Yet I see them everywhere
Yup. They stick out.
It’s a clown car, so it’s really hard to not notice one when it clambers down a street.
I love seeing them on the side of the road, either disabled or in wrecks. I laugh every time.
Europe seems to be safe from them so far.
They are not allowed because of their sharp corners, no crumple zones. They’re dangerous for occupants as well as any other road users in case of an accident
Honestly I don’t understand how they’re allowed to be sold in the US either, given how rigid the safety standards are.
given how rigid the safety standards are.
LOL. US safety standards are voluntary and almost non existent for trucks.
Afaik it’s because it’s a small production vehicle.
There you go.
Because people can’t get rid of them. Many would dump it if they could, but Tesla won’t even take them in trade, and nobody will buy one used. So they have no choice but to drive it until the market changes somehow.
There will come a time when they’ll be cheap enough to drive ironically, probably with flowers and peace signs painted on it.
How you fuck up making a truck so badly?
Yeah the electric pickup is such a no brainer for the US market and it was one of the first.
But what if it was horribly ugly and made everyone hate you? Surely it will sell even better then!
An electric pickup isn’t a no-brainer for the US market. It’s a big-brainer.
Most EVs are shaped like running shoes for aerodynamics. Pickup trucks are big air smacking slabs. Larger pickup trucks advertise towing capacity as a major feature, EVs are bad at towing, again because of aerodynamics. The additional batteries and such required to make an EV pickup work are large, heavy and expensive. I think the technology needs to cook a bit before we get there.
Now on the compact pickup truck front…those are basically extinct. The Slate is almost a good attempt, the problem is it’s almost the anti-cybertruck. The Cybertruck is what you get when a billionaire nazi notices how thoroughly the drugs have emptied his scrotum. It’s the costume a truly awful male wears to cosplay as a man. The Slate is almost the equal and opposite, it’s what r/fuckcars thinks of when they start a sentence with “Can’t you just make do with…” A 20 year old S10 kicks the Slate’s ass in every way because the Slate is designed mostly to play dress-up like a barbie doll. They’re taking pre-orders but they won’t show you where the tie down points in the bed are.
Gas trucks suck fuel when towing too. It’s the nature of the task. The question mostly imo is - are you towing long distances? (well are you going long distances is a big EV question generally). If you’re towing stuff back from the hardware store then EV is fine for towing. If you’re doing some sort of small hauling job going hundreds of miles then not so much.
Where I end up is - how often generally are you towing? If it’s 2x a year or less - rent a truck and otherwise save craptons of money. I know - I have wasted 10k splitting a 2003 f250 with my sister to get a tractor home “and we would need to tow stuff semi regularly and renting from Enterprise was a PITA”. Yea sure - we used it for towing twice. Finally managed to sell it.
I think we tow more on a 8x10 landscape trailer for bringing lumber home etc and tow with my Outback and now Pilot than we tow with the 1500 we have for “bigger stuff”.
Though maybe that’s because we sort of stopped going to farm auctions…
The folks who really care about tow ratings and range are those who have boats or campers. Which means they do road trips while towing. Do you want to tow a camper on a road trip in a rented vehicle?
Yes, gas trucks also suffer poorer fuel economy when towing. It’s less of a practical problem because it means more 10 minute fuel stops. With an EV, it means more 3 hour fuel stops. It’s fairly easy to equip a gas truck with a larger or additional fuel tank. My S10’s fuel tank is on the left side of the bed; it would be fairly trivial to mount another tank on the right side, or, a Blazer’s fuel tank isn’t that hard to install behind the axle where the pickup hangs its spare tire. Doubling or tripling a pickup truck’s range is something a guy can do at his house. It’s functionally impossible with an EV.
Modern EVs require more of a 30 minute fuel stop.
3 hours hasn’t been a thing since before 2020.
I don’t know enough about physics or cars to really rebut you but this doesn’t seem plausible to me.
I don’t think aerodynamics are particularly relevant to towing? Prime movers (tractor trailers?) are about the least aerodynamic vehicle there is but they regularly tow more than 100 tonnes at highway speed.
