Tesla Motors to build truck based on F-Series

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slashfan7964
http://blog.powerblocktv.com/tesla-to-make-pickup-truck-based-on-ford-f-series/


They have no chance. With GMC/Chevy/Cadillac, Dodge, Toyota, Ford/Lincoln and Nissan in the market I think this is going to flop hard, especially if it's all electric. You're going to drive for like 30 minutes and have to recharge the battery. Forget about going offroad in any kind of mud etc. I just feel like it's going to be priced ridiculously high and hardly be able to perform to what any of the others can.

I can't see this actually working.
 
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And here it is!

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Slashfan
With GMC/Chevy/Cadillac, Dodge, Toyota, Ford/Lincoln and Nissan in the market I think this is going to flop hard,
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They seem to be doing fine in the markets they are in right now, which have more competition than the truck market.(Which could be even thinner if Toyota cans the Tundra)

especially if it's all electric. You're going to drive for like 30 minutes and have to recharge the battery.
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There are already electric trucks, they get 40-80 miles a charge.

Phoenix
VIA (Converts existing vehicles)

Granted neither of those would be good for long drives, but would work fine for a drive to Home Depot.

Forget about going offroad in any kind of mud etc.
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I'm guessing they aren't intending it to do any off-roading past dirt roads. Not every truck needs to be able to go mudding(not sure why you would take any new truck mudding really).

I can't see this actually working.
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I can, as long as the price isn't insane. Plus, the only way ranges will get up is with continued investment.

Slashfan
:yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck::yuck:


Looks way too similar...
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2294790-facepalm06.jpg
 
Trucks need torque, right? Batteries produce a ton of torque from idle, no?

For inner-city short-distance hauling, I can totally see it working. I know it says he wouldn't be looking at the commercial aspect, but I could see companies like U-Haul finding it an attractive alternative if the price is right. Which is probably the biggest hurdle.

The other Tesla models last far longer than 30 minutes, not sure why you think this wouldn't. I doubt they'd really be targeting the bull-bar'd, extra-lights, winch-equipped, yee-hawing mud-plugging end of the market, either.
 
Slashfan
http://blog.powerblocktv.com/tesla-to-make-pickup-truck-based-on-ford-f-series/


They have no chance. With GMC/Chevy/Cadillac, Dodge, Toyota, Ford/Lincoln and Nissan in the market I think this is going to flop hard, especially if it's all electric. You're going to drive for like 30 minutes and have to recharge the battery. Forget about going offroad in any kind of mud etc. I just feel like it's going to be priced ridiculously high and hardly be able to perform to what any of the others can.

I can't see this actually working.
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If anything electric motors are the eventual future of trucks provided battery tech goes far enough. The drawbacks of an electric car aren't as bad on a truck, the things are already huge and heavy so massive batteries aren't a problem. The benefits of an electric motor translate really well to a truck, I'd think you would be excited about the massive amounts of effortless torque you get from electric motors.

The reality is you continue to evaluate trucks based on your idea of how they're supposed to be used which represents a very small group of truck buyers. The reality is most people who buy trucks don't care about spinning the tires or going mudding. People don't buy $60,000+ brand new trucks to go tool around in a muddy field for fun.

Most people buy a truck because a few times a year they need the capability. It's nice to have the capability to tow every now and then, and the open bed makes it easy to take stuff to the dump and pick things up at Home Depot. Yes, people who tow a boat 800 miles every summer won't be buying one but those people are a small group of truck buyers, most people buy them to use as a regular vehicle and have the extra capability in case they need it. Do you really believe that these kinds of buyers won't be attracted to a truck that does all of this just as well (or better with the electric motor's torque) and doesn't require you to pay for gas?

The tech isn't quite there yet to make an affordable truck that is as well performing as current trucks, but it's quite close and there's no reason why this truck can't replace the trucks that get used as a commuter car and never tow anything heavier than a U Haul trailer or 15 foot aluminum boat. Sure it'll be more expensive, but there will be people who are willing to pay for the overall package. Looking at the Model S, odds are that the fit and finish of the truck will be top notch, and the much maligned luxury truck market will be certainly attracted to this.

It's going to be a luxury product, much like the Model S is competing with similarly priced luxury cars. People won't be cross shopping this with a 2001 F150, they'll be cross shoping with top end trucks that go for $60,000+ and other luxury vehicles (Escalade, Cayenne, Q7, etc.). When you compare a $70,000 F150 to this thing which should be under $100k, it's not so terribly overpriced.
 
