The Logan’s Run car IS more attractive. And practical. And safer. And more realistic.
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It’s not a truck, it’s an extra-large sedan.
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The Pontiac Prozac!
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I’m on the waitlist for the lightning, and was lucky enough to test drive the last one at the dealership. Only complaints are the seats are vinyl, and Ford increased the price by $10K (hoping Tesla’s price cut will put downward pressure on the price).
It’s a nice ride, the bed is big enough, and the Frunk is nice and roomy. The Tesla truck looks … sad… by comparison.
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It has that boxy, flat shape because shaped metal is more expensive. And more difficult.
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In fairness it only does 0 to 30.
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It really feels like the truck was designed by a video game concept artist who was given the brief to “make it really attention-grabbing” and didn’t know it was even going to be a physical object, because Elno just wanted to generate buzz and had no intention of making into a production vehicle. (And it seems possible this is literally what happened, because it wouldn’t be the first time…) Whatever happened, it seems pretty clear it was primarily (or entirely) an exercise in PR rather than a serious attempt to make a useful truck. Because that’s what Musk does.
I think everyone’s gotten used to Musk talking out his ass and making promises about things coming out in the next year that… don’t. (And then repeating the promise over and over again in subsequent years.) No one really expects it, I’m guessing, they just assume it’s more Musk hot air. Though there’s also this tradition of no one calling Musk on his bullshit. A tradition that might have been broken a bit by the Twitter fiasco revealing what a total dipshit he actually is.
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We thought it was going to be a shortage of Lithium that would drive the design of future electric vehicles.
It turns out our most-constrained natural resource is: polygons?
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I’ve started seeing the Rivian truck on the freeways of LA, very stylish vehicle. Haven’t seen the Ford Lightning in the flesh yet, but it seems to be a very thoughtfully-designed product.
It appears that Tesla has taken delivery of the metal-forming equipment they need for Cybertruck manufacture, but are not set up for mass production, still building pre-production units and tweaking the design. The thing that is going to be the major hold-up, though, is that Cybertruck uses the same charging connection as the Semi, and current Tesla charging stations will need to be upgraded to charge it. I don’t know how enthusiastic truck stops are about installing this gear. As likely as there are to be delays in getting production up to speed, this will slow them down more than anything.
I think Lordstown Motors has a lot of potential, their pickup is targeted at commercial fleets, and they are partnered with FoxConn. A deal with the right partners could be a big advantage.
If I ran the zoo, I would have gone after small fleet trucks, particularly cargo vans, delivery trucks and pickups. Places that would install their own charging infrastructure. The sweet contract would be USPS - put in chargers at every post office in the country, and partner with a payment network to have a public charging station at every post office as well. USPS could recognize revenue from such a setup. If Bezos weren’t so fixated on big, throbbing rockets, this would have been kind of an obvious move for him.
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I always felt like he forgot the extra, emergency, wheels
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Beat me to it!
I don’t like Elon, but I kinda like the Cybertruck (I liked Damnation Alley too). If Elon gave me one for free, id take it. 
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More or less what the Lightning purports to do - targeting the contractors and people who actually work by providing outlets on the truck for recharging tools etc. Very few tradespersons drive more than a couple of hundred miles in a day, so it’s actually a big savings starting every day with a full ‘tank’. Drive to the site, work, maybe a side trip to the hardware store or trash disposal.
Many of the builders I know (i.e. play hockey with) are on the waitlist for these trucks (F150 Lightnings) because they will actually help their business function better. Nobody has mentioned the Cybertruck at all except as a joke.
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Yes, it looks pretty practical for a number of trades. I assume there’s a single-cab long bed version somewhere as well. This move towards short beds is perplexing to me, mostly because my dad was a carpenter and often had to haul plywood sheets or 2x4s to the job site.
I don’t know who the Cybertruck is made for, really. If I wanted a big macho pointless luxury EV truck for show, I have more faith that Humvee will be able to service and support their coming model.
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… is there really a big market for owning the libs by buying overpriced electric vehicles 
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Weekly Reader Car Builder?
I was never very big on gaming, but I spent an embarrassing amount of time with Car Builder (and grew up to be a product designer, go figure). It was the only software I ever spent my own money on for my family’s Tandy 1000HX.
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The post office in Norway uses Chinese Maxus vans. German post used to have an in house developed ev delivery van but now use off the shelf e vans (Ford Transits, and probably others). It’s certainly not unprecedented for postal fleets to use EVs.
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Aw c’mon, that’s the improved facelifted version. Ya gotta show the 2001 model in all its gray plastic-clad glory:
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you could export to ukraine… and…
bomb it to pieces… and… smoke it maybe…
just in case some youtube guys have to …you know… show you…
Is success ever certain for a vehicle that looks like it was designed in 1971 and at the last minute for a low-budget straight-to-video sci-fi movie set in 2050?
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