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253

The Mighty Cybertruck Keeps Getting Stuck in the Snow (futurism.com)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by Zerush@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml

80 comments fedilink hide all child comments

LOL

Some more Tesla LOLs https://futurism.com/categories/advanced-transport/page/2

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[–] PowerCrazy@lemmy.ml 85 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What a garbage article. Elon sucks, the cyber truck sucks, but an article about tweets is less than worthless. Perhaps the article instead of assuming elon just "didn't have time to run tesla properly", should dig a bit deeper and demonstrate that tesla was successful despite elon, not because of elon. Same with Space-X or Star-link.

Now as far as why the cyber truck is getting stuck in snow, tires is the low-effort answer, but maybe look at the weight of the truck versus the contact area. Maybe look at how the traction control system works? How about whether the car is front wheel bias vs rear-wheel biased. Does it make assumptions about which wheels have contact to the ground? Does it have a differential or are all 4 wheels independently controlled? (I don't know the answer to any of these by the way, but if I were concerned about a vehicle getting stuck in the snow, I'd certainly want an analysis that addresses all of the above.)

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 29 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Welcome to modern “journalism”, throwing together a few sentences based on twitter and reddit posts, without any research or asking experts.

[–] drivepiler@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

"Another user said...."

It's so ridiculously low quality journalism it's embarrassing

[+] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 41 points 2 years ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Well, they advertised it as a truck that does truck things...

And the people with them now, ordered years ago.

It all comes back to range, and the range is horrible. So out of the factory they get "fuel efficient" tires that are great for range and terrible for everything else.

Put on truck tires, let alone winter, and range will nosedive.

Not everyone will drive one in snow, but all of the suckers who bought one know the range.

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It also weighs way more than a normal truck. I think.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (5 children)

If it does that would help...

Weighing it down gives traction. Hell, most hillbillies load up their truck beds in the winter because the weight is such a big help, especially in the back.

I think I might have heard something about weight distribution though, like a normal truck has an engine over the front, but Tesla's weight is in the middle of the axle.

But this is the tires, and probably something about whatever this things equivalent to a transmission is. Like you only need to put your foot on it a little for normal driving. Which means take offs in snow would almost always spin out.

So like the RPMs of the wheels go up to fast? I think that's the easiest way to say it.

It makes a vehicle seem faster the less you have to push on the gas pedal, it's a pretty old trick, because most people never floor it, so they don't notice halfway thru it stops doing anything.

[–] KingJalopy@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

That makes sense

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[–] greedytacothief@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago (9 children)

I see Jersey schmucks up here with their pavement princess trucks getting stuck in the snow all the time. I see locals in a Corolla or fiesta or other tiny light car make it just fine in deep snow. One of my bosses at the ski mountain used to drive a mini Cooper an hour to work every day.

This is a skill issue.

[–] PanArab@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Also snow tires make a huge difference in the snow

[–] 50MYT@aussie.zone 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I used to have an old Subaru (Leone, 83).

I could get it anywhere in the snow. It was so easy to drive. It had absolute pizza cutters for tyres.

Once drove up to a ski field without chains on. Was one of only 7 cars to make it to the top (with zero issues) because there was so much snow.

Was a blast to drive.

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[–] CADmonkey@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

One of the most satisfying things for me is driving my wife's little Mirage in the snow. With normal all season tires it does great, with proper snow tires it's completely unstoppable - that is, until you need to stop.

It turns out that accelrating and stopping a 2,000 pound car on ice and snow is easier than it is with a 4,000 pound vehicle.

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[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 24 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

Egh, looks like the facebook crowd has come to Lemmy.

Wrong tires.. It's that simple..

I hate Elon as much as the rest of us, but this reads like it's written by the Anti-EV crowd. All it needs is an ad for a Dodge RAM at the bottom.. And, I don't particularly find the cybertruck (or any large truck), appealing at all tbh

I can put the wrong tires on my jeep too, and skid off the road when its wet.. Not everywhere needs snow tyres (here in Australia, they would be useless), and I'd be guessing they're less efficient too?

Also, I'm not really sure how it works with deep snow (since I'm here in Australia), but wouldn't snowchains help as an alternative? Or can you not use them on EV's?.. Or do they not work with deep snow?

[–] BurningRiver@beehaw.org 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Chains are only useful if there’s snow compacted onto the road (like in a lot of mountainous areas). Winter tires are useful because they stay softer in cold weather, while summer tires get hard as a rock below a certain temp, turning your car (or cybertruck in this case) into a sled. There are also studded snow tires, but they’re useless or even dangerous on roads with no snow.

