cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5691972
This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/technology by /u/Wagamaga on 2025-04-19 17:06:58+00:00.
cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5691972
This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/technology by /u/Wagamaga on 2025-04-19 17:06:58+00:00.
Another potential Tesla alternative to add to the list: https://www.telotrucks.com/
As an European i don’t understand at all those open trucks. The back side is completely wasted space, is unusable, stuff will get stolen when you park (or even at the traffic light), or will get soaked in rain. It also lowers aerodynamic efficiency. That one time in my life when i would need to move a fridge or a mattress i could just rent it for 3 hours
Much of America is rural, and pick-up trucks are extremely useful on a daily basis in that world. Then country music made it a metaphor for masculinity, and dopey suburbanites embraced it to enhance their personal brand image as tough guys.
I mean, you can always hook a trailer to a normal car or something like a Subaru Outback if you’re going off-road. That’s what people do here. Monday to Friday they commute in their normal, affordable, not extremely huge car and on Saturday the trailer comes out.
As an American I’ve never heard of a place so dangerous that things get stolen from the back at a traffic light. I know carpenters who leave all their tools in the back when they go to bed and never have a problem. Maybe you need to clean up the crime problem in your country. There are pros and cons to a van vs truck. That you come in on one side does not make the other side wrong, it just means you have lack of vision to understand theirs.
Have you ever tried to rent a truck? I know many people who tried and discovered the place was all out that day. Then when you find one read the fine print - often you cannot haul your fridge in one. Mean while because I own my truck it is there when I need to do something, no thinking required.
People stole the wheels off my wife’s car, in a lit parking lot, in one of the safest big cities in the US.
Yeah, you can’t leave your nice tools out in the back of your truck bed in most places.
I’ve driven a pickup truck for 20 years and never once had anything stolen out of it. “Safest big city” as a phrase strikes me similarly to “most comfortable chest wound.”
The wheels were the only “property loss” crime we’ve experienced in ~10 years living here. All the other crimes were landlords illegally withholding our deposits.
They sell 2 types of covers for the back that solve this. It really depends on what you’re doing. People that are camping or constantly working on projects need that kind of open setup.
Eh, my family camped frequently and reno’d/repaired multiple houses. I think the only time we used a truck was to take a bunch of bathroom tile scrap to the dump. Everything else was done with minivans or a club wagon.
Yeah, my dad was a carpenter and always picked a van over a truck any day.
Enough with the trucks and SUVs. I’m not buying an EV until I can get a 2 door sports convertible with rack and pinion steering and double wishbone suspension. I don’t want to drive a tank of a vehicle with vague, floaty handling. I want a small, light, and nimble EV that’s fast as fuck and corners like a dream. For under $30K USD.
It is hard to get a light EV when the batteries themselves are around 1/10 the energy density of gasoline and people want them to have a longer range than a gas car to make up for charging so you end up with a battery that’s 500-1000lbs. To put that into perspective a Miata weighs around 2000lbs
A small block V8 weights 680lbs. While there are larger engines, that is still a big engine, most cars have much lighter engines. Transmissions have some weight too, So do electric motors.
Look at Telo, their “truck” is the size of a Mini Cooper but with a full 8 ft bed. And it seats 5. That’s incredibly compelling.
It’s actually the one pickup style truck that might actually be viable in Europe.
Personally, being from Europe, I’m not sure why we would need a pickup truck. I get it, insane tax reasons somehow are making those monstrosities quite popular in the Netherlands for example, but you never see the beds used.
For the same reason people need SUVs, for moving large amounts of stuff around. In my case I would just throw the bike in the back rather than having to faff around laying all the seats flat and then having to put down the tarpaulin so they don’t get dirty.
I could get a van but then I’ve got a stupid van with all its limited visibility. A pickup truck would actually solve the problem if it weren’t for the fact that all the manufacturers are American and seem to think that they need to rival the size and weight of a tank.
Vehicles are expensive. Having one for each need is expensive. Renting is expensive (and renting typically comes with no using it as a truck restrictions). If you need a bed for 2% of trips it is often far cheap to own and drive a truck for everything. Particularly if you can use the bike for a lot of trips that makes just owning a truck for everything compelling if you must have a car.
Agreed, but needing the truck for truck stuff 2% of the time is waaaaaay over the typical truck usage. I think most people who have trucks actually do “truck stuff” with them 0.2-0.0% of the time, and in that case, regular car, wagon, or van is a better all around option.
That’s 3 seats too many. And I rather have a hatch than a bed.
I think you can fold down the back seats to get a bit more space.
But 5 is nice. I have kids, and they like to come with to the dump or hardware store. I currently do those trips in the minivan, this would be a bit more comfortable.
…my mazda 2 outhandles my MX-5s and is the only car i’ve driven which keeps pace with my elise; we’ve been waiting for an electric subcompact hatchback for about ten years now but the stateside market keeps doing everything it can not to offer me one…
I’m rocking a kei truck for landscaping and home reno projects, and it still uses more gas than I’m happy with. I’d love for someone to make an electric truck that isn’t a massive behemoth intended to prove something about my masculinity. Just give me a clean energy box bed to haul my lumber and dirt.
So much this. Closest we get seems to be a Prius. :(
if the Prius were 2 ft longer in the back, I’d buy one
A station wagon would be nice to see as well for a family hauler.
Im personally looking forward to Edison EV conversions.
The ability to take a vehicle I already have and turn it into an EV or hybrid would be amazing.
I know they’re a while from full production, but I see that as a win. So many of these EVs are having quality issues because they’re being shit out onto the market as fast as humanly possible. I’d rather a company actually take the time to do R&D, test things thoroughly, and then release a product.
The biggest issue with an EV conversion is the weight of the batteries. For a lot of passenger cars, adding 500kg of batteries maxes out or even exceeds the vehicle’s gross weight.
These conversions replace the entire drivetrain so you’d be losing the weight of the V8, transmission, transfer case, and drivelines and replacing them with a little 4 cylinder engine, generator, and batteries.
Considering that even the hybrid cars made by car manufacturers themselves are heavier than their ICE counterparts, I don’t think that by retrofitting an older car you’ll get a better result.
For example, 2024 Hyundai Tucson curb weights:
Heaviest ICE: 3663 lbs
Lightest hybrid: 3692 lbs
Lightest plugin hybrid: 4115 lbs
A hybrid has all the same ICE components with the addition of the generator and battery pack so it’s not surprising that it would be heavier than the pure ICE counterpart. These kits will be replacing old iron block engines (along with the other aforementioned drivetrain components) with a small aluminum engine and generator. Even if they are a bit heavier, these are old trucks with poor aerodynamics where a few hundred pounds isn’t going to make much difference in the grand scheme of things.
Oh neat, this is basically an electric Kei truck. The front looks a little weird with the wheels so far forward. Reminds me of a golf cart. I can’t really complain though, I’d love a small practical truck.
Huh, I didn’t think it was possible to out-ugly the cybertruck
It’s no worse than some of the stuff Nissan has come out with over the years. Remember the cube?
The problem with the Tesla truck is that it is ugly without purpose, all the other oddly designed vehicles look the way they do because they have a particular unique feature (been small, having sliding minivan doors on a vehicle otherwise two small for them, having gull wing doors, removing a-pillars from the design, etc), but the cyber truck just looks like that to be contrarian.
Nah, for sure, I don’t disagree, I just saw the opportunity for a dumb low effort oneliner, lol.
It may be ugly, but it’s tiny and very functional. I’m very tempted to make that my commuter and occasional hauling stuff vehicle.
And you wouldn’t be supporting a Nazi in doing so! I’d support you in your goofy lil EV truck.