Ford VP Disses Cybertruck, Calling Electric F-150 a "Real" Work Truck

[Crissa]

My motorcycle dealer didn't even have a charging point and had been selling the bikes for almost ten years! (They put one in last year)

But requiring dealers to support the cars is what will make dealers actually support the cars. Apparently Harley required dealers to do similar to carry the Livewire (and they're selling them so it must be working.)

-Crissa

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[Frank W]

It sure seems pretty steep of a buy in though but then again shows how much money that they are pulling in. ?

 

[5UBV3T]

There's a price to be paid for "early adoption" and there's a price to be paid for blindly following what the "big" automotive manufacturers tell you is "real".

I'm putting my money on something new. No risk... no reward.

I think when these things hit the road (Cybertruck) there will be an explosion of interest. I do not think that it will erode a significant portion of the market that thinks a truck should look like an F150 though. We have been programmed since the early 50s on what a truck "should" look like. Luckily I wasn't born till 77'.

 

[Idaho_7]

1.) What's the Range?
2.) What are the Load and Towing Capacities?
3.) How does it handle Harsh Weather Extremes?
4.) What is the Durability when real world use is endured? (Denting, Repair, many years of Ownership, etc?

We are entering a whole new world of Pickups.
Old Namesakes will need to compete.
It will be very hard to win this new game.

 

[Dids]

Not to be argumentative at all, but you absolutely need flat side rails for 5th wheel travel trailers and you also do need flat sides when turning a gooseneck. The flanges of the gooseneck come close to crunching flat side rails if there is any off camber activity between the the truck and the trailer when turning. I've watched and seen it come within an inch or two on my current truck. My eyes got as big as saucers as I gingerly made some of those turns and I sold the gooseneck for this very reason. I wasn't comfortable taking the gooseneck on rough dirt roads that present off-camber situations. The sail design of the CT would absolutely interfere and get crunched in this scenario. I'm not saying that different designs couldn't potentially alleviate this issue, but current 5th wheel towing and gooseneck towing setups will not be compatible with the CT prototype.
Having said that, it is a digression from the point: nobody tows these types of trailers with their 1/2 ton pickup anyway. If they are towing these types of trailers it is most often with a 3/4 ton single axle or 1 ton dually. If it is a dedicated tow vehicle, then the bed is commonly a flat bed. The CT will have great utility and do anything a 1/2 ton regularly does but better. It will do almost everything a 3/4 ton does but better. It will do a lot of things neither of those do well in their stock form. I just wouldn't buy a CT and expect it to be my tow rig for a gooseneck horse trailer, but I wouldn't buy a F-150 for that either.
For the VP of Ford trucks to say the CT won't be a very capable work truck is pure FUD, but I don't fault him for it. They should lean on brand recognition as hard as they can until they can catch back up in capability. I just happen to think the pure form follow function design of the CT is going to make it hard to catch when it comes to utility and functionality. I would really enjoy others to catch up. It means truck guys could have tons of options and we all would benefit.

Question? If you lower the front end/ raise the rear of CT do you think the sails will still interfere with a goose neck?

 

[Ehninger1212]

My motorcycle dealer didn't even have a charging point and had been selling the bikes for almost ten years! (They put one in last year)

But requiring dealers to support the cars is what will make dealers actually support the cars. Apparently Harley required dealers to do similar to carry the Livewire (and they're selling them so it must be working.)

-Crissa

Every new dealership I work on has at least one EV charger required by the brand. Even Lincoln stand alones have the big Tesla look alike Ford charger. ( made by the same company)

the VW I am working on is REQUIRED to have 2 DC fast chargers and they have 6 chargers total minimum level 2.

These requirements come from the brand enforcing these standards however even the dealers that aren’t required by the brand are doing retro fits or requesting we add them into the new builds.

 

[cyberhunter]

Question? If you lower the front end/ raise the rear of CT do you think the sails will still interfere with a goose neck?

