- The Tesla Cybertruck is a beast.
On the low end, it can tow 7,500 pounds,
and on the high-end, 14,000 pounds,
which is more than an F-150 can
at the top end of 13,200 pounds.
A Toyota Tacoma, for a comparison,
is anywhere between 3,500 and 6,800, so much less.
A Dodge Ram 1500 is up to 12,750,
and a Silverado is up to 13,400, just edging out the F-150.
But believe me when I say none of that matters at all.
Let's free the data.
(R&B music)
Before we get into why towing capacity
is a pointless measure of a truck's worth,
we need to figure out and go back in time
to understand why we in the U.S. love trucks to begin with.
America, as you know it today,
grew from small farming communities
that primarily used one or two-horse wagons
to move their goods around.
So back in the early settler days of this country,
you basically had people taking what they grew on their land
to the markets, to the villages,
and places where they would sell them
so people would buy them and then we could all survive.
And so they needed something like a truck.
At the time, trucks didn't exist, so horse and wagon.
Fast forward a little bit
and you have a budding entrepreneur
that really wanted to do something different
in the horseless carriage space
and so he created basically what we know of
as an assembly line.
And with that, they created the Ford Model T.
Of course, that was Henry Ford,
and this is where a lot of us, in really America,
think of the auto industry beginning,
was with him and his innovations in manufacturing
with the first truck, the Model T.
So after Ford launched the Model T in 1908,
they began production.
Trucks became a big thing.
No longer did you need a horse and wagon,
you now had this thing which could tow more,
it could go further,
it was just generally a better option for you
to move your goods from your small farm
into the now growing cities.
So fast forward to World War II
and we needed to build out our infrastructure
in order to support moving of goods across the country.
So, guess what, we built things that fit perfect for trucks.
This is why, in the United States,
we have such long straight roads
as well as very wide, much bigger spaces
for vehicles to travel on.
If you go in the cities and compare that to a European city,
it is a drastic difference in terms of the overall amount
of space dedicated to vehicles.
And this is very much by intention
for trucks to be able to do their job.
As World War II came to an end,
the infrastructure stayed, trucks became a thing,
and the lure in this country of how a truck symbolized
or represented freedom was born.
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And now, let's get back to the video.
So yeah, America loves trucks.
But we don't really need them or use them.
The automotive research firm, Strategic Vision,
does this study each year of 250,000 people
that goes super in-depth on people's buying experience.
And it turns out 75% of truck owners use their truck
for towing one time a year or less.
Basically, never.
Nearly 70% of truck owners
go off-road one time a year or less.
Basically, never.
And a full 35% of truck owners use their truck for hauling,
putting something in the bed, once a year or less.
Almost never.
However, this doesn't keep people
from continuing to buy them.
The Edward study also showed that nearly 80% of people
who are replacing a full-size truck
will buy another full-size truck.
The highest loyalty rate
of any vehicle category in the market.
And this bodes well for Tesla as they were just voted,
by AutoTrader.com, the most loved brand of any automaker.
In addition, a recent survey by Bloomberg
from Tom Randall and team showed that 98%
of their 5000-plus respondents would buy their car again.
This was specifically focused on the Model 3.
And 99% said that they would recommend it to others.
So truck people are like Tesla people except Tesla people
like their cars more than truck people like their trucks.
But they keep buying 'em, it's kinda this weird circle.
We're all really one in the same, I think, here.
Truck people have an affinity towards trucks.
I'm a truck guy, I only buy trucks.
Something about their identity.
Tesla people very much in that same camp
for different reasons but essentially the same concept here
just different ends of a spectrum.
So trucks are like cars but more convenient.
In fact, if you look at trucks nowadays,
they very much resemble cars with four doors
and beautiful, luxurious interiors, heated seats,
all the amenities you would expect in a high class
or luxury sedan are now available in trucks.
Which is kind of ironic,
because if a truck was really meant for work,
these are not really the things
that you're usually gonna be looking for,
but they are available and they do cost a pretty penny.
And, like I said, people don't really use trucks
for towing stuff, for moving loads in the bed,
or going off road.
