Elon Reconfirms Production Cybertruck Will be Around 3% Smaller. Factory Delivery / Pick Up Will Be Available!

[CompMaster]

I don't understand the fascination with solar panels on top. Maybe you can charge all day to crawl a few miles at night like a Martian rover. It might be a nice capability if you're trying to stay off the grid in the Gobi Desert and don't have any time constraints.

Think about it this way, the solar may help with miles. But when your camping it should be enough to charge the Quad, induction top, or other power needs. I have a 400 watt panel on my Suburban with a 5.2k Tesla module running off a 3k Pure inverter. And that is plenty of juice camping in the summer with soo many sun hours.

This replaced the big noisy smelly 7k generator. I can make coffee, toast, eggs and bacon. Without waking up anyone.. well they wake up to the smell of BlackRifle coffee

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[TechOps]

I didn't think they ever said which would be first... other than initially saying tri would be later than moving it up and saying single would be later. I think yes it's a battery constraint. I think 500+ mile battery means the high nickel batteries same as semi....

Both use the same batteries, they said the tri just has twice as many of them.

Lots of interviews he's never mentioned any difference and the only article that discussed the engineering of the tri it said double pack, which makes sense, since it it nearly double the range.

I don't believe Elon ever said the different models of the CT would have the same batteries.

It's pretty clear what's going on with the batteries -- just look at the redesigned Model S to understand. The single and dual are gonna get 2170s, and then with a big jump in range, and price, and acceleration (and now we're guessing, also a delay), the tri-motor will have 4680s. Just like the MS with Plaid+ having all of those same characteristics. I don't believe there will be dual-layer packs. The gains will be from 4680 geometry, and chemistry.

 

[TechOps]

Is anyone putting 2 + 2 together? Elon conspicuously mentioned boats on the latest JRE interview. He has, in the past, commented on how the CT could float for short periods of time. He has commented that no one understands the CT, it's better than people realize..

The product is better than people realize even. They don’t have enough information to realize the awesomeness of it. It’s just great.

Follow the breadcrumbs, people.. the CT will be the getaway boat in the next James Bond movie!

 

[speach]

Apologies - catching up from the weekend here - lots I wanted to respond to.

Let me get this straight: It is going to be 5% smaller.....no... 3% smaller.......no... actually it is going to stay the same size ........not smaller.......uh......3% smaller because Jay Leno got nervous ......or was that Elon that got nervous? Or was that "Bill and Ted" style nervous? Was that a "hair raising boring tunnel experience" or a "boring hare raising tunnel experience?" Bunnies are cute! Now that we are well into the "month or so" reveal of the changes in the CT we all know it was a typo. Should have been "Months or so on....." Just teasing! I would not want to have Elon's job, and I would never accept the pay if I couldn't do the job, but that's just me. I was raised by the WWI and WWII generations. Different breeds they were than what we see today.

Are you saying you can't do Elon's job because your parents are old? Your point isn't clear.

DrScot you are almost as hard to follow as Elon. I sense Elon gives a raw feed of his thoughts sometimes, not unlike what tell my wife after a long day. It is unfiltered and riddled with jokes and parody. Elon, I think, is both joking and serious at the same time. He wants his products to be a certain way, like a "pointy rocket", because he really does want it, but recognizes the silliness of it and knows everything they do must be justifiable. Likewise, I believe the reason the changes in size are real - he has numerous times imparted how much it matters to him that production models match the brawny (or sexy) lines of a concept model. He wants the CT to evoke what the concept model did. Based on the S3XY production models, I feel confident it will evoke those emotions regardless of what dimensions change.

If you are a master of your domain with the ”timeless art of seduction“, you can look manly in any size CT.

ok that makes no sense, I want what was displayed at the roll out I don’t want a chopped top I’m 6’ 6” and want the full size. Garage space is no concern for me. The new size makes it look like a torpedo.

I was just horsing around. You mentioned shrinkage. I thought you may get a chuckle out of a Seinfeld reference. It was a failed joke.

Diehard - OMG - not a failed joke. That was hilarious...
Articulate—me? I’ve never articulated anything, I’m completely incoherent.

and Cebliminal - I'm 6'4, but have a very long torso/arms & short legs, so headroom is paramount for me. My head touches the ceilings of a full-size truck (overheads in airplanes, etc.) I almost never fit in anything without an extreme recline, but the pyramidal shape I believe will work in our favor.

Would you switch to dual if you find out Tri starts a year later?

Frankly I think everyone would be delayed. Model X rolled off assembly line 3.5 years after reveal. If CT has the same faith, we are looking at 2023.

That isn't what he said.... he said initial production CT would have 300 miles range. Which is what CT2 has.... He is just saying they are going to do dual motor trucks first. He also said sharp edges hurts aerodynamics. What he is doing is comparing aerodynamics between CT and Model 3 or other smooth body shapes.... And in fact CT aerodynamics are not as good as that but they are pretty good for a pickup truck.

Model X delays were atypical dues to specific design aspects to that model, and I don't think relevant.

I specifically ordered a dual-motor because tri-motors were originally scheduled to be released later. It was later released that it would the single motors made last, not the tri-motors as originally published. Given the first runs will be 300-mile range, this is consistent with dual motors being the first to roll out, as Dids (above) and Crissa have been saying.

Lastly - I think way too much thought is being put into these "exact" new dimensions. The vehicle at the unveiling was 84" wide, and it was indicated the production dimensions would be 231.7"L, 79.8"W, 75"H. Every time Elon has said "reduced about 5% " and now " about 3%", do we know if this reference is specifically tied to the dimensions provided at the unveiling or the model being driven around?

