Tesla announces the CyberTruck - the Pick up of the future or a Cheese Wedge on Wheels- you Decide!

A deviation from my normal post style, because I have a secret Steemians - I'm a bit of a Tesla fanboy. I do not (yet) own one, but I love the concept of an all electric vehicle. My actual automobile history is particularly unexciting, starting with a Ford Escort way back in 1998 that was mostly unexciting - and disliked going up hills until I realised the cables connecting the spark plugs had frayed so depending on vibration it would run on two or three of the six cylinders - hence struggling to go uphill!

My automobile choice has always been influenced by business, moving stock or equipment has made the choice of vehicle limited to what will fit things in when needed - but also people (especially leaving room for my Mum's wheelchair as MS took hold) so after the ford a Fiat Marea estate followed with a big flat boot and drop down boot lip allowing easy access for coffee machines etc.

Source Fiat Forums

After that I moved on to another Ford - the Zafira MPV a seven seater - but the boot seats made a nice load area in the boot for stock

Source Tovit used cars Zafira SRI

That is pretty much exactly the same, 1.8 litre petrol with SRI trim it looked mean compared to the standard Zafira - flared wheel arches, side runners and bulging front and rear bumpers. And the 1.8 SRI engine was nippy for a heavy vehicle - ate petrol for breakfast but it moved. I loved that for five years but slowly the service costs racked up, replacing radiators, then the heating died, rear electric window gave up the ghost - time to move on.

Sticking with the load moving People Carrier design I went for a Renault Grand Scenic - at the time it was a technology whizz with keyless entry, digital dash but the 1.6 litre petrol engine was gutless. I loved most of the vehicle but the chronic lack of power was a misery - in summer it was a trade off use the air conditioning and have zero performance, turn off the air con and have just slightly more the zero performance and cook while driving it. But it had 7 seats and massive flat boot when you only need five.

Source belmontautos that is pretty much mine but imagine matalic blue.

The Grande Scenic lasted four years, and then started with engine issues, long runs of a few hundred miles would put it in "limp mode" because the engine management said there was an issue with the pistons. Numerous trips to the garage and replacement sensors didn't help - the weird thing was it worked fine on short trips - just long ones it went all wonky. Off to auction it went.

Source - my own photo, Daylight Running Light accents were my own modification - I bought it just before DRL became standard and added the radiator grill lights that auto dimmed when headlights were on and also went off when the indicators came on myself. The headlight cluster DRL's were always on.

And I went for another Renault..and to be fair it's been the best (for me) car so far - my reasonably price French SUV is the relatively unloved Kadjar - an SUV crossover but I fell in love with the DRL headlights and to be fair - the 1.5litre DCI engine mine has is ludicrously frugal - 500 miles on £50 of Diesel, it's comfy and damn fast - the ECO mode button makes it totally lame for acceleration - but for long motorway runs it's perfect to stretch out the MPG - best I have got so far is 64 MPG which is just amazing.

Source - my own photo

Source - my own photo

This was the first car I owned from brand new, although it's actually on a lease so technically I am renting it until may 2011. Delivered with just a few miles the clock, all my previous cars had been used rentals with 10k plus already done. It suited my need at the time - previously my business paid for the cars and I was taxed for them as a "Perk". My accountant kept saying it was an expensive way of doing things - working out the math the amount I was being taxed on having a used car but with no worry for repairs because the business paid them - was the exact same as having a brand new leased car with full maintenance over the contract - so any repairs including tyre replacement are covered. Bonus being as I owned the vehicle I could charge the business mileage (25 pence per mile) when I used it for work - which would cover the fuel cost mostly.

