Truckla -- The world's first Tesla Pickup Truck

[AggieMike88]

I'm excited to see what the Tesla pickup looks like, but not really excited by a mini-"truck" like this.

I wonder if we are going to one day see a thread titled, "Thinking about a Tesla Semi" from Ted.

 

[-KLB-]

Every truck I have owned, I’ve overloaded at least once. It doesn’t take a very large stack of paving stones to overload an old style Ranger. The current F-150 handles the 6,000 lb boat trailer OK, but it doesn’t take a very big tractor to put more than 1500 pounds of sandy soil into the bed.

 

[flyingron]

Yep, it's kind of scary when they take a front end loader and drop a scoop full of wet leaf compost into the bed (I have at least learned to stay inside with the windows up during this operation).
The 6000 lb wooden boat on the trailer isn't an issue.

 

[SoonerAviator]

I once bought a bunch of 18"x8" retaining wall blocks for 50% of retail cost and had to load it up on two utility trailers. I bet the weight of each trailer was 8K lbs which we towed with my '08 F-150 and my dad's '99 F-150. We also had a 5Klbs capacity forklift which probably weighed 10K lbs or more towed by a '95 Chevy 3500 Dually. We only had to drive about 10 miles with those loads, but I wouldn't have ever wanted to do it again with our half tons because neither utility trailer had trailer brakes. The Dually was obviously just fine with the load, but I still would have wanted electric adjustable electric trailer brakes instead of the surge brakes. If you looked at my '08 F-150 from a few feet away, you'd think it was a parking lot princess. It's shiny and black with very few blemishes despite having 150K miles on it. However, the inside of the bed has plenty of scratches and dents, and I tow something with it at least once a month if not more. I tow tractors, utility trailers, boats, jet skis, car haulers, etc. My truck tows noticeably better than my dad's '99 except my rear end gears are too high (3.55LS vs 3.73). My dad's new 2019 F-150 tows better than my '08 my a large margin with the 10-spd transmission and more powerful engine. You'll have to pry my truck from my cold, dead hands!

 

[Ted]

I wonder if we are going to one day see a thread titled, "Thinking about a Tesla Semi" from Ted.

Possible, but unlikely. Remember that I'm not a big fan of electric vehicles. The visceral sensations of electric vehicles just don't do it for me at all - I love an engine running. If I went with another semi, I would either want a 3406, 3408, or an old 2-stroke Detroit (preferably a 12V71). I love the Cummins in my Ram and the big cam 400 is a good engine, but if I got another semi I'd want the Cat or Detroit 2-stroke sound.

My next stupid purchase is more likely to be a bus, especially if we decide to do a conversion for an RV. However I think if we decide to do the RV thing, it really would make more sense to buy a used Class A or just rent.

Besides, I need to finish the Cobra, house projects, runway...

 

[TCABM]

Days with the salvage yard are done.. Yard sold, and I'll soon be working toward next career.

Congrats, Mike.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Yeah, now load that thing up with a 1000lbs of gear in the back and roof, and drive up some long hill in the west and see how long those batteries last.

My '08 Ford Focus with a manual transmission has no problem getting up Mt. Elliot in Detroit with 1000 or so pounds trailing behind.

Who needs a pickup if you have a trailer?

 

[RevDMV]

Another Tesla conversion, this time it's a TESLAMino

 

[1RTK1]

Elon Musk Says Tesla Truck Will Best F-150. We’re Still Laughing.
By Ian Wright - June 5, 2019
0 COMMENTS

Musk also wants the Tesla truck to cost under $50k and have 300,000 lbs. of towing capacity. We wish him good luck with that.
We caught this piece of “news” from Elektric, which reports on a recent podcast featuring Tesla titan Elon Musk where he talked about how amazing the electric Tesla pickup truck is going to be, and how he’s got the F-150 in his sights. After we rolled our eyes, we went ahead and listened to the source interview with Musk. After all, everybody needs a little comedy in their life.

 

[SToL]

That's gotta be a typo! But hey, show it to us. If it can take me up some of the mountains I drive in the west, hauling a load and/or pulling a trailer, and maintaining 75 with the ability to pass when needed, without having to stop half way to recharge, I'm interested. Let's see it.

 

[SoonerAviator]

That's gotta be a typo! But hey, show it to us. If it can take me up some of the mountains I drive in the west, hauling a load and/or pulling a trailer, and maintaining 75 with the ability to pass when needed, without having to stop half way to recharge, I'm interested. Let's see it.