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Part of the point of having a truck is the offroad capability that comes with it, which is why I stress it. Torque wise, I know the produce a lot, but I have a feeling towing heavy loads would just make the batteries wear out that much faster, making replacing them a priority before the truck even gets that old. I guess in today's market it doesn't much matter since people trade in their vehicles every freaking year anyways.

@Noob616

I understand what you are getting at.

As far as requiring you to pay for gas, you'd be making it up with your electric bill from charging them all the time.
 
Slashfan
Part of the point of having a truck is the offroad capability that comes with it, which is why I stress it.
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I always thought you bought a truck to haul stuff.

This truck for instance...
38154750001_large.jpg


Probably sucks at off-roading unless you modify it, yet is great at doing pretty much everything else you'd need a truck to do, which is why companies still use them even though the S10 has been out of production for close to a decade.
 
This is like the crappiest lead for a Tesla plan ever. Who wrote that story? Elon Musk says, "Hey, a truck would be cool," and all of a sudden it's reported that he's going to take a Ford truck and electrify it? Stupid, stupid reporting.
 
Justin
I always thought you bought a truck to haul stuff.
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Not always. To me a truck should be able to do everything and do it with a grin. You wouldn't catch me in one of those.
 
Slashfan
Not always. To me a truck should be able to do everything and do it with a grin. You wouldn't catch me in one of those.
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And to me all cars should be Alfa Romeo's or Corvette's. But it really doesn't matter what I think and there is a reason both the F-150 and F350 SuperDuty exist, people have different needs. Some people need the power of the F-350 to haul tractors and other heavy crap, yet for the small-time contractor/painter/other tradesman, the S10 will work more than fine.
 
Slashfan
Part of the point of having a truck is the offroad capability that comes with it, which is why I stress it. Torque wise, I know the produce a lot, but I have a feeling towing heavy loads would just make the batteries wear out that much faster, making replacing them a priority before the truck even gets that old. I guess in today's market it doesn't much matter since people trade in their vehicles every freaking year anyways.

@Noob616

I understand what you are getting at.

As far as requiring you to pay for gas, you'd be making it up with your electric bill from charging them all the time.
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Well sure, they market the offroad capability and want you to buy it to pretend you're a rugged cowboy, but very very few people buy new trucks to go mudding or offroading these days. It's largely irrelevant to how this truck will sell, if you wanted to go mudding you'd buy an older truck that you don't care about getting dirty or scratching the paint. You're not fairly evaluating a Tesla truck and its market by comparing it to older trucks that you take in the mud, this will be a luxury car in a truck body that has the capability to do the odd truck thing, much like the F150 Limited or other expensive fancy trucks that people don't generally use as a workhorse.

As for paying for gas, that's simply not true. Burning through gas at $4 a gallon and 15mpg isn't going to be cheaper than charging your car, these days it costs about $2-5 to charge an electric car, even if we assume the batteries are a ton bigger then we're still talking about $15 for a full charge that would last days. Sure, towing heavy loads would increase the rate of energy consumption but it causes you to burn more gas so I don't see the issue here. Like I said, you wouldn't use it to tow a boat across the country but for day to day use of a truck the torque and battery capacity will be more than sufficient.

Slashfan
Not always. To me a truck should be able to do everything and do it with a grin. You wouldn't catch me in one of those.
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This is pretty well the core of it here. You don't like it and wouldn't buy one because it doesn't do what you want it to, and that's fine. The problem is you're using your idea of what a truck should be to determine how successful it'll be, even though people who take their trucks mudding and tow heavy loads all the time are a small minority.
 
Justin
And to me all cars should be Alfa Romeo's or Corvette's. But it really doesn't matter what I think and there is a reason both the F-150 and F350 SuperDuty exist, people have different needs. Some people need the power of the F-350 to haul tractors and other heavy crap, yet for the small-time contractor/painter/other tradesman, the S10 will work more than fine.
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You make a good point.

@Noob616

Same goes to you. Just how I feel personally.
 
Omnis
This is like the crappiest lead for a Tesla plan ever. Who wrote that story? Elon Musk says, "Hey, a truck would be cool," and all of a sudden it's reported that he's going to take a Ford truck and electrify it? Stupid, stupid reporting.
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This. Hugely misleading title. What Musk actually said is that he'd build an electric truck like an F-Series. Specifically:

"That's the best selling car in America. If people are voting that's their car, then that's the car we have to deliver."

The details in an article that isn't crap. Though I was maybe trolling a little by 'shopping a huge Tesla badge onto an F-150...

