I'm actually the ideal target market for an Electric Truck
I drive 30k miles a year
I already like the functionality of trucks and have one
I tow
I offroad a ton
I go on long drives where sometimes the next turn is 300-400 miles (auto drive)
I'm an early adopter and tech lover
I kinda like sports cars and acceleration
I know lots about electricty having lived in an airstream for years.
I'm a photographer and love having an interesting subject to photograph
THE LOOK... AND MY PHOTOGRAPHY
I was not a fan of the look, it was jarring... it has grown on me but I don't consider it beautiful... YET.
Is it photogenic... sure as a photographer I'd be pretty excited to take some amazing pictures of it. In fact I'd be down to get an early version and take a bunch of pictures for Tesla.
But yeah when i watched the launch videos i was like... dangit couldn't it have looked just somewhat normal. It's been a few days and I don't really care as much and the look has grown on me. 2 years from now who knows where i'll be at... but hey deposit is refundable.
But i do think the pictures would be striking and way fun... and I do some pretty cool truck pictures already.
CYBERTRUCK SPECS ARE WHAT I WANTED!!!
500 miles ... my tacoma loaded gets about 260 miles (It's extra loaded down)
0-60 2.9 seconds ... my tacoma gets about ... well not much
(this will be fun I'm essentially getting my first sports car too)
6.5ft bed... the 4.5ft bed of the Rivian is likely a deal breaker for me
I do expect to sleep in the back of my trucks when on camping trips up in the mountains without the airstream
Ultra tough design ... I go places that get lots of scratches
SIDE NOTE: Windows thing doesn't bother me much... do you know what happens when you through a 5lb piece of metal into any other vehicle? Actually glad it broke in the demo... now they'll make it even better.
The Lights ... They look amazing to be honest
Modding trucks is fun but a pain. Kinda nice to just have a completely capable thing with all the bells and whistles from the start.
The towing ... my airstream is about 5500lbs and maybe I don't want to always have just an 18ft airstream. But the tacoma probably needs to be regeared to better tow the airstream (with it being so loaded)
14k towing is gonna be more than enough.
Drive Assistance ... do you know how many long long straight boring highways i drive each year? Put that thing on auto-cruise and take the I-80 and next thing i do is 500 miles later? AND it's way safer than me in that situation. Ummm sign me up. Also answer is I've done the stretch from Tahoe to SLC about 5-6 times this year alone.
Offroading... I'm certainly not the type to baby a truck like this. I'll take it up in the mountains the day I get it, i'll take it out in the middle of the Utah deserts. The clearance is amazing. The tires look great. We know it's durable. Rivian talks about how well they'll do water crossings... gotta assume tesla has that same capability. (Fingers crossed) Hope they also handle dirty dirty dirt roads. My assumption is yes. They've talked about taking the thing to the baja 500.
UPGRADING TACOMAS COMPARISON
By comparison on my tacoma... I've added armor, an A.R.E. shell, lots of steel armor, a whole new suspension system, dual battery, lots of dash wiring and several gadgest, a front camera, extra outlets, in the cab inverters, top light, rack and a truck bed storage system, larger tires and an air compressor... I still need to regear the truck to better handle the weight I always have in there and towing.
Most all of that will just come standard and better on the Cybertruck. So when you take all that into account price is pretty fair even if i'm looking at the tri motor.
THE KICKER... what pushed me over the edge
2 years for the Tri-Motor is a good amount of time for me to save up money and I love that this goal will motivate me
I can also work toward having a house with good electricity. It's good amount of time to get good usage out of the present tacoma. It's nice to essentially get a second gen since single motor and dual motor are the first gen.
However i also thought about it and I'm not even so sure I would require a house on a 500 mile charge truck... so that really pushed me over the edge to the yes side.
I could drive around town doing errands and photoshoots for a week before dropping in for a charge somewhere... I work remotely so sitting on my phone for 30 minutes working is not an issue or charging while grabbing some food is fine.
Also i have a just in case option of having at least normal electricity even when I'm up in the mountains with my airstream and the generator. That's not a ton of miles of charging but it's a nice backup.
Also I have lots of power needs in the airstream when i'm working on my 40" monitor/computer. I'd assume in a pinch the truck actually is a power wall for my airstream. Before getting a charge I charge up my battery bank on the airstream. They're basically both helping eachother out.
I put in about 30k miles a year on my cars for the last 10 years ... at 13/mpg and potentially $3/gal that's about $5-7k a year in gas. Not sure what the electic cost will be... but I know it's less.
And i assume the price of gas is likely to go up not down.
Also refer back to my super long cross country drives on long straight deserted highways... auto-drive seems safer and worlds better for me.
If you're down go grab one... at least put yourself in line... you'll have time to think it through. Maybe the look will also grow on you. The specs sure will.
Make sure to click on that link before ordering... I was planning on using my friends referral link but thought it was some sort of code and before you know it I had my reseveration and my friend didn't get a referral.
RESPECTED OPINIONS
I've had a lot of friends order one... a bit jealous they jumped in line so much earlier than me. But then I watched a lot of youtube videos as well.
There's no doubt in the specs of this awesome vehicle... I still think there's still doubt on the look. BUT we have 2 years for it to become more accepted and maybe fashion being what fashion is... maybe the truck will be in fashion. Honestly I'm not interested in the truck for the stares... so i hope there isn't a lot. That may actually decrease my willingness to pull the trigger when my spot in line comes up. I'm not in it to fight a culture war ... i don't need a truck to make me feel unique or stand out. I have just wanted an electric truck for a while... i'm a perfect candidate for it. I'm getting the truck Despite the looks.
YOUR TURN TOYOTA
Everyone is talking about Ford jumping in with an electric f150... i actually don't have really high expectations. But maybe Toyota will suprise us. My last 4 vehicles have been Toyota and I'm a fan.
Let's be honest if one of these companies wants awesome picturs I'm willing to negotiate. These are just pictures I take in my spare time on my trips. If i were actually contracted or had some sort of deal then things would be much better.
These are images of my first tacoma... that a toyota dealership dropped off of a lift and now i have a new one. (Yes it sucked... a lot... but now i have a silver tacoma)