If I had to guess I’d suggest the primary problem is the relationship between system weight of the vehicle and load, battery capacity, and the battery’s weight. As in, if you want to be able to cart 1 ton for 200km then the additional battery requirement is another 300kg so that’s really only an extra 700kg so you need more battery and heavier frame and so on.
Another problem I suppose, and I emphasize that this is supposition, is optimising motors for both torque and speed. The torque required to break inertia with lots of weight in sandy or muddy terrain.
The maximum weight for a tractor-trailer rig in the United States is 80,000 pounds, 40 short tons or 36.36 metric tons.
A tractor-trailer rig is surprisingly streamlined. The cab is shaped and sized for the front of the trailer to ride closely in its wake, often with fairings that reach as close to the trailer as practicable. Sure it’s a brick, but it’s ONE brick:
A pickup truck towing a trailer isn’t anywhere near that slick, even with a gooseneck trailer, the trailer is often taller and wider than the cab. It’s a brick, attached to another, larger brick being pulled through the turbulent disturbed air from the first brick:
In terms of torque, EVs have a significant advantage. Electric motors produce a lot more torque at low to zero RPM than internal combustion engines do. Limited slip differentials or all-wheel drive are solved problems.
The additional energy required to accelerate the additional weight up to speed isn’t that much of a problem as an EV will get that back with regenerative braking. Well, some of it. Most trailers have brakes of their own that do help with braking distance but are there mostly to keep the hitch under tension to prevent jackknifing. An ICEV figures on losing all of that energy to friction braking, a BEV plans on recovering some of it. An electric pickup carrying 1000 pounds in the bed will be more efficient than one pulling a 1000 pound trailer, in most cases.
The maximum weight for a tractor-trailer rig in the United States is 80,000 pounds, 40 short tons or 36.36 metric tons.
I’m not sure what you’re getting at with this. Here in Australia road trains haul 90 metric tons of grain and fertilizer all the time, that doesn’t include the weight of the trailers.
Regardless, I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to illustrate - your example of a “streamlined vehicle” undoubtedly consumes a lot more diesel than your example of a vehicle which is not streamlined. Isn’t that antithetical?
In terms of torque, EVs have a significant advantage.
Yes, but a “truck” with a 4 ton towing capacity obviously needs motors with more torque than those on a tesla.
The additional energy required to accelerate the additional weight up to speed isn’t that much of a problem as an EV will get that back with regenerative braking. Well, some of it.
As little as 5 to 10% on the highway, not particularly significant. Installing regenerative brakes on a trailer is a lot of additional cost and complexity.
In the United States, if you need more than about 20 tons of freight moved, you use the railroad not the highway. “Road trains” aren’t a thing here.
Regardless, I’m not quite sure what you’re trying to illustrate - your example of a “streamlined vehicle” undoubtedly consumes a lot more diesel than your example of a vehicle which is not streamlined. Isn’t that antithetical?
In absolute terms, yes. A semi truck consumes more fuel than a pickup truck. So does a diesel locomotive. The point is the difference in aerodynamic drag with and without the trailer.
Aerodynamically, a semi truck is the same shape with and without a trailer. Somewhat streamlined nose, flat sides, flat rear. With the trailer attached, that flat rear is just 50 feet further away. A semi truck without a trailer will make better fuel economy because it doesn’t have to accelerate the additional weight or overcome the friction in the additional axles, but the cab has already taken most of the aerodynamic punishment it can.
With a non-streamlined pickup truck, the additional wheel friction and acceleration energy are factors, but you’re also functionally doing this:
So a pickup truck sees a much bigger punishment to fuel economy when you hitch up a trailer than a semi does.
Yes, but a “truck” with a 4 ton towing capacity obviously needs motors with more torque than those on a tesla.
Not necessarily. My S10’s 4.3L V6 engine makes 200 horsepower and 200 foot pounds of torque. It’s rated to tow 7600 pounds, with the addition of a transmission cooler. A Tesla Model Y is rated at 397 horsepower and 389 foot pounds of torque, it is rated to tow 3500 pounds. A lot more factors than horsepower and torque go into a tow rating. The strength of the frame at the hitch, a height sensing proportioning valve, the duty cycle ratings of the power train to name a few. It’s not about “Can this car get this weight moving” it’s “can this car perform a safe emergency stop 9 hours into a 10 hour journey towing this weight?”