So basically all the reasons to buy a truck,
people don't actually use them for.
So that's it, trucks are dead.
Long live the Tesla Cybertruck!
(dramatic music) (crowd cheering)
Wait just a minute, Tesla fanboy.
There is more to this story here
because there definitely is a segment of the market
where trucks are being used that electric vehicles,
specifically the Tesla Cybertruck and any of the other ones,
really don't have a shot at replacing currently.
When it comes down to towing things,
and I'm not talking about taking your boat out,
I'm talking about heavy-duty machinery used in construction.
There are trucks that do the job and a Tesla Cybertruck,
or a electric F-150, whatever, technically could do the job,
but it doesn't really make sense.
Basically, what it comes down to is electric vehicles
with the most advanced batteries available on the market
right now, the lithium-ion cells that Tesla makes,
just don't have enough energy packed in them
to deliver what is necessary to tow these massive loads
and then be able to recharge quickly
and just be used in a common setting
that isn't incredibly more cumbersome
than what the current options are.
But wait, the Cybertruck is so much more efficient.
Electric motors are better.
Yes, yes, yes, but they're not that much better
to make up for that difference.
Even if the Cybertruck was twice as efficient
at towing something than the F-150,
it still isn't good enough from an efficiency standpoint.
Now there are lots of arguments out there to be made
about the cost of charging is so much cheaper
than the cost of fuel.
Economics-wise, from a mechanical standpoint,
you're gonna have less repairs and all these kinda things.
Yes, yes, yes, there are ways to rationalize this.
But, right now, because of the huge disparity
in energy storage from a gas car to an electric car,
I just don't see it really making total financial sense
to do this, with a Cybertruck,
or an electric F-150, or whatever,
compared to an actual heavy duty truck
that is meant to pull things for a job site,
or taking stuff to the desert, or whatever.
I just don't see people willing to do it yet.
But, of course, the point here is that towing capacity
outside of those couple use cases does not matter.
And you would think that we wouldn't care either,
but when it comes to buying something,
especially something like a truck
which is a part of somebody's identity
that is a truck person, a truck guy, a truck girl, whatever,
it's not a rational logical decision.
It is an emotional one.
So when Ford advertises 13,200 pounds towing
and Chevy comes out and says 13,400 pounds,
you see that it's basically just a marketing tactic.
It's not something that we should really care about
and from the metrics in terms of the marketing value,
yeah, the Tesla Cybertruck does tremendous.
The Rivian R1T does tremendous.
Presumably the electric F-150, the Bollinger,
all these things from just a pure spec standpoint do great,
but who cares?
They're pure vanity metrics.
They don't actually mean anything.
To me, a much more fun metric,
which does translate at least for the majority of people,
into something that is real, is your zero to 60 time.
And this is where the Tesla Cybertruck absolutely dominates.
The zero to 60 time of a Ford Raptor,
the latest one I could find, was zero to 60 in 5.7 seconds.
Which is, for a truck, tremendously fast.
For an electric car, that's pretty bad.
(chuckling)
It's not even in the ballpark
of what we would consider quick
from a zero to 60 standpoint.
So if the Tesla Cybertruck
can get zero to 60 in 2.9 seconds,
I mean you're beating '90s Ferraris off the line.
It's crazy, crazy how quick that is.
And if you've been in a Tesla, especially a performance one,
you know that feeling.
Imagine getting that feeling
in this big monster truck which is so futuristic and wild.
That is something that I think every single person
that owns one will experience and will do.
So that is a metric where there is something
that's being advertised.
Again, we'll have to wait 'til it actually comes out.
I do believe Tesla will be able to hit that number,
or at least get very close to it,
which just totally destroys the competition.
Not that trucks going quick off the line
is a thing that people compete on
except for after market deals.
But that is something where there is a marketing metric
being used and it translates to something people will use
in the real world.
And that is where I think we should focus our attention,
in terms of what matters when it comes
to buying one of these vehicles,
or any vehicle for that matter.
I'm curious what you guys think.
Leave me a comment down below.
And, don't forget, when you free the data,
your mind will follow.
I'll see you guys back here in the next one.