| Wow, so much willful misinformation. Let’s cover a few! - Steering: indeed the CT uses an innovative, triple-redundant steer by wire system. The steering wheel, which is a squared circle, not a yoke, turns 380 degrees lock to lock, so you never need to reposition your hands. It adjusts steering ratios dynamically according to speed and other factors. - Crash safety: The 4 other Tesla models all had record-breaking safety scores, each the highest ever tested at the time of release on both European and U.S. standards. CT will undoubtedly continue and likely exceed that record. In any case, it would not be on the road if it had not passed U.S. safety standards. - Pedestrian safety: This one is Bizarre. The CT front profile is about 2 feet lower than every other full size pickup sold in the U.S., yet not a peep heard about any of them being dangerous to pedestrians. “But no crumple zones!!” —- pedestrian safety is not primarily achieved through crumple zones, rather by the shape of the vehicle and how impact is likely to move someone who was hit. The CT is infinitely better on this metric. - No crumple zones: See the crash test videos of the CT to see what an absurd assumption this is. The front deforms beautifully and the passenger compartment is fully intact. Same for the 30 MPH side impact test. - Not mentioned: the first full-car 48 volt architecture in history, which paves the way for this much-needed innovation for the rest of the industry. - Further extension of Tesla’s astonishing electrical architecture, where all functions in the car are performed by a few high-density PC boards running industrial PowerPC processors rather than having 100+ “ECUs” bought off the shelf. This architecture is what makes it possible to control (and fix and refine) nearly all aspects of the vehicle THROUGH SOFTWARE (and explains why no other car makers can do this). - The CT pushes this forward by making nearly every electrical device a peer on a redundant gigabit ethernet bus (greatly enhanced CANBus). Each device then has a single power lead—-as short as possible from any convenient location—and activates itself by commands on the bus. 48 volts plus this reduced the weight of the wiring harness by 80% over a typical vehicle. - Looks: I thought this site audience was made up of engineers or those who appreciate engineering. The look of the CT follows its function. Using castings, a structural battery pack and durable, paint-free stainless steel, it makes one of the toughest, most durable and most structurally rigid vehicles ever made. Yet, compared to an F150 Lightning, it has more interior space, a bigger bed while weighing significantly less. - Economics: Ford in recent quarters is losing around $36,000 per EV they sell, despite the prices charged being quite high. CT is designed for manufacturing simplicity and architectural efficiency. This difference means that Ford is stuck at high prices and big losses while Tesla has ample price flexibility. As they have with their other vehicles, they can bring down prices as market conditions warrant and as materials and economies of scale make possible. No other EV maker has ever been profitable, and none have ever dropped prices as aggressively as Tesla has this last year or so. There is every reason to assume this will continue with the CT, once the first early-adopter wave subsides. I get that Elon Musk infuriates many people (as he frequently does me). But it’s just dumb to disparage the achievements of the most talented and innovative team of automotive engineers since Henry Ford just because you don’t like the boss. |
> Steering: indeed the CT uses an innovative, triple-redundant steer by wire system. The steering wheel, which is a squared circle, not a yoke, turns 380 degrees lock to lock, so you never need to reposition your hands. It adjusts steering ratios dynamically according to speed and other factors.
I’ll take most of what you’re saying here at face value because I haven’t looked into the steering that much. That said, can you elaborate on how one would turn the wheel 380 degrees without ever needing to reposition their hands? Other than that, I’m not sure innovation for the sake of innovation is necessarily a good thing. The blinker buttons on the wheel, placed above each other, already are causing issues in day to day driving[0]
> Crash safety: The 4 other Tesla models all had record-breaking safety scores, each the highest ever tested at the time of release on both European and U.S. standards. CT will undoubtedly continue and likely exceed that record. In any case, it would not be on the road if it had not passed U.S. safety standards.
This is a non-sequitur for a couple of reasons. For starters in the US car manufacturers self-certify, there is no pre-approval before cars can be sold. It’s one of the many reasons why the NHTSA and US regulations are a joke.
