Why I don't feel Cybertruck is a work truck? It is more like a utility truck

[HaulingAss]

I just like poking the overdramatic people. You're starting to look like one too.

If you were better informed you would understand that we would not be at this level of human progress without oil. That level of progress has drastically reduced the amount of suffering for humanity. Sure it's not perfect, and fusion/electric is the future. But we're not getting there without using oil as a stepping stone. As such, a the decision of viewing someones personal truck fuel source as saving or destroying the environment is ludicrous.

I didn't say one vehicles fuel source would save or destroy the environment. You have proven your status as a confirmed troll.

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[Woodrick]

Yeah, it's nice plastic. But it's still plastic.

-Crissa

I believe that the vault is a carbon fiber material. Some of the video of the mules have showed beds that were definitely "used and abused" but when cleaned up, looked new.

"Yeah, it's nice plastic. But it's still plastic." You know how many people just turned over in their grave. There are all sorts of plastics ranging from extremely soft to extremely hard.

 

[Crissa]

I think plastic gets a bad rap. It's a miracle material, as varied as wood, more varied than metal.

But since cheap plastics have no life - heck, I've played with some casting resins that literally would decompose in days or months sitting on a shelf - good plastics seem to not want to be called plastic.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

Having a steel substrate makes a huge difference. Have you owned a linex’d truck bed. I can’t believe how durable they are.

So line-X plastic is incredibly durable but Tesla probably chose a bed liner that is not durable?

Do you really think Tesla engineers didn't think the bed would get a lot of abrasion?

Oh, and not all 1/2 ton truck beds have steel substrates to apply Line-X onto. Some are aluminum. And the steel bed in my 2010 F-150 is dented to hell and back with only 50K miles on it. Personally, I'm thinking the Cybertruck bed material is going to be tougher and more damage resistant than my F-150 bed. It's also very slippery when wet which is a very real problem when parked on a steep driveway which has happened many times in my use case. It's a very real hazard that requires taking extraordinary measures to prevent injury. I'm thinking the Cybertruck bed will have great traction in the rain and will not require the additional time and expense of a bed liner.

Does it seem right to you that after spending $70K on a crappy Ford, GM or Dodge that the first thing an owner should have to do is open their wallet to apply a bedliner? Time and money down the drain.

I'm not sure why you are assuming the worst for Tesla and think legacy auto does it "right". Makes no sense. The Cybertruck is a screaming value compared to the high-profit offerings of the former big three.

 

[PilotPete]

I've argued before that the cybertruck may be the first true sport utility vehicle made in a long time.
Work truck? not so much.

My Dad owned a plumbing company for a few decades. They had trucks and vans. They were true work trucks and work vans. What does that mean? No insulation, 2 seats, only an AM radio, and a 2-way work radio. The trucks were real work trucks doing real truck things hauling around real work guys with real plumber’s crack on display.

They eventually moved to an almost all van fleet shortly before my Dad retired. I asked him about that and what did he think about the CT. He said that to make a truck as secure as a van made the truck quite expensive. But, he said, the CT with the secure vault and folding the back seat up made the CT worthy of a second look. He also mentioned the advertising that a truck with “such a unique look“ could be worth the price of the truck itself. He like the ability to charge the trucks every night and send the crews out with “a full tank” every morning. I forgot, be they had installed a field tank and pump on the lot at the plumbing office, Adding the power to run a sewer snake or a pipe threader or whatever you need was another big plus.

A guy I know has a t-shirt for hos custom furniture shop. It says “A furniture maker’s truck.” And then has a picture of his Prius. I haul lumber in a convertible Porsche.

If your CT does nothing more than advertise, it’s still a work truck. If it hauls pipe and fittings and drain snakes and…. It’s still a work truck.

 

[Codyco]

My Dad owned a plumbing company for a few decades. They had trucks and vans. They were true work trucks and work vans. What does that mean? No insulation, 2 seats, only an AM radio, and a 2-way work radio. The trucks were real work trucks doing real truck things hauling around real work guys with real plumber’s crack on display.

They eventually moved to an almost all van fleet shortly before my Dad retired. I asked him about that and what did he think about the CT. He said that to make a truck as secure as a van made the truck quite expensive. But, he said, the CT with the secure vault and folding the back seat up made the CT worthy of a second look. He also mentioned the advertising that a truck with “such a unique look“ could be worth the price of the truck itself. He like the ability to charge the trucks every night and send the crews out with “a full tank” every morning. I forgot, be they had installed a field tank and pump on the lot at the plumbing office, Adding the power to run a sewer snake or a pipe threader or whatever you need was another big plus.

A guy I know has a t-shirt for hos custom furniture shop. It says “A furniture maker’s truck.” And then has a picture of his Prius. I haul lumber in a convertible Porsche.

If your CT does nothing more than advertise, it’s still a work truck. If it hauls pipe and fittings and drain snakes and…. It’s still a work truck.

Putting it in that perspective, I agree 100% with you. My mind goes straight to the pipe fitters and welders I see in most of my sites and I couldn't imagine any of them taking this over something more practical for their use. But yeah, this would make a great work truck for businesses as you described.

 

[Bartman]

Little bit like an El Camino..... It's a car AND a truck at the same time.

 

[Bartman]

So line-X plastic is incredibly durable but Tesla probably chose a bed liner that is not durable?

Do you really think Tesla engineers didn't think the bed would get a lot of abrasion?

Oh, and not all 1/2 ton truck beds have steel substrates to apply Line-X onto. Some are aluminum. And the steel bed in my 2010 F-150 is dented to hell and back with only 50K miles on it. Personally, I'm thinking the Cybertruck bed material is going to be tougher and more damage resistant than my F-150 bed. It's also very slippery when wet which is a very real problem when parked on a steep driveway which has happened many times in my use case. It's a very real hazard that requires taking extraordinary measures to prevent injury. I'm thinking the Cybertruck bed will have great traction in the rain and will not require the additional time and expense of a bed liner.

