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The Mighty Cybertruck Keeps Getting Stuck in the Snow
(futurism.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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I'm curious if this is a "Cyber Truck" issue or an electric vehicle / drive train issue. I mean, do the electric motors in these vehicles have "gears"?
It's the tires
The harder and small the tire, the better the range.
Good truck/snow tires are huge and a little flat, pretty much the opposite.
They likely switched tires last minute to try and hide the horrible range
I have a different electric truck with 21" tires, and it does fine in the snow. It even has a snow mode. The weight might make it even better than some pickups.
This is the tires or something else with the design, for sure.
Technically they have gears, but not as you normally think of gears.
In my opinion, Partially it's an electric vehicle thing (lots of torque) and partially it's a software thing (wheel slip and torque control algorithms) The suspension design and tire size choice could affect this as well, but not as much in my opinion as the previous points.
If you're driving in the snow you don't want a lot of torque starting out. When I'd drive a manual transmission I'd start off in 2nd rather than 1st for this reason.
Electric motors are famous for having maximum torque instantly, so unless it's got an accurate wheel slip sensor it will apply too much torque and just spin.
Then there's the problem of it being super heavy. The best car I ever drove in the snow was a Scion xA. It was so light it would float above any accumulation. My motor scooter was even better.
Tesla has excellent wheel slip controls, that is why the Plaid can accelerate like it does on the street. I am certain the issue is driver skill and tires, but mostly driver skill.
These trucks are really heavy, being made out of metal. Google says 6600-6800lbs while a F150 is 4200-5700 lbs
No idea on the drive train, would be interesting to see though!
mostly seems like a tire issue. These things come with all seasons made for fuel efficiency, not traction.
No, but why would „gears“ make any difference?
If you're starting off in slippery conditions is good to start in a higher gear so there's less torque and you don't exceed the lower amount of friction with the road surface.
It's quite a bit different for electric motors because they don't have the same power band that ICE have. Electric motors deliver maximum torque at 0rpm. With electric vehicles, you really just have to rely on driver skill and automatic traction control. Gearing won't help you.
It's not an electric vehicle thing... Plenty of other EVs do fine in the snow. Mine even has a snow drive mode and it does pretty great on all season tires.