By the way, @Justin, that Via truck is actually a range-extended vehicle like the Chevy Volt - so once that 30-40 miles is out, you just drive on as normal with the gasoline engine. The main benefit there is that the majority of people's regular driving is over fairly short distances so in theory, your gas savings would be huge without compromising on overall range.
 
Slashfan
http://blog.powerblocktv.com/tesla-to-make-pickup-truck-based-on-ford-f-series/


They have no chance. With GMC/Chevy/Cadillac, Dodge, Toyota, Ford/Lincoln and Nissan in the market I think this is going to flop hard, especially if it's all electric. You're going to drive for like 30 minutes and have to recharge the battery. Forget about going offroad in any kind of mud etc. I just feel like it's going to be priced ridiculously high and hardly be able to perform to what any of the others can.

I can't see this actually working.
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I can. I was looking at trucks this summer for a daily driver but decided against one since everything gets bad MPG, even if it is "compact" or "midsize" if I could have found a truck that gets good MPG for daily use and have a good load carrying capability for trash, furniture and runs to home depot I would have bought it. My romping in the desert/forest days in a truck are long over and I bet there are tons of buyers like me.
 
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Umm, according to THIS they are not basing it on the F-150, but they just want to build a truck to compete with the F-150.

And the first photo posted in this thread is actually a Silverado/Sierra HD.
 
An electric pick-up makes sense, tons of torque and you don't have to drop $100 everytime you want to fill it up. It would also work really well in countries where fuel is the equivalent of $9 USD too.

As long as it has roughly a 200 mile range, it would be fantastic for the person who needs to haul their boat or motorcycles on the weekend, but still need to use the vehicle to drive back and forth to work every day.
 
What Tesla is doing with trucks makes alot of sense. The thing is, will the average market buy it? I could see a few small business' trying or buying the things, but i doubt it will be a success.
 
Yes an electric pickup makes sense, but is there a market for one? Think about the hard brand loyalties many truck owners have towards one of the big three. I have trouble accepting that one of the most infamously stubborn segments in the market will want whatever tofu-eating Tesla can come up with.
 
There's probably more of a market outside the US right now. But who knows what the market will be like when Tesla actually gets around to making the truck, which per the few articles out there could be 5+ years away. If those diehards who love their trucks can't even afford to put fuel in them, they might start looking at other alternatives to meet their needs.

Also I think there could be a commercial market for them, municipalities would love them since they would be able to suit their needs and promote a green image in their city/town/etc.
 
Zenith
Yes an electric pickup makes sense, but is there a market for one? Think about the hard brand loyalties many truck owners have towards one of the big three. I have trouble accepting that one of the most infamously stubborn segments in the market will want whatever tofu-eating Tesla can come up with.
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Successful business owners put logic before loyalty.
 
Joey D
Also I think there could be a commercial market for them, municipalities would love them since they would be able to suit their needs and promote a green image in their city/town/etc.
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This is a good one. There are many city-owned Priuses, especially around me.
 
Zenith
Yes an electric pickup makes sense, but is there a market for one? Think about the hard brand loyalties many truck owners have towards one of the big three. I have trouble accepting that one of the most infamously stubborn segments in the market will want whatever tofu-eating Tesla can come up with.
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I think the thing here is that it'll allow yuppies and people who otherwise wouldn't buy trucks out of principle to get one. An electric truck allows a 30 year old who made a killing on a tech startup to buy a truck without cognitive dissonance.

I guess it's the same thing as with the Model S, there's pretty hard brand loyalties among German car fans too, and to have someone give up their "autobahn tuned" German engineering for an electic car from California is pretty impressive. It's not going to directly compete with the big 3, just as the Model S doesn't directly compete with most of BMW/Mercedes/Audi's offerings. It'll be aimed at the soccer parents who would otherwise be buying a top of the line truck for the luxury.
 
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Basing a capable vehicle off the idea of the F-150 isn't rocket science, and if anything, Tesla should be applauded just for considering it. Its fairly clear that the market loves pickups, an electric model makes sense when it comes to massive amounts of torque to tow or carry things. I'd be curious to know whether Tesla would target the upper end of the pickup market, where most of the money is, or produce a model that is an everything to everyone kind of thing... From the stripped out work truck up to the full on ranch owner luxobarge.

Actually, come to think of it, now that they have their relationship with Toyota, it'd make sense for them to adapt the Tacoma or Tundra platform. A Tacoma sized electric truck would be very, very interesting.
 

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