Well, the ability to get 150tons rolling might be possible, but I certainly wouldn’t call it “towing capacity”. It’s roughly equivalent to pulling one fully loaded train car. I don’t think a class V hitch is going to cut it, though.

 

[asicer]

Musk also wants the Tesla truck to cost under $50k and or have 300,000 lbs. of towing capacity.

FTFY.

 

[deonb]

Well, the ability to get 150tons rolling might be possible, but I certainly wouldn’t call it “towing capacity”. It’s roughly equivalent to pulling one fully loaded train car. I don’t think a class V hitch is going to cut it, though.

Right, I think it's the equivalent of the video below.

That is a Tesla Model X pulling 95'000lbs, so it's not a far leap from there for a Tesla Pickup to "pull" 300'000lbs. But that doesn't mean it can do it on the highway at 60mph, and more to the point, stopping at 60mph down a 6 degree incline.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Right, I think it's the equivalent of the video below.

That is a Tesla Model X pulling 95'000lbs, so it's not a far leap from there for a Tesla Pickup to "pull" 300'000lbs. But that doesn't mean it can do it on the highway at 60mph, and more to the point, stopping at 60mph down a 6 degree incline.

Honestly, in a half-ton class truck, no one needs to tow more than 10K lbs anyway. It's not the powerplant that is the concern anyway, it's the brakes. Semi trucks are usually caped at 80Klbs anyway, so even tractors aren't pulling 1/3 of what Musk wants their truck to pull for a stunt. Same as the Tundra pulling the Space Shuttle a few years back, it's just a publicity stunt.

 

[SToL]

Honestly, in a half-ton class truck, no one needs to tow more than 10K lbs anyway.

There are tons (pun intended) of guys who are pulling more than 10,000 lbs around every day. Can we bump that attitude up a little more?

 

[SoonerAviator]

There are tons (pun intended) of guys who are pulling more than 10,000 lbs around every day. Can we bump that attitude up a little more?

Not towing with half-tons they aren't, at least not legally. I think Ford may have a model configuration that can do 11K or so, but it's an Longbed Regular Cab/SuperCab with Max Trailer GCWR package or something less common. If I need to tow over 10K, I'll grab a 3/4-1 ton class truck, preferably with a diesel.

 

[Ted]

Honestly, in a half-ton class truck, no one needs to tow more than 10K lbs anyway. It's not the powerplant that is the concern anyway, it's the brakes. Semi trucks are usually caped at 80Klbs anyway, so even tractors aren't pulling 1/3 of what Musk wants their truck to pull for a stunt. Same as the Tundra pulling the Space Shuttle a few years back, it's just a publicity stunt.

The rating of semi trucks at 80k lbs has more to do with the weight distribution over the road for an 18-wheeler than about the limitations on the powerplant and brakes. If you take a look at various low loaders and other oversize/overweight load setups, the biggest change is adding more axles (often tag axles). Because of the length that this results in you will often get into situations where various escort cars are required.

That said, I do agree that the bigger concern in the case of 1/2-ton trucks is brakes and suspension more than anything. However both those items on a modern 1/2-ton truck are way, way better than what existed 20 years ago. When @jesse bought my boat he had a late 90s 1/2-ton Chevy Silverado. I told him that he would end up towing with it once and the first time he hit the brakes while in Lincoln and finally came to a stop somewhere around Denver he'd decide he'd want an upgrade. Sure enough, a few months later his new F-150 ended up in his driveway and it tows the thing much better. The boat with trailer is something around 7k lbs so it's a good fit.

Towing my 25' trailer with the bulldozer on it (combined weight of something around 14k lbs) I am happy using my 1-ton Ram. The fact that it has a diesel is nice engine wise (especially because of the built-in Jake brake) but the suspension and brakes really feel at home with that kind of weight.

 

[SToL]

Not towing with half-tons they aren't, at least not legally. I think Ford may have a model configuration that can do 11K or so, but it's an Longbed Regular Cab/SuperCab with Max Trailer GCWR package or something less common. If I need to tow over 10K, I'll grab a 3/4-1 ton class truck, preferably with a diesel.

Yes you are correct. It's early here and my eyes are still blurry. I totally missed the 1/2 ton part. I have the 3/4 ton diesel. I need a cup of coffee.

 

[SoonerAviator]

The rating of semi trucks at 80k lbs has more to do with the weight distribution over the road for an 18-wheeler than about the limitations on the powerplant and brakes. If you take a look at various low loaders and other oversize/overweight load setups, the biggest change is adding more axles (often tag axles). Because of the length that this results in you will often get into situations where various escort cars are required.