The CT hasn’t been rated by the NHTSA yet[1] and isn’t scheduled to be rated in 2024[2].
As for using prior achieved scores as an indicator for future scores; that’s silly in the best of times, but outright ridiculous when you’re talking about a model with a design that’s nothing like the other models you refer to.
> Pedestrian safety: This one is Bizarre. The CT front profile is about 2 feet lower than every other full size pickup sold in the U.S., yet not a peep heard about any of them being dangerous to pedestrians. “But no crumple zones!!” —- pedestrian safety is not primarily achieved through crumple zones, rather by the shape of the vehicle and how impact is likely to move someone who was hit. The CT is infinitely better on this metric.
Here you’re rolling multiple things into one.
For starters there are plenty of “peeps” about trucks and SUVs being dangerous for pedestrians. Both from “full time dissidents”[3], mainstream media[4] and studies[5] alike.
With regards to the CT, I hope I don’t have to waste time explaining how stainless steel v. pedestrians is more likely to cause injuries.
> No crumple zones: See the crash test videos of the CT to see what an absurd assumption this is. The front deforms beautifully and the passenger compartment is fully intact. Same for the 30 MPH side impact test.
The debate isn’t just crumple zones v. no crumple zones and keeping the cabin intact. If that were the case then we shouldn’t even bother testing because almost all cars crumple to one degree or another.
The purpose of a crumple zone is to absorb as much of the forces as possible. When I look at the Tesla provided test video I see a very short crumple zone with a lot of the forces ending up being absorbed by the dummies. In particular the dummy in the back without airbags is being flung into the well in front of that seat (to the point I’m wondering if those seatbelts were malfunctioning, but let’s not get distracted).
This is far from “beautiful” as you describe it.
> Not mentioned: the first full-car 48 volt architecture in history, which paves the way for this much-needed innovation for the rest of the industry.
Cool. Normally those are things you focus on when everything else is up to snuff.
> Further extension of Tesla’s astonishing electrical architecture, where all functions in the car are performed by a few high-density PC boards running industrial PowerPC processors rather than having 100+ “ECUs” bought off the shelf. This architecture is what makes it possible to control (and fix and refine) nearly all aspects of the vehicle THROUGH SOFTWARE (and explains why no other car makers can do this).
All I’m hearing is more points of failure. I don’t think this is a matter of other manufacturers not being able to do, rather a matter of them not willing to do it because they understand the risks of failure better than Tesla does.
> Looks: I thought this site audience was made up of engineers or those who appreciate engineering. The look of the CT follows its function. Using castings, a structural battery pack and durable, paint-free stainless steel, it makes one of the toughest, most durable and most structurally rigid vehicles ever made. Yet, compared to an F150 Lightning, it has more interior space, a bigger bed while weighing significantly less.
Looks are in the eye of the beholder, so far most beholders seem to have a different eye than Tesla does.
> Economics: Ford in recent quarters is losing around $36,000 per EV they sell, despite the prices charged being quite high. CT is designed for manufacturing simplicity and architectural efficiency. This difference means that Ford is stuck at high prices and big losses while Tesla has ample price flexibility. As they have with their other vehicles, they can bring down prices as market conditions warrant and as materials and economies of scale make possible. No other EV maker has ever been profitable, and none have ever dropped prices as aggressively as Tesla has this last year or so. There is every reason to assume this will continue with the CT, once the first early-adopter wave subsides.
Respectfully, this just sounds like copium. Even if Tesla would cut the price of the CT in line with prior price cuts, it will still be nowhere near the price he originally stated. Unless somehow you see a big brain move behind announcing a low price and then launching it with a price that’s not even in the ballpark of the original promise, I can’t take this seriously.
0: https://www.threads.net/@hoon_kim/post/C1KHqzNr920/?igshid=N...
1: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2024/TESLA/CYBERTRUCK%2520%28A...
2: https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/12/23998308/tesla-cybertuck...
3: https://youtu.be/jN7mSXMruEo
4: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/americas-cars-trucks-ar...
5: https://www.ghsa.org/sites/default/files/2022-05/Pedestrian%...