Tesla Cybertruck

[Foo Fighter]

People have bought into 'brands' rather than quality for a long time and it means nothing other than the core personality invoilved with the brand has done their job well.

Being a good sales person has bugger all to do with the product in essence.

 

[Arjen]

Dubious build quality, styling an acquired taste, lethal to pedestrians, iffy off-road performance.
Enough to discuss without going all sociological, no?

 

[Scott Kenny]

Yikes

See a garbage truck’s CNG cylinders explode after lithium-ion battery fire

It happened recently in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

arstechnica.com

What is more frightening to me is that the pressure relief valves failed to open.

Usually, when that happens, it's because the burst disc has been replaced with a blank-off plug.

Was anybody aware that in some arcane European dialects the "tr" in Cybertruck is actually pronounced as an "f"?

I have this strange urge to convert one to steam power...

I want to mess with the Wankel rotary design with steam, since you can dump steam into the rotor twice. And if you use a 3-or 4-rotor, you can compound the engine. Steam comes out of rotor 1 and goes into the remaining rotors at lower pressure, ideally dropping to roughly atmospheric pressure at the outlet of the other rotors.

Elon's borderline-insanity is one thing, but the lack of quality control Cybertrucks (and seemingly their other cars) display is what is really unforgiveable.

Agreed.

Speaking as a student of vehicle design, the Cybertruck was not designed to appeal to the average truck owner. The average pickup truck is driven by a person who has enough money to buy very oversized tires, to have the wheel attachment points modified so that the tires are a short to large distance away from their normal, factory installed positions. I shudder to think what replacing a single tire must cost. That said, I get the impression that these people view their truck less as a useful vehicle and more like a toy, but much more expensive. The Cybertruck is a novelty that must follow the cost/benefit equation for any vehicle. If you can't afford one, you can't afford one.

Big truck tires aren't any more expensive than wide sports-car tires.

Crud, the tires for my Cherokee are ~800 a set.

 

[Foo Fighter]

V8 Tesla Model S Is 750kg Lighter Than Stock, Sounds Great On The Dyno

Rich Rebuilds has put the 'Ice-T' Model S on the dyno and revealed just how much weight it's lost

www.carthrottle.com

 

[Halcyon66]

Cybertruck driver pulled over, vehicle seized over safety concerns in UK​

Cybertruck driver pulled over, vehicle seized over safety concerns: 'An over-6,000-pound piece of steel'

Though the Cybertruck recently got a high safety standard rating in the United States, many other countries have stricter standards.

autos.yahoo.com

Regards,

 

[Arjen]

Being pulled over is what happens when you try to drive any non-UK-road-legal car on UK public roads.

Replace UK with EU in the previous sentence, same result.

From the Yahoo piece:

Unless the vehicle's design is changed to meet safety standards, it will continue to be banned in the U.K.

... which I gather is unlikely to happen.

 

[EwenS]

AIUI the vehicle was initially seized by the Manchester Police due to insurance concerns, which were subsequently resolved. Uninsured drivers are a significant problem in the UK, particularly those from Eastern European countries, where insurance details can be harder to confirm with official sources. (MIB estimates 300,000 uninsured vehicles on UK roads every day!)

It was after that that the questions about its roadworthiness on UK roads arose.

Thus far the Cybertruck has not received TUV certification in Europe nor Individual Type Approval for specific vehicles in the UK.

The sticking point seems to be not so much sharp corners etc, although they are a problem in themselves, but the "drive by wire" steering system that eliminates the mechanical steering column connection from steering wheel to steering rack. Lexus is supposed to be introducing a car with such a "drive by wire" steering system towards the end of 2025 - the new RX450e - which will need to get these approvals for sale in Europe and the UK. Existing RX450e models have a mechanical steering column.

Lexus RZ All-Electric SUV World Premiere | Lexus Europe

New, extended line-up offers more power, greater efficiency and dynamic performance that delivers increased driver rewards

www.lexus.eu

The hope for Tesla seems to be that they will be able to piggyback the Lexus approval in some way.

At the moment the Cybertrucks in the UK are coming from Albania and are being used, legally or not, on Albanian registration plates as they can't be registered here.

I came across this video the other day that has some, albeit slightly confusing, information.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d8r223pCSHE

 

[Yellow Palace]

The sticking point seems to be not so much sharp corners etc, although they are a problem in themselves, but the "drive by wire" steering system that eliminates the mechanical steering column connection from steering wheel to steering rack. Lexus is supposed to be introducing a car with such a "drive by wire" steering system towards the end of 2025 - the new RX450e - which will need to get these approvals for sale in Europe and the UK. Existing RX450e models have a mechanical steering column.