Does it seem right to you that after spending $70K on a crappy Ford, GM or Dodge that the first thing an owner should have to do is open their wallet to apply a bedliner? Time and money down the drain.

I'm not sure why you are assuming the worst for Tesla and think legacy auto does it "right". Makes no sense. The Cybertruck is a screaming value compared to the high-profit offerings of the former big three.

Agree.... the fact that the Cybertruck already comes with a factory bed liner is a big plus and it saves (most truck buyers) the cost of getting one "sprayed in", which helps with the total cost. Bed liner or no bed liner though, IMHO nothing beats adding a heavy duty rubber bed mat to help keep things from slipping back and forth. Sure there will be aftermarket rubber bed mats available to buy for the Cybertruck.

 

[Coolbreeze704]

Little bit like an El Camino..... It's a car AND a truck at the same time.

Not really

but nice El Camino!

 

[anionic1]

So line-X plastic is incredibly durable but Tesla probably chose a bed liner that is not durable?

Do you really think Tesla engineers didn't think the bed would get a lot of abrasion?

Oh, and not all 1/2 ton truck beds have steel substrates to apply Line-X onto. Some are aluminum. And the steel bed in my 2010 F-150 is dented to hell and back with only 50K miles on it. Personally, I'm thinking the Cybertruck bed material is going to be tougher and more damage resistant than my F-150 bed. It's also very slippery when wet which is a very real problem when parked on a steep driveway which has happened many times in my use case. It's a very real hazard that requires taking extraordinary measures to prevent injury. I'm thinking the Cybertruck bed will have great traction in the rain and will not require the additional time and expense of a bed liner.

Does it seem right to you that after spending $70K on a crappy Ford, GM or Dodge that the first thing an owner should have to do is open their wallet to apply a bedliner? Time and money down the drain.

I'm not sure why you are assuming the worst for Tesla and think legacy auto does it "right". Makes no sense. The Cybertruck is a screaming value compared to the high-profit offerings of the former big three.

I think you are a little confused by profit. Fords net profit margin is about 3-4% and Teslas is about 11-12%. I imagine that they will work to get the CT in the same profit category as their other vehicles which is reinforced by the high initial price point. Anyone on here can tell you that the Tesla is the high profit offering. Yes, they make great products, and so do the other 3, and you may be getting a better product from Tesla, however the specs are pretty on par with the other major EV trucks. So, at this point you have no grounds to say you are getting a better deal at $100k-$120k or that the CT is a lower profit offering.

I wouldn't spend $70k on a ford truck when you can get them under $50k. And having had my liner for almost 20 years on my truck and it still looks great I would highly recommend the LineX liners to anyone using their truck bed. And it is slip resistant. I would never buy an aluminum body truck. Aluminum is half the strength of steel. I never said that Tesla designed a bed assuming 0 abrasion. I said i think a steel bed with a high quality liner would seem better than a plastic/composite liner IMO and i qualified that statement with the fact that i have never owned a plastic lined CT so i will have to wait and see. There are a lot of really strong composites out there and I look forward to seeing how it holds up. Some of my favorite wheel barrows are plastic so i may be pleasantly surprised.

 

[HaulingAss]

I think you are a little confused by profit. Fords net profit margin is about 3-4% and Teslas is about 11-12%.

No confusion at all. Ford's profit margin on trucks is insanely high, the reason their overall profit is so low is because they are insanely inefficient as a corporation and their truck and SUV business must float their losses on EVs and even some of their ICE vehicles around the world. Their corporate overhead is shameful, as their truck sales continue their long slow decline, they will become unprofitable.

I wouldn't spend $70k on a ford truck when you can get them under $50k.

Yeah, try to buy a 4x4 Crewcab F-150 with a tow package (that is not a stripped down model) for under $50K. Then add a bedliner and put decent shocks and tires on it and see how much you are paying for what is still a pile of junk. The stero will still suck, so will the headlights. As a long-time F-150 owner this is not hyperbole. It's mostly reliable but it drives like a piece of junk as it guzzles gas. Be very careful driving these things in inclement weather on the highway, they like to roll over. Very dangerous and not very manuverable at speed.

 

[Woodrick]

I would never buy an aluminum body truck. Aluminum is half the strength of steel. I never said that Tesla designed a bed assuming 0 abrasion. I said i think a steel bed with a high quality liner would seem better than a plastic/composite liner IMO and i qualified that statement with the fact that i have never owned a plastic lined CT so i will have to wait and see. There are a lot of really strong composites out there and I look forward to seeing how it holds up. Some of my favorite wheel barrows are plastic so i may be pleasantly surprised.

You really may want to do a little research about the truck, some of your statements are pretty far off.

It's a steel body, with aluminum frame. And that aluminum frame may be much stronger than any steel frame.

And the bed really isn't "plastic". It's supposedly much stronger than the Line-X beds, it's a carbon fiber bed.

 

[anionic1]

You really may want to do a little research about the truck, some of your statements are pretty far off.

It's a steel body, with aluminum frame. And that aluminum frame may be much stronger than any steel frame.

And the bed really isn't "plastic". It's supposedly much stronger than the Line-X beds, it's a carbon fiber bed.

we weren't talking about the aluminum casting of the CT. We were talking about aluminum body trucks. where the truck bed and body are aluminum. I hope the CTs do stand the test of time and show that they are as durable or more durable than a typical steel frame design. I recall Elon discussing the bed in the delivery event briefly but I wasn't able to find any actual information on the composition of the bed material.

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