Cybertruck perspective in the EV landscape.
The Tesla Cybertruck is quite frankly a technology showcase. With its quad steer drive by wire system, full self driving capabilities, and performance characteristics it is in a league of its own. As I was driving it around I could not help thinking what a smashing success a Tesla truck could be, had it not been sabotaged with its oppressive and depressing design.
Design is always subjective, great design however can be recognized even if its not something you as a person are into. Great designs couple functionality, aesthetics in a package that is sensible and adds a net positive quality to the product. Cybertruck fails to deliver on both fronts which ultimately will hinder this products long term success in the market.
As my wife and I drive on to the Tesla store parking lot we are greeted by a massive amount of parked Cybertrucks. Its in this moment I can see just how out of place this truck is sitting the sea of model S , 3, X and Y's. My F150 lightning by contrast could fit right in, and vibe with the design language of the other "normal" vehicles on the lot. When Tesla started out with the Model S design it had to be engaging and function, oh how times have changed.
After a quick chat with the excellent folks in Tesla sales we are given a key card to rush off and jump into the cyberbeast. With a quick tap of the access card to the B pillar, and a push of the funky button that is hidden into the same panel , the door pops open. No handle to grab, just the cold sharp corner of the door edge. This feeling of metal was startling initially and the more my time with the Cybertruck went on the more I really came to dislike this feeling. There was something about the metal combo with the edges that caused me to extra careful around it. The metal does not provide a good feeling like a polished aluminum, or other premium products you deal with in day to day life. This feels cold, dull and unrefined just as you would expect looking at it.
Jumping inside your greeted with a massive dash. One that rivals that of a class A motor home. This provides for a huge windshield, however all that extra space under that dash is not available to the front truck. When I mention design, and function go hand in hand the dash sticks out to me as a huge miss. Having such a massive dash, then such a limited front trunk feels disjoined like no other Tesla on the road today. The wedge shaped area for the dash also leads to having huge blind spots in the A pillars. As well as requires the use of the 4' wiper, that hardly sprays enough wiper fluid to clean the glass, and chatters while in use. The rest of the materials in the truck are fine, nothing that really stood out in a positive or negative way. The cup holders are very nice and there is ample space to have a fully size cup in both unlike our Model S.
The yoke, and the turn signal buttons are one area where they look worst than they are. I was able to get use to the turn signal buttons over time, however the yoke doesn't really provide a comfortable place to put you hands while driving in my experience. The top and bottom edges of the steering rectangle (yoke) are perfectly flat which at first was neat, but got old after the first hour long trip.
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The launch mode is intense , and there is so much power available its hard to imagine ever wanting or needing more. Towing with an EV is an exceptional experience and I expect the Cybertruck would handle that with ease given the ample amounts of power on tap at any given moment.
The technological innovation of the Cybertruck stands out once you start to use the steering wheel (yoke) . The response from the wheel is quick, and refined. You do not get a lot of feed back into the wheel but what you lack there you gain in precision. The steering system on the Cybertruck is drive by wire, there is no rod connecting the wheel to the tires mechanically. Instead its all done via electronics. This can be scarey but honestly there are so many systems on vehicles now that are drive by wire for throttle, brake etc this seems like the right approach. The steer by wire system provides dynamic turning based on speed from what I could tell. When your going slow and need to make a u turn just turn the wheel a little bit and the truck zooms around the corner. The steering system left me honestly speechless, it is truly great and would love to see this in other Tesla vehicles. The Cybertruck also has quad steering which enabled us to do a full circle turn in 2 1/2 car spaces in a CVS parking lot near us.
Autopilot at this point is mind blowing . I try to drive the latest build of FSD a least once a year the last few years, and over time its been a good system. However not a system that I would say is full self driving, just an amazing system for you to pay attention to. When FSD is compared to the likes of Ford Bluecruise it has always stood well in a class of its own. However with the new hardware, and updated software things are starting to get into the realm where I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel that FSD has always promised.
As I was showing a few neighbors autopilot , and driving the truck most everyone came away impressed that the technology to do what was happening before their eyes was even available to purchase today. Our drives consisted of me picking them up in their drive way, asking what store they wanted to go to and then let the truck go from there. The drives were always into town which amounted to 4 stop signs, 1 round about and 1 or two traffic lights over the course of 8 miles. The 3 drives the truck did were flawless, just me looking at the road with my hand on the wheel because I feel more comfortable that way.
My final drive was from my home to the show room which is 60 miles away. The drive starts out very rural, hits the interstate, then goes to downtown St Louis, before finishing in Chesterfield. I pressed the voice prompt button, told the truck to go to Tesla St Louis, tapped the location I intended and for the next 57 minutes I didnt have one intervention. I just stared out the massive front window collecting my thoughts.
Truck specific features in the bed are no better than that of any other truck. In many ways that box might make it hard to do certain things like load rock without damaging the rear glass. The weather at the time I was testing this truck was 3f so I didnt spend much time in the box. The vault concept is cool, however any truck can add a similar feature for $1,000. I loaded a snowboard in the bed and that was pretty much the end of the box end of the truck for me.
The Cybertruck design doesn't really lend itself to any net positives I can see. The door feel could be overcome by using the same tech in the model X (Self presenting and closing doors). The body design was chosen as the truck initially intended to be an exoskeleton design given the metal choice for the vehicle. When we attended the unveil for the Cybertruck that was the only saving grace in my mind to understand the design choice. Instead the Cybertruck is built like the other vehicles in Tesla's line up. The tail gate ramp is nonexistent as well.
I would instantly buy this truck if it was in a normal package. If Tesla came out with the Cybertruck as the company was starting out, they wouldn't be around today. The boldness that Tesla has brought to the table over the years, has from the outside always been grounded in reality and pushing boundaries that needed pushed. I think the Cybertruck illustrates the worst side of pushing the wrong boundaries, and not having staff with the courage to say no to bad ideas. No one wants to live in the world where you need a bullet proof truck, or one that feels like it was pulled from the most futuristic hell you can imagine.
When I look around at other Tesla vehicles they provide a happy feeling. When I see a Cybertruck is provides a sense of dread and depressing coldness which I don't need in my life. I love my Model S timeless design, which to this day I still get complements on 10 years after I bought it. The same will not be said about the Cybertruck in the future. For all the technology packed into this vehicle, the fascination Tesla has with a depressing scifi future will knee cap this truck. Fingers crossed someone at Tesla gets the courage to buck this trend and move the company to a more elegant design direction.
Cover photo provided by Varun Palaniappan / Unsplash