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[–] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Tires may be part of the equation, but ground clearance is typically more important to avoiding getting stuck in the snow.

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[–] Steak@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It's also really heavy. I have a crosstrek and even with all seasons on I'm getting up that driveway in the video with no problems at all.

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[–] magnetosphere@kbin.social 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I’d feel like such an asshole driving one of these things. If someone gave me one for free, I wouldn’t even want to park it in front of my house.

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[–] arin@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

All season tires in snow = a terrible time

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 7 points 2 years ago

All seasons with a tiny sidewall = bad news pretty much anywhere but pavement.

Although I do think Tesla needs to work on their traction control system to better mimic having locked differentials after seeing the hill climb video from a few weeks ago. This should be able to be performed via an OTA update though.

[–] hOrni@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Mighty? It was a joke from the start. The only reason for buying it is a novelty for collectors. I don't think it was ever meant to be driven.

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[–] Vakbrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Probably bad tires to be honest. Bad tires for a hideous truck: a loosing recipe.

[–] BruceTwarzen@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Too bad the tires are tied to the wheel and can't just be exchanged

[–] weew@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 years ago

they aren't tied to the wheel, just the hubcaps. If you want to run it without the hubcaps, you can put whatever tire you want on it.

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Truck built for truck things fails at truck things

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[–] BiggestBulb@kbin.run 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I remember MKBHD made a comment about the snow possibly being an issue opening the doors as well. Hoping these things were actually tested in super cold conditions

[–] BruceTwarzen@kbin.social 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Tesla and tested?

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[–] anachronist@midwest.social 4 points 2 years ago

Who would have guessed that an offroad vehicle designed in socal only works on bare, dry, triassic limestone.

[–] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 years ago

Shitty truck performs shittily.

Fixed their headline.

[–] HowMany@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Remember how well the Delorian didn't do? Mush has one that's going to do 1,000 times worse. Way to go boy genius.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The Delorean might've been fine if they hadn't tried to build it in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and if John Delorean hadn't been entrapped with drug trafficking charges. Musk doesn't have those excuses.

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[–] noride@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Several comments about tires being the issue. I've driven through worse with a simple set of all-seasons - is there something special about EV tires that make them perform so poorly in these conditions?

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Low rolling resistance tires tend to be not very great in snow. They get that low rolling resistance partly by not having a very sticky compound, and partly by not having a very aggressive tread pattern (among other things, I'm sure). Both of those factors are going to have an impact on traction on anything but dry pavement.

It might also be due to other design choices. I've got a 2015 Ford Fusion PHEV, and I had a 2013 Fusion Hybrid before that; they suck so bad in the snow with normal all-season tires that I have to keep a finger on the electric parking brake switch to make sure I can stop if there's any snow on the ground.

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[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 3 points 2 years ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Tesla touts that its Cybertruck is "durable and rugged enough to go anywhere" on its website, but apparently snow may be its kryptonite after numerous online videos and pictures have showed the electric vehicle getting stuck in typical wintery conditions.

An Instagram user posted a video of a Cybertruck slipping and getting stuck in about four inches of snow in an unspecified location.

"There's literally a sedan like thirty feet ahead of it that made it all the way to a parking space," joked podcaster and journalist Robert Evans.

And back in December, a TikTok video also showed a stuck Cybertruck being pulled up by a sports utility vehicle on a slight incline of snow and ice.

All this content showing its performance in real-world conditions doesn't bode well for a vehicle that's being hyped as the next big thing in the lucrative consumer truck sector.

Regardless, the news doesn't come at a good time for Tesla's Cybertruck, which has had to contend with range and quality control issues, in addition to numerous delays and production problems.

The original article contains 388 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 55%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] MarioBarisa@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago

There is not a single good thing about the Cybertruck.

[–] Fridgeratr@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Maybe if it didn't weigh 3 tons...

[–] carbrewr84@kbin.social 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Weight is actually a good thing in the snow. Too light of a vehicle and it's hard to get any traction without something like tracks.

The struggling in the snow is most likely an issue of tires. If someone put some all terrain or ideally snow tires, I'm sure it'd do significantly better.

[–] Chriswild@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

But it can't afford to run less efficient tires because it has too much air resistance and the range would suffer. There's a reason why other Teslas have no flat panels or straight lines.

It's a 100,000 vehicle with plastic hubcaps.

[–] carbrewr84@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't disagree with that at all, it's a dumb vehicle no matter how you slice it and this debacle only furthers the proof. If it needs low rolling resistance, highway tires, then it's just a street queen for elon fanboys.

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[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Holy shit that thing is ugly..

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