That said, I do agree that the bigger concern in the case of 1/2-ton trucks is brakes and suspension more than anything. However both those items on a modern 1/2-ton truck are way, way better than what existed 20 years ago. When @jesse bought my boat he had a late 90s 1/2-ton Chevy Silverado. I told him that he would end up towing with it once and the first time he hit the brakes while in Lincoln and finally came to a stop somewhere around Denver he'd decide he'd want an upgrade. Sure enough, a few months later his new F-150 ended up in his driveway and it tows the thing much better. The boat with trailer is something around 7k lbs so it's a good fit.

Towing my 25' trailer with the bulldozer on it (combined weight of something around 14k lbs) I am happy using my 1-ton Ram. The fact that it has a diesel is nice engine wise (especially because of the built-in Jake brake) but the suspension and brakes really feel at home with that kind of weight.

I know the weight limit is more of a legal issue with OTR truckers rather than anything to do with powerplant/braking limitations. I was just making the case that if most big rigs aren't towing more than 80K with optimum equipment, we sure as hell don't want some putz in a Tesla strapping 30K lbs behind it because "Elon said it could." I have no doubt that modern half tons can tow weights that 1970's 1-tons would have been borderline for in terms of overall handling/braking. It didn't stop people from towing with them back then, though. I've towed 8K+lbs with my '08 F-150 only once and I'd rather not do it again if I can avoid it, especially since my 3.55LS rear end isn't really the best for towing in general and the 20% tongue weight of 8Klbs is taxing the rear suspension quite a bit. I have no qualms about dragging the 5K boat/trailer around, or a fully loaded utility trailer at 7K lbs, though.

To make matters worse, most trailers back in the 70's and 80's didn't even have brakes on them, so most people were pulling 4-6Klbs of trailer with no brakes to help out the truck. We towed our 1976 boat that way for about 20 years before I found a junk boat for $300 which had a newer trailer under it with surge brakes on both axles, so I parted out the boat, scrapped the hull, and swapped the 2001 trailer out for my 1976 model. World of difference when pulling because the braking becomes more effortless.

 

[Ted]

I know the weight limit is more of a legal issue with OTR truckers rather than anything to do with powerplant/braking limitations. I was just making the case that if most big rigs aren't towing more than 80K with optimum equipment, we sure as hell don't want some putz in a Tesla strapping 30K lbs behind it because "Elon said it could." I have no doubt that modern half tons can tow weights that 1970's 1-tons would have been borderline for in terms of overall handling/braking. It didn't stop people from towing with them back then, though. I've towed 8K+lbs with my '08 F-150 only once and I'd rather not do it again if I can avoid it, especially since my 3.55LS rear end isn't really the best for towing in general and the 20% tongue weight of 8Klbs is taxing the rear suspension quite a bit. I have no qualms about dragging the 5K boat/trailer around, or a fully loaded utility trailer at 7K lbs, though.

To make matters worse, most trailers back in the 70's and 80's didn't even have brakes on them, so most people were pulling 4-6Klbs of trailer with no brakes to help out the truck. We towed our 1976 boat that way for about 20 years before I found a junk boat for $300 which had a newer trailer under it with surge brakes on both axles, so I parted out the boat, scrapped the hull, and swapped the 2001 trailer out for my 1976 model. World of difference when pulling because the braking becomes more effortless.

Good trailer brakes are worth their weight in gold, no doubt. I've also found them to be extremely finicky.

My Ram has a built-in brake controller and that makes thing nice.

 

[SoonerAviator]

Good trailer brakes are worth their weight in gold, no doubt. I've also found them to be extremely finicky.

My Ram has a built-in brake controller and that makes thing nice.

I had the brakes on the boat trailer's front axle start overheating on a trip to the lake last year. Luckily I caught it early and pulled over to the shoulder to investigate. I ended up disconnecting the brakes altogether for the trip. I plan on converting both axles' brakes to a disc setup instead of the drums so that they're self-adjusting and pretty hard to leave engaged without pressure on the surge brake coupler.

 

[SkyDog58]

Honestly, in a half-ton class truck, no one needs to tow more than 10K lbs anyway. It's not the powerplant that is the concern anyway, it's the brakes. Semi trucks are usually caped at 80Klbs anyway, so even tractors aren't pulling 1/3 of what Musk wants their truck to pull for a stunt. Same as the Tundra pulling the Space Shuttle a few years back, it's just a publicity stunt.

Stunts sale.