As little as 5 to 10% on the highway, not particularly significant.
See that’s the funny thing about EVs. ICEVs get better fuel economy on the highway because the constant aerodynamic drag at cruising speed is less than all the braking you do in the city. EVs are the other way up, because of regenerative braking they get a lot of their energy back when braking, but you can’t get aerodynamic drag back. And that’s without the additional drag of a trailer.
They very much are, depending on what you’re towing, most of your fuel used goes into overcoming aerodynamic drag. If you tow a load of gravel on a trailer, compared to a caravan of the same weight, the difference in fuel used can be double.
Towing something that’s not very aerodynamic can easily double your fuel use, which means half the range or less in an EV.
I don’t think aerodynamics are particularly relevant to towing?
Aerodynamics are extremely relevant to towing. “Aging Wheels” on Youtube did a test and found that payload weight makes basically no difference at all, but a trailer with bad aerodynamics can cut an electric truck’s range in half.
The Slate is almost the equal and opposite, it’s what r/fuckcars thinks of when they start a sentence with “Can’t you just make do with…” A 20 year old S10 kicks the Slate’s ass in every way because the Slate is designed mostly to play dress-up like a barbie doll. They’re taking pre-orders but they won’t show you where the tie down points in the bed are.
Speaking as a mod of !fuckcars and the owner of a 30-year-old Ford Ranger, I want a Slate truck and I don’t think my current truck would be able to kick its ass. (Well, aside from off-roading, since the Slate doesn’t have a 4x4 version yet. And, uh, ease of refueling in the wilderness. Hmm.)
Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t be an upgrade in all ways, but IMO those tradeoffs are still worth it because the lack of telemetry and other enshittification means it’s the first modern mass-market electric car (of any type, truck or otherwise) I’ll be willing to own.
My S10 outranges a Slate by over 50%, refuels from empty to full in less than five minutes, seats 4, has a 6 foot bed, tows up to 7600 pounds…a Slate is a massive step back in a lot of ways.
My Ranger seats 3 in a pinch and is rated to tow 1600 pounds (2.3L I4, regular cab, manual, 4x4) so you can see how my perspective is a little different.
If the Slate had a 6 foot bed, VTL capability, and a little more range I’d be really into it. I’m a woodworker, hauling plywood and lumber with a 5 foot bed doesn’t sound fun.
Yeah the electric pickup is such a no brainer for the US
Disagree. The truck market itself is a no brainer, but electric trucks have design challenges that electric sedans don’t. Namely, aerodynamics, towing, and aerodynamics while towing. It is much harder to make an electric truck capable of doing “truck stuff” with a reasonable range and price compared to making an electric car.
Harder maybe but it’s clearly doable. We have a number of options now. And it’s not like they’ve had to make them hyper-aerodynamic or anything. Just took a little more advanced battery tech.
IIRC, according to Aging Wheels on YouTube, of all the electric trucks, only one (the Chevy Silvarado) actually manages to have decent range while towing.
Think it might’ve been in this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmKf8smvGsA
I believe Ford has the f150 lightning, an ev version. I don’t know how it’s been doing though.
The all electric version has been cancelled in favor of a hybrid design, but they claim the hybrid has a 700 mile range
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/15/nx-s1-5645147/ford-discontinues-all-electric-f-150-lightning
Thanks for the update
No one bought them. barely 80,000 sold over three years. Killed in 2025. They sold 10X more F series every year. Really not sure where anyone gets the idea pickup buyers give a fuck about fuel efficiency or emissions.
Correct, but now consider how much time and money has been spent over the decades on making sure that “trucks can do truck stuff” for combustion vs. electric drives. “it’s much harder” is true only in the context that thousands of years of engineering time have already been poured into diesel and gas trucks, and only a tiny fraction of that has yet been dedicated to electric. So it’s not “much harder” it just “hasn’t been funded yet at the level that the oil industry has provided combustion vehicles for nearly 100 years”.
