Here's Why The Tesla Cybertruck Tug Of War Proved Nothing
Five days on from the reveal of Tesla’s Cybertruck, we still have more questions than answers. Is this really the finished product? Is it even possible to put something with those angles on the road? Is this all just a cheese-fueled dream?
One thing we do know, however, is that a widely shared video of the boxy, sci-fi film prop-like vehicle ‘beating’ a Ford F-150 at tug-of-war was pretty much pointless. And, as Jason Fenske aka Engineering Explained will tell you (with the help of a whiteboard and some maths), this is not just because the Ford appeared to be rear and not all-wheel drive.
The problem is a vehicular tug of war is won by whichever combatant has the most weight over its driven wheels. You can have as much torque as you like, but without sufficient weight above the wheels, the tyres will simply spin. All this video shows us is that the Cybertruck is the heavier vehicle. Unsurprising, given that the stainless steel creation is visibly much bigger than the aluminium-bodied Ford, and no doubt packing a sizeable battery pack.
Does any of this matter? Probably not. We’re all still talking about the tug of war, so from a PR perspective, the video has done its job brilliantly.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Let’s face it: corporations do this all the time - no matter what kind of corporation
Moral of the story: DO NOT LISTEN TO WHAT CORPORATIONS SAY ABOUT THEIR PRODUCT
Oh definitely - it’s not just Tesla that’s guilty of doing stuff like this. They are just perhaps more prone to it than others (see also the Nurburgring thing)
Any test that’s conducted by the manufacturer in a manufacturer controlled environment is worthless. Just take a look at the shitshow that went on with Intel’s 10th gen i9 launch, according to their tests it was going to be the next big thing and easily beat out literally anything else, but in reality it was really no competetion against AMD’s new stuff. Don’t leave cherry picking the tests up to the manufacturer, that’s the community’s responsibility when a flame war breaks out in the comments.
if they make a supercar with inspiration from the cybertruck, it will be like a knife to anyone it hits.
I think the Tesla is still better, especially for towing.
It proved everything. People keep saying you need 4wd and the $80k lariat version etc, it just proves you need all that just to take down a $30k truck.