The Renault Kadjar is smooth to drive, high riding position is ideal for wet weather, the onboard R-Link touch screen is adequate. It totally did my @ocd in though, I went for the second to top Bose edition with LED headlights to complement the white DRL accents - it looks super slick but the Fog lights are a urine yellow! Urgh and worse even Renault have the corner lighting system embedded - so when you have the headlights on and you turn right the right fog light comes on. Turn left and the left fog light turns on. It's supposed to be a safety feature, lighting up the edge of your turn - but when you have pure white DRL lights and pure white LED headlights - yellow foglights - well it can't be just me that get's that @ocd

So it only took a few weeks before I found a few Kadjar forums, and a guide to swap out the stock fog bulbs with White LED versions - £15 well spent to finish the look, give my ride a unique feel - it was a pain in the butt removing all the cover bolt's and scratching my arms up reaching the bulb lock points for the fogs - but they are as perfect now two and half years later as when installed - and that all white light at the front makes me happy.

Source - my own photo, White LED DRL accents, headlights and modded white Fog Lights.

But what about the Tesla Cybertruck

I'm glad you asked, because realistically I could have just posted a picture of it and a pack of cheese wedges - but would that have been an interesting read? So I'm trying to make this into an insight into @c0ff33a the Witness (you can vote for my Witness if you like, if you already do thank you so much I really appreciate it) and my motoring history and why fully electric vehicles are (possibly) the future.

Source - Tesla Cybertruck

There it is, a pick up to rival the Ford F150, Nissan Nirvana and Toyota Hilux amongst others. It's an all electric off road vehicle, but honestly it looks like it belongs in Blade Runner not your average farm owner with livestock or acres of corn fields.

Tesla History

Way back in 2008 Tesla launched the Roadstar - and all Electric Sports Car that could do 0-60 in 4 seconds and do 245 miles on a full charge. At that time is was a game changer. The battery pack was mounted in the front where the traditional car engine would be.

In 2012 the Model S Sedan came out, it managed to match the Roadstar speed but now had the battery pack under the floor of the car - giving far better stability and handling - suddenly all electric vehicles were capable on any road at any time.

In 2015 Tesla released the Model X - an all electric People carrier that had options for five or seven seats, had super cool gull wing rear doors and for a large heavy weight vehicle impressive all electric specs of 295 miles on a full charge will all seven seats used.

In 2017 the Model 3 was launched, a four door Sedan seating 5 - the more traditional car market. With a starting range of 225 miles and price range of $35,000 it quickly became a big hit.

Please - list the current Tesla Models for me

Ok - you asked for it

S - Model S

3 - Model 3

X - Model X

Y - Still to be released, SUV crossover

Go on, admit it you really are impressed with that cunning naming model. Ok we have to ignore the old Roadster, and the Cybertruck is still a pending, but they could be on the work in progress list

C - Cybertruck

R - Roadster

A - All terrain farming vehicle

P - Pull everything Tesla Semi

OK I'm playing with the last set, whatever way you look at it electric vehicles are the future. However much petrol and diesel engines have their emissions cleaned - they still pump onto our streets packed with pedestrians toxic fumes. Electric vehicles need to get their electricity from somewhere - but we now have wind farms creating electricity, Tesla have their own Solar Energy projects and any electric plants are isolated and any emissions are pushed into the atmosphere not the streets.

Do you like the Cybertruck then?

Honestly, no. It's a brave design and I can see why Tesla went for the futuristic against the traditional design the S, X and 3 have. But the Pick Up market while huge is also specific, the people that buy pick ups are rough, tough, industrial workers - they buy a pick up because it can carry work tools, maybe the the waste products from building or clearing undergrowth, tow trailers and traverse wild steep rocky terrain no other vehicle can reach. They also buy a vehicle that embodies them - it has to look tough and heard wearing - powerful and aggressive. The Cybertruck just doesn't cut that cloth.

So you think Tesla is doomed then

Absolutely not, in fact I'm sure the bullet proof Cybertruck will be very successful. But it won't be in a traditional Pick Up Market - I think it will create it's own Neiche somewhere between an SUV and Pick Ups - it's a utility vehicle and once paired with an all electric 4 wheel all electric ATV farms that need to cover vast areas to keep track of live stock will lap it up.