It’s not a technology/research issue; it’s an economics issue. Trucks simply need an absolutely huge battery pack to brute-force not only themselves but a boxy trailer through the air for hundreds of miles, and all but one of them don’t actually have it (even at the very expensive prices they sell for).
It’s not even actually a truck. It’s a ute. Like the Hyundai Santa Cruz. It’s a car (unibody) with a bed.
I don’t dislike utes at all, and even have an old one I am restoring, but it is not a truck.with a bed.
Step 1: be a fascist
Dunno… ask Rivian. They integrated the rear quarter panels, the most damaged part of any truck, into the structure so that a minor collision backing into something is either $20,000 or a write-off.
Nazi
Really? I see chuds driving them all over my town unfortunately. Admittedly far less popular than other Tesla vehicles though which are absolutely everywhere here in CA. Seems like most people forgot Musk is a nazi already.
Californian here.
I’ll never forget.
Swasticars are driven by Nazi’s.
Those chuds bought early into the idea they would be renting out their trucks at night using self driving and make a profit.
Seems like most people forgot Musk is a nazi already.
A realisation I’ve had is that if everyone from this era went back in time to the 1930’s there’d be a lot of investing into the Nazi stock market for those stonks!
Genocide, war crimes and general harm towards humanity don’t mean much to a lot of people when personal gains or convenience are available.
Please remind them by flipping off every Cybertruck driver you see.
Nah, then they just flip you back.
Do a thumbs down while shaking your head. They don’t know how to respond to that.
I point and laugh when I see one and say “look at the fucking idiot.” They love that.
It’s even better when you do it pure organically, I was bashing a model y with some friends, no clue the owner was showing back up, “I like the concept of electric vehicles, however Tesla’s are one of worse options you could go for, plus they look like obese Porsches.” Ohh hey “I don’t like your car”
I see them every so often in Seattle. I always give them a disapproving look and a big thumbs down, I’ve found that pisses people off more than a middle finger.
I drew a swastika in the dust on the hood of one once and gave the finger to the cameras. I have little hope that the owner was persuaded in the slightest. Also, my nephews yell out “Lego car!” when they see one.
Cybertruck Is the Biggest Flop
Why does anyone think that is still news?
Who would have thought a three year olds drawing of a car would have not resonated with the masses.
Only a time travel movie can save it.
Interesting.
It took 68 years but someone finally beat out edsle as the worst automotive failure, I’m just glad it was Elon Muppet.
reads the wikipedia article
considered overhyped, low quality, and unattractive
double checks to make sure I’m not on the cybertruck article
Had someone been hyping you?
I prefer to call him Elmo Musk but Elon Muppet is pretty good too.
My favorite is Elongated Muskrat.
I prefer Melon Husk.
Eldolf Muskolini
This is the correct one. People make such a big stink out of his nazi salute while completely ignoring the Mussolini stank face he was making at the same time.
Now if the world were only truly a meritocracy.
Can’t be the worst flop. The Cybertruck outsold the Ioniq 6 by roughly a 2:1 margin in the US. Both were introduced around the same time, and it sounds like Hyundai already pulled the 6 from the US market. But while the Cybertruck was a certified piece of crap, the Ioniq 6 was consistently rated at the top of available EV on the market. I guess sedans are pretty much DOA as a body style these days though.
That’s a US-only perspective. The Ioniq 6 sold quite well in the EU while the the CT is US-only because of…well…it being what it is
While that may be true, I can’t imagine any American article considering a perspective outside of the US. CT is available in Canada as well, and at least anecdotally, I see them just a little less often than Ioniq 6s. I bought a 6 a couple years ago and love it. Interestingly, I did not find the 5 as appealing, though it too had good bona fides as an EV.
Oh wait, did you forget that the Cybertrucks’s #1 customer was SpaceX? Also, you are just plain wrong. Hyundai sold approximately 37,000 Ioniq 6’s in just the US.
