Noob questions about Cybertruck

[BigJack86]

At $2.50 a gallon, you'd only have to get 25 miles per gallon to make $0.10 a mile for energy costs. Hmm... Our Prius gets 38 miles per gallon which is $0.035 per mile here at $1.75 per gallon.

For my wife's Model Y,
We pay $0.0936 per kWh during the Summer and we've averaged 277 W/mile (yeah, it's new and I just can't NOT get into the accelerator at least once a drive!)

So, broken down by the $ per mile price in Nebraska:

2013 F-350 Diesel: $.120/mile*
2010 Toyota Prius: $.035/mile**
2019 Tesla Model Y: $.026/mile***

*When you factor in the maintenance costs, the truck cost just over $0.515 per mile (I've tracked that expense for 7 years)
**The Prius has accumulated zero maintenance costs in the 7 months we've had it but is about due an oil change (which I'll do myself, most likely for about $25).
***During the Winter, energy cost drops the cost per mile down to $0.024 per mile

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[BigJack86]

I get about 12-13 mpg in my current ride so I'd definitely be saving money on that...

 

[alan auerbach]

Fell in love with the Cybertruck since I first saw the reveal back in December and am really close to pulling the trigger but I have some nagging questions. If they have been answered before i apologize. Let me say that i would be ordering the base 40k model because I only commute about 200 miles a week and i see no need to humiliate sportscar owners. So here's the questions Thanks for your answers

1) How long do the batteries last on these vehicles? The sales guy at tesla said 300k miles plus but I don't really trust salespeople when they are talking about the products that they themselves are selling. I talked to GM about their hybrid batteries and they said they were only good for about 5 yrs from the time of manufacture.

2) If you need repairs where can you go to get them done? I have talked to friends in the auto repair industry that say that only Tesla dealerships will do repairs and that you could expect a 6 month wait to get your ride fixed. They did say, however that the Teslas were very well made.

3) When exactly will the CT be available to actually look at in person? Pictures are great, but actually being in the presence is alot better.

4) Finally being a first time EV buyer, how long does it take and what is the cost of charging a vehicle?

Thanks for your answers

1. Time will tell, but how long will an ICE engine last? (The first popular battery [sort-of] car was the Prius that came out a decade ago. Well, the first models are still going strong.)

2. Reports suggest that repairs can be short and sweet, like the owner who was told that Tesla had detected something that wasn't holding up, and they'd come to his house to replace it free. Or they can be horrendous, with long waits, high cost, and no loaner for a routine problem. But as the numbers increase, you can expect more of the first kind of experience.

4. The original estimate was the end of next year, and this seems to be holding.

5. Time? With a proper home connection and typical battery depletion, overnight should suffice. To near-fill a flat battery it could take days from solar panels or a regular household outlet, or under an hour from a Tesla charger. Cost? Depending on your rates for electricity and gas/diesel, figure one-quarter to half. But operating costs are more than fuel, and maintenance is near zero with Teslas. The exception is the rubber, which wears the same as in all vehicles, more if you exploit the Tesla's power. And you don't put cheapie replacements on Teslas.

 

[ajdelange]

The battery and drive train are warrented for 8 years or 150 miles (on the S and X - no guarantee that the same deal will apply to the CT). The general warranty is for four years or 50,000 miles. From this you can figure out that is things like the ecu with its 12 billion transistors that will fail on you rather than drive train component. These things can be an expensive proposition out of warranty.

There are plenty of service horror stories. Getting an appointment can be a problem but once you have one things generally go pretty smoothly at the Service Center. Of course how difficult things are depend on where your nearest SC is. In the winter my nearest one is 4 miles away. In the summer the nearest one is over 100 miles away. If your problem can be handled by Ranger service things are very convenient indeed. They come to you.

Most of the horror stories seem to involve waiting for replacement body panels so don't bend your car/truck!

Charging depends on how far you drive in a day. Most charging is replacement of the day's consumption. The CT is going to suck up about 450 Wh/mi so if you drive 100 mi per day you will need to replace 45 kWh each evening. A 120 V outlet can supply 1.296 kWh to the battery for each hour of charging and it would thus take 34.7 hours of charging from such an outlet to support 100 mi per day. A "wall charger" wired to a 60A circuit can deliver 10.37 kWh per hour to the battery and do the job in 4.3 hour (4:18 minutes). The most common Super Chargers deliver about 80 kW on average and thus can replace 100 miles worth of driving in 60*45/80 = 33.75 minutes. The V3 super chargers should be twice as fast and thus replace 100 miles in 17 minutes.

To find out the costs check your electric bill to see how much the utility charges per kWh and multiply by 45. Typical cost is about 13¢ so 100 miles will cost you $5.85 or 6¢/mile. At an SC cost per kWh is higher generally around 23¢/kWh.

 

[MUSK007]

I pay .1169 PKH for juice 24-7

i don’t even think about it. I’m just glad I have forgotten where I used to have to stop to get gas and diesel.

 

[Frank W]

Good information AJ, thanks for sharing it. I am looking forward to doing some traveling and these numbers sure look like it will be very reasonable to do so.