Yes it will interfere and nobody wants to drive like that anyway. There are so many off-camber situations you encounter driving but you don't think about until you have a gooseneck attached. It's surprising how many "normal" driving situation that will definitely present an issue. Here are a couple...any construction site. Just look at the gigatexas site as an example. The main road is higher than the area the trailers need to go to drop off loads (in this case they are transporting material). When your truck goes from the unimproved areas back to main road you are uphill...as you turn to get on main road the trailer will be 45 degrees or more at an angle. Your rear axle of the truck goes to the main road while the trailer axles are both much lower than the truck axles this puts the flanges of the gooseneck over the rails and then much lower. It's a problem for normal trucks as well, but the sails just make it that much worse. It's also why if you are dedicated towing around goosenecks that most people opt for a flatbed.
It doesn't have to be construction sites where you get this type of scenario. Take any rural road and getting onto a main highway in Texas. The rural road is quite often significantly lower than the main highway. You are putting the axles of the trailer and truck in the same position as stated above. If you are only towing in the city and never getting off the main roads it's not as bad because most streets are made to have gentle transitions. I encountered this awkward angle situation just pulling into my favorite gas station but a regular truck bed came close but did not interfere. I feel from my experience the sails of the CT would have obstructed just pulling into that gas station. Keep in mind that goosenecks are designed so that one advantage of them is backing up into tight spaces because you can go to nearly 90 degrees angle. The sails would prevent that from being an option. Now if CT becomes extremely popular for towing and the demand becomes evident, we could very well get gooseneck designs that increase the distance from the gooseneck portion to the rails such as inverting the flanges, etc. but the current designs IMO are not well suited for the bed style of the CT.

 

[MUSK007]

I just saw this video of the new Ford F-150 EV. I noticed in the video wheee it says to avoid water above the hubs. Really? Buy a Ford and avoid any water puddles?

 

[CappyJax]

I am generally not a fan of goose neck and fifth wheel trailers as you lose the use of your bed as a secure and water proof storage area. You do get better maneuverability, but you need it because the trailers tend to be rather large. A bumper pull with a Hensley or Propride hitch gives you most of the benefits of a fifth wheel/gooseneck.

I don't think the inability of the Cybertruck to not be able to pull a FW/GN isn't going to impact sales. Only a fraction of trucks are used to pull anything, and even less are FW/GN.

 

[Crissa]

I think cyberhunter is overestimating the height of the sails, honestly.

-Crissa

 

[Capt_Roy]

I think cyberhunter is overestimating the height of the sails, honestly.

-Crissa

Wouldn't this be a good fifth wheel hitch for the Cybertruck?
https://cyber-hitch.com/#section-potential

Seems promising. Also, minimum impact to your bed when not towing (i.e. bed storage volume is not hindered by the cyber-hitch receiver).

 

[Handy Artie]

Executive of automotive manufacturers are paid cheer leaders who are partially compensated by exercisable stock grants from their companies. Which stock currently do you think they would prefer to be compensated with, F or TSLA? In the competition for executive talent which company do you think will have the advantage, F or TSLA? It’s really just a matter of comparing the stock price charts. The stock markets are pretty good at picking the winners.

 

[Luke42]

am generally not a fan of goose neck and fifth wheel trailers as you lose the use of your bed as a secure and water proof storage area.

Putting the trailer's load slightly forward of the rear axle is far better for towing heavy loads, in terms of balancing the tow vehicle.

This is the whole reason tractor trailers exist, and why they are built the way they are. Bumper pull vehicles have limitations.

It would be perfectly reasonable for Tesla to tell us that the CT is only designed for bumper-pull applications and leave it at that. Looking at the design of the truck, I think that's likely.

Tesla is trying to break the mold of what a pickup truck is, not re-create a regular body-on-frame pick up truck. Ford and GM will re-create the classic design better than Tesla can, because they've been doing for decades and understand that customer. Inventing a new pickup truck category is much better move, which is why Tesla is doing that instead.

 

[BillyGee]

*yawn*

Wake me up when they actually make a commercial electric vehicle. Until then the E150 or whatever is vaporware, just like every other electric car prototype ford has ever made.

 

[Frank W]

Oh come on, don’t you like that teaser front end?! ?