Long bed

[Tim]

With all the supposed truck guys on here, why isn’t anybody discussing long beds. My only real worry about how this truck will work for me is the bed length. I don’t need full rear seats, but an 8’ bed I use all the time.

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[PACEMD]

Right, an 8' bed would be good. Hopefully in future Tesla will offer options such as a full-length bed, a dually, blah blah blah..........

 

[John K]

Curious.
For those who need/want 8‘ bed length.
Will the (rumored via tweet) tailgate flip meet your needs or will a flip be a bandaid?
What is the guesstimate percentage when using the bed requiring 8’ length versus the 6.5’ bed will accommodate your needs?
Will the current bed length be a non-starter for you until an 8’ bed model is released?

 

[PACEMD]

The ideal/traditional/standard size for a truck bed is an unobstructed 4'x8' space, front to back and between the wheel wells, the size of a sheet of plywood. Modern 6.5' short bed trucks cheat by claiming an 8' bed when the tailgate is down. Tesla just upped the ante by adding a stop to the proximal tailgate to prevent sliding, as I understand. For folks occasionally moving a few sheets of plywood that should be fine. As always with a truck, you need to know your vehicle and know your purpose. The majority of truck owners would do fine with a 6.5' bed, that's what most have now.

 

[Delusional]

I too would like to see a 2 seater version with longer bed. I Have no interest whatsoever in the rear seats. But I could live without the 8-foot bed, as long as there is a stop on the tailgate to keep the plywood from sliding out.
But a rack for my ladders and the occasional 16-foot lumber is an absolute must-have. If nobody has figured out how to do a ladder rack by the time my number comes up, I will cancel my order. I think we will just weld some square stainless tubing directly to the 12-guage body. (it's gonna be easy for an experienced welder.)

Right now it looks like the flat area of the bed is wider than 4 feet. With no wheel wells, or very minimal. I have not seen confirmation of this. Might need something to keep plywood from sliding SIDE-TO-SIDE.

Probably the vault door roll prohibits any folding down of the rear seats.
There has been talk that the super-heavy GLASS IS needed as A STRUCTURAL COMPONENT ( ! ) providing torsional rigidity to the body. If this is true, I'm thinking the rear glass cannot be moved either.

The side rail tie-downs are aircraft inspired, and look extremely sturdy and easy to use.
The bed-floor T-Rail system kinda scares me, as it will quickly fill with dirt. Wonder if that could be deleted from the factory. Probably just throw in a rubber mat and leave it there until the rare occasion that I need the floor rails.

Suspension will almost certainly be the most repair-prone part of the vehicle. It looks like every CT version gets the same suspension, which is a good thing. Parts will be interchangeable. Parts are not usually priced sky-high and repairs can be done in a backyard.

What we see in the prototype today will definitely not be what is delivered in 2 or more years. Many changes will be made.
Tesla knows that a very big part of why Ford is number one is that Ford offers so many customization options.
The fact that Tesla displays that camper mod (and the CyberQuad) shows they have at least some customization options in mind.
However, Tesla has offered very few options on it's vehicles so far. They prefer to keep their assembly lines as simple as possible.