 

[Owner13669]

Fell in love with the Cybertruck since I first saw the reveal back in December and am really close to pulling the trigger but I have some nagging questions. If they have been answered before i apologize. Let me say that i would be ordering the base 40k model because I only commute about 200 miles a week and i see no need to humiliate sportscar owners. So here's the questions Thanks for your answers

1) How long do the batteries last on these vehicles? The sales guy at tesla said 300k miles plus but I don't really trust salespeople when they are talking about the products that they themselves are selling. I talked to GM about their hybrid batteries and they said they were only good for about 5 yrs from the time of manufacture.

2) If you need repairs where can you go to get them done? I have talked to friends in the auto repair industry that say that only Tesla dealerships will do repairs and that you could expect a 6 month wait to get your ride fixed. They did say, however that the Teslas were very well made.

3) When exactly will the CT be available to actually look at in person? Pictures are great, but actually being in the presence is alot better.

4) Finally being a first time EV buyer, how long does it take and what is the cost of charging a vehicle?

Thanks for your answers

“ I talked to GM about their hybrid batteries and they said they were only good for about 5 yrs from the time of manufacture.” Who told you that? Because that’s bullsquirt!

 

[Luke42]

“ I talked to GM about their hybrid batteries and they said they were only good for about 5 yrs from the time of manufacture.” Who told you that? Because that’s bullsquirt!

Let me explain why this claim is BS:

Automotive hybrid and traction batteries are required to carry an 8 year warranty in the US. GM would have been required to replace a lot of batteries if they only lasted 5 years.

My GMC 2-mode hybrid battery has 10 years and 90-some-thousand miles on it, and the battery seems fine. If you look at used truck ads, you can easily find these hybrid trucks with more than 200k miles on them. If the battery were to fail, replacing it is much easier and cheaper than servicing an automatic transmission. I took that bet.

Prius batteries will probably outlast most automatic transmissions, and will cost less to replace. Oh, and the Prius's e-CVT is much simpler than an automatic transmission.

Battery degradation was a valid concern 20 years ago, and it's something thst first-generation hybrids/EVs from any manufacturer have to deal with. For instance, most of the first generation (sedan-shaped) Prii had their batteries replaced under warranty. But that problem was solved by 2004. The world moved on from this long ago. New EVs are like any other clean sheet design -- avoid the first year, and read the reviews to make sure it's good. Unless, of course, you're so stoked about the vehicle that you're OK with being a beta tester.

 

[alan auerbach]

Let me explain why this claim is BS:

Automotive hybrid and traction batteries are required to carry an 8 year warranty in the US. GM would have been required to replace a lot of batteries if they only lasted 5 years.

My GMC 2-mode hybrid battery has 10 years and 90-some-thousand miles on it, and the battery seems fine. If you look at used truck ads, you can easily find these hybrid trucks with more than 200k miles on them. If the battery were to fail, replacing it is much easier and cheaper than servicing an automatic transmission. I took that bet.

Prius batteries will probably outlast most automatic transmissions, and will cost less to replace. Oh, and the Prius's e-CVT is much simpler than an automatic transmission.

Battery degradation was a valid concern 20 years ago, and it's something thst first-generation hybrids/EVs from any manufacturer have to deal with. For instance, most of the first generation (sedan-shaped) Prii had their batteries replaced under warranty. But that problem was solved by 2004. The world moved on from this long ago. New EVs are like any other clean sheet design -- avoid the first year, and read the reviews to make sure it's good. Unless, of course, you're so stoked about the vehicle that you're OK with being a beta tester.

Jack: What does "I talked to someone at GM" mean? Dealership people have been known to discourage buying pure EVs (maybe the same with hybrids) because such vehicles need less of the high-profit service that dealers increasingly depend on, and their longevity reduces repeat business.

 

[alan auerbach]

Fell in love with the Cybertruck since I first saw the reveal back in December and am really close to pulling the trigger but I have some nagging questions. If they have been answered before i apologize. Let me say that i would be ordering the base 40k model because I only commute about 200 miles a week and i see no need to humiliate sportscar owners. So here's the questions Thanks for your answers

1) How long do the batteries last on these vehicles? The sales guy at tesla said 300k miles plus but I don't really trust salespeople when they are talking about the products that they themselves are selling. I talked to GM about their hybrid batteries and they said they were only good for about 5 yrs from the time of manufacture.

2) If you need repairs where can you go to get them done? I have talked to friends in the auto repair industry that say that only Tesla dealerships will do repairs and that you could expect a 6 month wait to get your ride fixed. They did say, however that the Teslas were very well made.

3) When exactly will the CT be available to actually look at in person? Pictures are great, but actually being in the presence is alot better.

4) Finally being a first time EV buyer, how long does it take and what is the cost of charging a vehicle?

Thanks for your answers

My answers are likely full of duplications from the other ones. And more definitive answers will surface as delivery approaches.

1. Depends on the battery design, and how it's used, but not a likely concern here.

2. If Tesla decided to fill each market area before expanding the sales area, Tesla's repair provisions would take good care of the owners. But from the outset they will likely spread out thinly to so many other locations that you'd best pray you won't have problems needing a hands-on fix -- at least until their service catches up with their sales in your area.

3. Each arrival at each service center will have such demand that it may take a year of deliveries before demos are at hand.

4. Depends on what, where, and maybe what hour it's plugged into. You'll find more specific answers elsewhere on this site.