Remember those million pre-orders Tesla allegedly had for the Cybertruck, according to CEO Elon Musk? It’s getting tougher and tougher for the company to explain where all of them went.
After putting around 50,000 Cybertrucks on the road, according to a recent recall filing, the company appears to be out of pre-orders and desperately looking to juice demand. Case in point: It’s now offering up to $10,000 off certain Cybertrucks it has in inventory.
Good, but for fucks sake, can we get just a standard two door, full sized, long bed electric truck that can actually do some work and not be a god damn pavement princess, suburban male, penis extender?
Given your opinions are on the reasonable side of truck owners
What advantage does a truck have over a panel van for work use?
Yes I’m European. Yes I actually want a truck for some unknown social reason. But every time I look at trucks I think the beds are either too small or I think my shit is going to get wet back there. An enclosed panel van has a bigger converted storage area.
I do heavy equipment/industrial/marine maintnace and fabrication work. The ability to overhead load things into the bed. Rather than being limited to what is on a pallet with a forklift. Being able have cargo that is longer than the bed of the truck and not have to drive with cab doors open. Being able to install a 5th wheel trailer to tow more than what the standard ball hitch allows. You shure aren’t going to make a tow truck out of a van. Bulk cargo? Just show up to quarry or dirt pit load a bucket full or 2 and of you go. Lots of reasons. These are just the basic examples. There’s lots more. From welding rigs to just being able to put a skid of drywall in with out hassle.
Well I for one really don’t want to try and haul a load of manure in a panel van.
Don’t get me wrong, vans are great, my general contractor in-laws used them daily, but there are advantages like being able to haul a stack of plywood or sheet rock without having to have a trailer, being able to haul larger items more easily, towing, and again, easily hauling things like manure or rocks, just get the front loader and dump it in.
Manure or rock, sure. I get that.
Plywood or sheet rock, standard sizes of sheet rock here in the UK for in a panel van and I have no worries about them getting wet out damaged en route.
Given the length limit of a truck bed, I can get much bigger things in a van then I could a truck.
For 99% of owners a panel van would be the better option, but their masculinity is tied to other people’s perception of them, so they pay the small dick tax.
I rent a truck for the afternoon on the rare occasion I need one
Just get a hybrid Sienna, it comes with a free preinstalled cap on, AWD and sliding doors which shit on normal car/truck doors in terms of practical utility and capacity to do work.
I know this isn’t exactly what you were asking for, but this looks promising for people that want what essentially is the anti-cybertruck:
Telo truck preview by JerryRigEverything
A vehicle as a real tool? Blasphemy! We don’t do that here in America.
Where the hell would we mount the dashboard nacho cheese dispenser and 42" plasma touch display in a standard truck?
The Honda Ridgeline can be repurposed as a LPG truck, and the Ford Ranger Lightning is electric. But both of them are on the larger side tho’
Many craft and trade people in Norway have embraced the Volkswagen Buzz.
Got to poke around in a Buzz at a local euro car meet. They are larger inside than I imagined in pictures. I could see them being great for contractors in a stripped down version.
I lost my tacoma a few years back and have a 00 tdi golf with a roof rack and a tow hitch. Other than a couple times where I needed to get a lot of 4x8 sheets of subflooring it has handled everything I did with my truck. Water heaters , 12’ 6x6", loads of 2x4, 28’ ladders , scaffolding etc all go on the roof rack. I’ll probably never buy another truck. People joke around when I’m loading material, fuck em.
I mean, as far as I know Rivians aren’t that bad. Disclaimer I have done very little research I just know they look cool and aren’t owned by Musk.
My beef with Rivian is one I shared with Tesla- their chargers are closed to other brands. That’s a mask-off move in my opinion. It’s a business decision, not a technical one.
This might not be realistic, but if I had any electric vehicle, #1 item that would be in my trunk 24/7 is a portable charger and a long ass cable so I could eventually get going no matter what.
But also it says you can charge the car at “any public charger” including their “Adventure network” and tesla superchargers.
Any transportation technology that isn’t like, public seems like pick your poison to me, I was never happy about having to buy modern automobiles with spy chips that report your sexuality to the manufacturer for some reason.
The 2nd paragraph is my problem- they can use the public chargers, but the public can’t use theirs. They say they’re opening it up, but it hasn’t happened yet and they’re only doing it because their plan failed.
Seems unlikely considering the whole tariff situation