Tesla sold 20,237 Cybertrucks, but SpaceX bought exactly 1,279 of them. So the actual number would be 18,958.
18,958 is not 2x greater than 37,000.
Are you confusing Ioniq 5 with the 6? I doubt Hyundai sold 37,000 Ioniq 6s in the US throughout its entire production run, but Tesla sold 38,965 CTs in 2024 alone, and a little over 20K in 2025. I have seen this number on other sites as well. Hyundai reported percentage decline for the Ioniq 6, but I saw sliding numbers from 2023 to 2024 where they sold about 9000 cars per year down to only about 1200 in total for 2026 before they pulled out. The Ioniq 5 sells over 30K cars per year.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-sales-elon-musk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Ioniq_6#Sales
They sold roughly 36,000 in just the US. They sold over 96,000 worldwide through the end of 2024.
And? The CT sold more than that in 2024 alone. I am confused as to what point you are trying to make here.
You: I doubt Hyundai sold 37,000 Ioniq 6s in the US throughout its entire production run.
Me: They sold a bit more than 36,000 in just the US.
You: I don’t know what your point is.
You questioned a fact another person said, and now you are confused when someone links you the data to show the fact?
Also, the Ioniq 6 has sold around 96k worldwide. According to your numbers, Cybertruck has sold around 58k + 2026 sales (around 9k). While I can’t find stated sales goals for the Ioniq 6, Elon was talking about selling 250k Cybertrucks per year. Elon talked about building a manufacturing throughput of 2500 cars per week (125,000/year) and currently achieving 1300 cars per week (65k/year). Tesla bought roughly 2 percent of all Cybertrucks purchased.
in the us… the hyundai is sold elsewhere too. in places where cybertruck isn’t even road legal
You’re comparing total sales, but a flop is about return on investment. How much did Hyundai spend on R&D and new tooling and manufacturing to create the 6, plus how much of that can be reused for other similar vehicles, plus what was the profit margin for the car, plus how many cars were built. Now, compare that to the Cybertruck that has likely very little reusability in manufacturing, all new tooling, tons of R&D, and tons of unsold cars.
EVs are now mostly skateboard designs, they can drop another body style on and off quickly.
I feel like to count it for a flop you have to account for total produced units as well as the sales. For example if a company produces 100,000 units and sells 99,000 of them those are solid numbers, but if a company produces 400,000 units and only sold 200,000 of those units that honestly a pretty shit sell rate even if they technically sold more.
For sure I think that matters. Total investment cost in developing it and manufacturing facilities as well too. At least the Ioniq 6 sells well elsewhere. It’s more of a US flop, but I doubt they are thinking beyond their borders when it comes to worst automotive flop ever.
The Ioniq 6 is hideous.
Inspired by a computer mouse. IoniQ5 has a waiting list.
The design was meant to be controversial and it certainly got a lot of attention when it was first introduced. The reason that thing failed is that its performance was way worse than what was promised while costing a lot more.
lol.
lmfao even.
That’s really bad. I feel like some of those cars with only three wheels set a pretty high bar.
Seeing this reminded me of Mr Bean episodes where that three wheeled car is always getting shit on.
Edit - this one -
Lol there were a lot of those three wheelers around when I was a kid. They seemed pretty okay for city driving, wouldn’t have wanted to try going at any speed in one tho. In fact, someone I know has most of one, says he’s gonna restore it but it’s been under a tarp for years so. . .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliant_Robin
The three wheels and the fibreglass construction meant that it was light enough to count as a tricycle, so that you could drive one on a motorcycle license rather than a full driving license. Plus they sip quite gently at the petrol by the standards of the 1970s. You still saw a few on the roads when I was growing up in the 80s, but it’s been a long time.
The thought of doing 85 mph in one of them is enough to make me fill my trousers, though. Couldn’t pay me enough.
The Robin Reliant sales were driven by the fact they were legally motorcycles, so drivers with DUIs in UK could get back onto roads.
Of course, the US embraced the concept in reverse for Boomers to drive around beach towns.
A friend of mine called it the modern Edsel when it first came out
More bloodthirsty than the Pinto too.
