Some Tesla engineers secretly started designing a Cybertruck alternative because they ‘hated’ it::“They were like, ‘You can’t be serious.’ They didn’t want to have anything to do with it,” Franz von Holzhausen said, according to Walter Isaacson.

  • LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Cyber truck looks absolutely shit. The only thing it had going for itself was that it would have been the very first fully electric pick up truck - when it was first announced.

    After more than 5 years Tesla is nowhere close to mass producing the ugly while Ford stole the thunder with announcing and launching the F150 Lightning. If I was in market for an EV pick up, I’d no longer consider Tesla cyber truck, let alone the Fascist ElMo’s shenanigans.

    • sorghum@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Good luck getting a base model F150 at a decent price. I tried earlier this year and only 3 dealers East of the Mississippi had the base model and they all wanted $30,000 OVER MSRP. Ford can lick my butt for not making enough base models and trying to push their XLT and platinums starting at $75k. I need a truck to work in not have it open and close the lift gate for me.

      At this point I’ll take a shit looking truck at a decent price over whatever the duck Ford and their dealers thought was a good idea with producing so little of the base model, not to mention base model with extended range batteries were ONLY available to fleet purchasers.

      • Four_lights77@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Two years ago I was going to but my first ford, my first truck, AND my first electric because it was the same car. On paper the F150 Lightning seems like the most practical family car ever made. Dealer markup and low volume completely killed it. Ford should eliminate dealerships and sell direct with fixed pricing.

        • sorghum@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          It would be great if they just made more base models. They’re “sold out” for this year already, but you still can order the luxury trims for trucks that haven’t been made yet. I’m not convinced that Ford actually wants to sell any base models.

          I walked away and bought a Bolt EUV instead.

      • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        It’s almost like lithium supply chains are absolutely fucked, and EVs would get zero traction without government subsidies.

        Feels good though. Saving the world. (/S)

        • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          We actually just discovered the largest deposit of lithium on earth in Nevada, so those should get unfucked in the next couple years.

          Kansas has declared all their children available for the mines.

    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The “micron precision” memo that leaked tells me they’re nowhere close to mass production. At my old job, tolerances were pretty much set when we finished a design for a large chemical unit operation – which was typically built within two years. I would expect mass production of something like a car to not to take too much longer.

    • Usernameblankface@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I see what you did there, stealing thunder with the Lightning.

      And yes, Ford’s approach is smart, cheaper, and more utilitarian. Besides, it doesn’t stand out like a smashed thumb in a splint.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Rivian also has some decent designs. I know that Ford has a stake in the company, but it’s only holding 12%, so I don’t know that they have much say in what goes on over there.

      • Concetta@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        1 year ago

        I could’ve sworn Ford sold out in April. Also I love the idea of a Rivian, looks so good, but one of my customers has had one on order for so long it might as well be the cybertruck to him at this point.