OK, so would you buy a Tesla

Actually I would, currently my lease ties me to the reasonably price French Suv until May 2021 - but then I will need to look at an alternive ride. All electric vehicles have many advantages over their fossil fuel opposition. Electric vehicles require hardly any maintenance, brakes last a long time because of regenerative breaking, tyres do wear out quick but the lack of gear box, drive train, timing belt, cooling fan etc mean an all electric vehicle will hardly ever see a service technician.

Much as I would like to, I would not buy outright a brand new Tesla though, to fit in with my business load carrying needs my only option is a Model X - and that is an expensive outright purchase. But when you consider the lack of maintenance compared to a fossil fuelled oil burner, you might spend more initially but save in the long run on paying a garage for repairs.

So once my lease is up, a Tesla Model X used will be my choice at a reasonable price, even 3 or 4 years old compared to other cars an Electric car is less of a worry, lacking all the components that normally fail in a car it will be cheap to run and live far longer then I ever will.

Source BusinessInsider

So to Recap Tesla launched a cheese wedge on Wheels - like it or loathe it electric vehicles will be a big part of our future. What do you think of the Cybertruck - leave a comment below.

Last Confirmed Block Number 38,249,284 Last Aslot 38,542,555

Steemd v0.22.1





Kind thanks to Witness @enginewitty for employing his Ninja graphic design skills and producing this 🔥 banner

If you enjoyed my post don’t forget to leave an Upvote, feel free to comment on what you liked or where I can do better even. Follow @c0ff33a for regular and varied posts, photography, my weekly VLOG, posts on coffee roasting and brewing - just follow and see.

To grow your presence and following on Steemit, be active in the community Discords that offer the chance to learn, network, share and be found. The #TheRamble discord https://discord.gg/HZYzEry hosts a range of shows where you can join in and get your name shown, every Thursday there are two Pimp My Post Thursdays which are hugely popular and give you an opportunity to get your posts seen.

All photos are my own, taken with my iPhone. All my Steem posted pictures can be freely used by other Steem users in their own blog posts - all I ask is that you follow me and credit @c0ff33a linking to my post you took it from. You can also follow me on Twitter

You can view my current Witness Statistics using this tool produced by Witness @justyy

The picture to the right kindly sketched by the wonderful @bridget.art , be sure to check her incredible art out https://steemit.com/@bridget.art

The greatest challenge we face on Steem blockchain is getting our posts seen, I have always believed the simplest and best value way of doing this is by commenting on the blog posts of others, the more you engage people and interact with them the greater the chance they will visit your own blog and return the favour. Other then spending all my free time commenting on Steem blockchain posts, I also distribute coffee roasting machines and also espresso coffee machines and roast my own Speciality Coffee Range. being one of the premium coffee suppliers Yorkshire including a wide range of filter coffee sachets. Finally I have a dedicated website to my Artisan small batch roasted coffee featuring roast and post packs and super easy coffee subscriptions

Proud sponsor with @derangedcontests of @brosino , free to play and cash out Steam rewards, head to Brosino Website now and start playing.

!steemitworldmap 53.766547 lat -1.801500 long Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. d3scr

This awesome animated Banner has been kindly been created by the wonderful @snook

The Coffee Break Discord Voice Chat Show, in @thealliance Mondays 10pm UTC hosted by @c0ff33a and @enginewitty

Don’t forget to vote for Witnesses https://steemit.com/~witnesses

You can vote for the Witness team c0ff33a and @derangedvisions if you like what we are doing for people and communities throughout the Steem blockchain - click vote for c0ff33a Witness

If you are uncertain about Witnesses and who to vote for you can vote for c0ff33a as your Witness Proxy and you will vote for the same Witnesses as I do.

If you have spare Witness votes, support other active Witnesses like @thekitchenfairy , @enginewitty and @jackmiller
@untersatz

2017 blogging, 2018 Witness, 2019 COFFEEA TOKEN