I think the real concern is the width, and if he has been referencing the 84" concept, then a 5% drop would be 79.8" (exactly as advertised) and the new ~3% drop would be ~81.5"W. This makes more sense to me. Why would he be worried about needing to further drop the width from 79.8"W? My current daily is 223"L x 79"W x 76"H and it fits everywhere. Admittedly, none of us really know and won't until they release official data, which I wouldn't expect until they start asking the very early purchasers for a real deposit and give them a delivery date. Being I ordered mine two days later on Saturday, it will be 2022 for me.

 

[SpaceDoc]

I have heard his name before but never watched any of this stuff. Is his deal that he brings in a guest as an audience and then just goes adlib about anything while the guest gets uncomfortable? ?

Anyway, CT being too big for the boring tunnel seems like a really bad reason. Is the Boring Company really trying to get all these big tunneling jobs without being able to adjust the size of the tunnel they offer? Was the test tunnel perfect and the limiting factor for all their designs now? I’m sure there were other reasons for the shrinkage. One reason could be to make it just a notch closer to a world truck as they’re usually smaller elsewhere, while still keeping essential bed size etc. Another could be to fit inside a typical (full size) garage. Or maybe there was some “wasted” space in the 3% bigger one. Maybe wind tunnel testing dictated resizing? Is it more proportional design-wise now? I don’t know but that just sounded like a good anecdote, like the one about him ordering the rockets to be more pointy because of a movie.

Nice to get some new info though. Thanks!

Rogan is a bit of a dope, but he can be amusing at times. It's a little weird that Elon Musk has been on his podcast so much. An outgoing extroverted, big mouth, and an introverted nerd that can barely speak because his mind is thinking ten things at once, maybe they're complimentary.

 

[Crissa]

I don't understand the fascination with solar panels on top.

Those surfaces are always exposed to light.
The cabin is always using power ameliorating that absorbed radiation.
The battery tending system is always using power keeping the pack warm or cool.
The communication system is always updating.

And so you have a big battery pack in the sun. Why wouldn't you want to put solar on it? It doesn't need inverters to charge, either, so it would be more efficient than panels mounted on your house.

-Crissa

 

[myco.rrhizae]

Not the base model, the initial model. Which is the dual at 300 as always. Base still 250.

ahhhh... thanks for the clarity. that makes sense

 

[Wood Wombat]

I would be VERY happy with a port to hook my own solar panels to. While camping off grid, would be nice to trickle charge the battery for all that physics will allow.

I too would love this. It would not be too hard to build a roll-out array on a trolley with up to 10 panels on it for a 2.5kW-3.2kW DC string. This would probably be good for 15 km/h charging. In Australia, on many of the truly remote routes you are lucky to do 40km/day so taking a camp day every few days, or maybe stopping early would let you have virtually unlimited range. Also handy for when you are base-camping for a few days since you could combine it with the AC main power inverter to power your camp site indefinitely.

 

[CybertruckAgent]

Now that Single would be coming out last instead of first, due to demand. By the time the single would come out the eF150 *should* be out and this that would be Tesla's competitor. And no longer the ICE F150.

I'm not saying don't get the Single, I'm just looking at history and timeliness of releases.

Make no mistake, private truck buyers will be some of the last to give up ICE. While it makes enormous sense to go EV for deliveries and fleet truck usage, the traditional “truck guy” will scoff at an electric Rivian for $80k vs a Ford Raptor or the like. The ICE F150 is still the benchmark and main competitor for Cybertruck. I expect the EV F150 to start out as a high priced option to the existing line up until adoption ramps up. The single motor was always slated to be built last, But it’s the one that will usher in normalcy for EVs.

 

[Crissa]

The single motor was always slated to be built last, But it’s the one that will usher in normalcy for EVs.

This is key. I don't think fleets will move as quickly as you think - they're bought by the same people who buy private trucks.

But once BEV trucks are straight up cheaper?

-Crissa

 

[CybertruckAgent]

This is key. I don't think fleets will move as quickly as you think - they're bought by the same people who buy private trucks.

But once BEV trucks are straight up cheaper?

-Crissa

Cheaper yes, and the single motor crew cab is VERY close to the crew cab W/T trim levels from the other makers in price. Fuel costs and maintenance will tip the scale as well marginally, but only if Tesla nails reliability on this model.

 

[CompMaster]

When you guys and gals say Fleet, what do you mean?

 

[Bigfoot DeLorean]

I don’t have a “fascination” about solar panels, but I expect my CT to get light use, probably spending time in a commuter lot quite often. Solar panels would potentially give me 50%+ of my required energy - it would be cool to not even have to charge it at home more than a few times a year. It’s not a money thing - just a neat concept for a light user that your car is practically self sustaining.

 

[nitrohuck]

Honestly, I couldn't care less about gaining actual range with the solar option... but if it could simply offset the typical battery drain that results from the CT sitting still for a few days (airport parking lot or camping trip) I'd be happy assuming it doesn't cost $10k as an upgrade option

 

[DarinCT]

When you guys and gals say Fleet, what do you mean?

Fleet sales are for businesses that run fleets of vehicles. Their concerns are different and they have deeper pockets and use the piss out of their vehicles. Also, they buy significantly more, in blocks, and have demands of lower downtime.

Anything from @Cybertrucktruck guy who does landscaping and snow removal to automotive parts delivery for a city to Amazon and US Postal Service and everything in between.

Just to ramble on some, EV fleets require a new infrastructure with route distance, times, as well as dwell times and SLAs to consider. This goes from everything from CT all the way up to class 8.