Lexus RZ All-Electric SUV World Premiere | Lexus Europe

New, extended line-up offers more power, greater efficiency and dynamic performance that delivers increased driver rewards

www.lexus.eu

There's also the consideration that with a MAM of over 4 tonnes, it would require a Class C1 licence and be subject to the lower speed limits applied to goods vehicles. Alternatively it could be downplated to 3.5 tonnes, but given that it has a kerb weight in excess of 3 tonnes, that would severely limit its payload.

 

[Shaman Harris]

Underwhelming,in retrospect

 

[EwenS]

There's also the consideration that with a MAM of over 4 tonnes, it would require a Class C1 licence and be subject to the lower speed limits applied to goods vehicles. Alternatively it could be downplated to 3.5 tonnes, but given that it has a kerb weight in excess of 3 tonnes, that would severely limit its payload.

Not sure if it is an age thing, but I have had category C1 & C1E on my licence since I passed my driving test 45 years ago!

Category C1​

You can drive vehicles between 3,500 and 7,500kg maximum authorised mass (MAM) (with a trailer up to 750kg).

Category C1E​

You can drive C1 category vehicles with a trailer over 750kg.

The combined maximum authorised mass (MAM) of both cannot exceed 12,000kg.

What I don't have, and never have had, is category C or CE

Category C​

You can drive vehicles over 3,500kg with a trailer up to 750kg maximum authorised mass (MAM).

Category CE​

You can drive category C vehicles with a trailer over 750kg.

As for the speed limits well that depends on whether the Cybertruck is classified as a "Goods Vehicle" or not when it is finally approved for road use in the UK. It is "Goods Vehicles" that have restricted speed limits in the UK. How good are Tesla's lawyers?

Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs)	Vehicles constructed for transporting goods and must have a gross weight over 3.5 tonnes, or over 4.25 tonnes if zero emission. This includes vehicles that are not used for freight.

 

[robunos]

From https://hgvlgvtraining.co.uk/when-was-c1-removed-from-driving-licence . . .

"When Was C1 Removed from Driving Licences?

The removal of automatic C1 entitlement from driving licences was a part of a major change to the UK’s driving licence system. Before 1 January 1997, anyone who had passed their standard car driving test, had automatically gained entitlement to drive a vehicle in the C1 category, like light lorries and vans up to 8.25 tonnes.

When Did C1 Driving Licence Change?

The driving licence change that removed the automatic C1 entitlement from car drivers took effect on 1 January 1997. After this date, drivers no longer received automatic entitlement to drive vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes upon passing their car driving test. Authorities introduced a new, separate test for those wanting to drive light lorries or large vans.

This change didn’t affect drivers who passed their car test before 1 January 1997. Those drivers retained their ‘grandfather rights’ and continued to be permitted to drive vehicles up to 8.25 tonnes, even without taking the new, separate test. These rights allowed many long-time drivers to continue operating larger vehicles without needing further training or testing."

cheers,
Robin.

 

[WatcherZero]

If its not road legal how can it get an insurer to sign off insurance for it?
Surely the insurance underwriter would just reject it out of hand when they received the claim.

 

[uk 75]

I was wondering why the Cybertruck looked familiar.....

 

[EwenS]

If its not road legal how can it get an insurer to sign off insurance for it?
Surely the insurance underwriter would just reject it out of hand when they received the claim.

Not road legal in UK or Western Europe. But seemingly road legal in Albania. Therefore able to be insured there, which is where this "importer" is from.

 

[WatcherZero]

Not road legal in UK or Western Europe. But seemingly road legal in Albania. Therefore able to be insured there, which is where this "importer" is from.

Apparently only covers 3rd party claims when driving in the UK without a UK MOT, so injury to pedestrians and damage to other vehicles but not damage to your own Tesla.

 

[Rhinocrates]

but not damage to your own Tesla.

Not surprising considering their propensity for both slow and rapid unscheduled disassembly. Insurers call it 'inherent vice.'

 

[Scott Kenny]

I thought more cars were drive-by-wire? Both throttle and steering...

 

[WatcherZero]

There have been concept cars, and 4W steering have often had front mechanical and rear electrical steering, but almost all production cars have had a mechanical linkage working in parallel. The Infiniti Q50 for example had a clutch that engaged a mechanical linkage with the steering column when electrical power was lost.