (or even more, depending on the outlet) and connect to the accessories via its ethernet bus. The accessories could then be controlled within the cockpit from the touch screen. For a winch, buttons for "wind in" and "wind out" would appear on the dash when the winch is connected to the ethernet port.

There would need to be firmware within the accessory, and software within the truck. The truck software could be downloadable or unlockable for an additional charge. If Tesla supplies the accessory, they could include the truck software in the price of the accessory.

This approach has several benefits to Tesla:

• They control the OS (like Apple) so any accessories would either need to be sold by Tesla or be approved by them (like the App Store).
  
  
• They can be assured that nobody messes up their under-warranty truck with some jenky bolt-on accessory.
  
  
• The interface would be elegant and match the style of the touchscreen.
  
  
• The use of the accessories would seem more like part of the Tesla experience.

The benefits to the user are that we can be assured that the accessories would work with the truck and not damage it, and operating them would be a more intuitive experience.

I’ve never used a snowplow on a truck but I could figure it out if there were labeled buttons on the touch screen.

Heck, maybe with FSD, I could just hook up the plow and tell my truck to plow out the driveway, or the neighborhood.

 

[JBee]

Ah. Thanks JBee. I did misunderstand that. I was thinking that ePTO meant electric PTO but still connected to a drive motor somehow. it's an EXTERNAL PTO, like eGPU is external GPU. Or even External Electric PTO.

I suppose that it’s all in how you look at the Cybertruck for this application. It can be like a tractor with a PTO, or like a variable power supply as you suggest.

Maybe this pushes us way off topic, but I’m seeing the Cybertruck as a computer that can control a huge 48V power tap.

The truck could power external accessories with its 48V (or even more, depending on the outlet) and connect to the accessories via its ethernet bus. The accessories could then be controlled within the cockpit from the touch screen. For a winch, buttons for "wind in" and "wind out" would appear on the dash when the winch is connected to the ethernet port.

There would need to be firmware within the accessory, and software within the truck. The truck software could be downloadable or unlockable for an additional charge. If Tesla supplies the accessory, they could include the truck software in the price of the accessory.

This approach has several benefits to Tesla:

• They control the OS (like Apple) so any accessories would either need to be sold by Tesla or be approved by them (like the App Store).
  
  
• They can be assured that nobody messes up their under-warranty truck with some jenky bolt-on accessory.
  
  
• The interface would be elegant and match the style of the touchscreen.
  
  
• The use of the accessories would seem more like part of the Tesla experience.

The benefits to the user are that we can be assured that the accessories would work with the truck and not damage it, and operating them would be a more intuitive experience.

I’ve never used a snowplow on a truck but I could figure it out if there were labeled buttons on the touch screen.

Heck, maybe with FSD, I could just hook up the plow and tell my truck to plow out the driveway, or the neighborhood.

So you could even run your own virtualisation in a docker container seeing Tesla mand computers run Linux, for heavier software integrations. Would be isolated from the rest of the critical hardwarejust like they canbrun other media apps and games. But for just control interfaces to hardware it should be fairly easy to add sliders, knows, dials, guages and buttons etc, to a Tesla screen that then sends control inputs over CAN or Ethernet, to the applicable device or connection on the vehicle.

In the case of a ePTO, it could just be a 3phase connector, without a motor, that then can be connected to whatever appliances and motor the implement has. The trick here is that the already built in inverter, that also supplies the already announced 110/240V outlets, can be programed and used as a variable speed controller, and incorporates all the safety and control components including soft start etc. It's actually better to use more common 110/240V motors for smaller cables, motors and compatibility.

 

[Scott Beall]

Yes. I can see in the future TSLA supplying some kind of port with power and data connections for TSLA approved accessories. One interface for all accessories. Maybe one port on the front and one on the rear.

In the meantime to test the market it could be a data port (CANS or ethernet) and the already provided 110/220V outlets. That's a much better idea than my 48V solution.

This approach would be great for a forthcoming CyberTractor, which I just made up. AND this could take care of *most* of anionic1's list except the zombie saw, which would trip a breaker for sure.

 

[Ogre]

If you like carrying around a bunch of extra motors then that's a great solution. You should bring a side car for your passengers too.

“A bunch” LOL

I don’t drive around with any of these things now, why would I start suddenly?

Do you plan on driving around town with a stump grinder all the time?


Imagine for a moment there is a PTO based refrigerator—yes, it is possible. Would you want a PTO based refrigerator? Probably not, because a refrigerator on your rear bumper is kind of dumb most of the time.

That same argument applies to almost every single thing suggested here for useful PTO accessories. The winch being perhaps the sole exception.

 

[Scott Beall]

You know, with a skirt kit and a BA Fan for the back, the Cybertruck might make a decent hovercraft. Nice and quiet to sneak up on those gaters.

 

[anionic1]

You know, with a skirt kit and a BA Fan for the back, the Cybertruck might make a decent hovercraft. Nice and quiet to sneak up on those gaters.

see another opportunity for a PTO.

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