Racket, PhD wrote:
Fat hurts wrote:
And now that we've seen the reveal, let's talk about the truck itself.
It's pretty great that Ford is going to sell an electric F-150. The problem is that the engineering is all wrong and it will be impossible to sell it at a profit.
The Cybertruck doesn't look like that just to get attention. It looks that way in order to be aerodynamic. With the electric F-150 having about the same drag coefficient as the gas-powered model, you'll need roughly 50% more battery power to get the same performance as a comparable Cybertruck. And that kills your profit margin.
Add that to the fact that Ford does not make its own batteries like Tesla will in Austin. Ford doesn't even have a dedicated partnership plant like Tesla/Panasonic in Nevada and GM/LGChem in Lordstown. So Ford will pay more per kWh than Tesla and GM for the foreseeable future.
Ford will need big help from the infrastructure bill if it wants to survive as a company.
It's a cheap truck intended for the fleet vehicle market. That's why it's only like $40k with a ~200 mile range
You are probably right. But Ford's web site does not give an availability date for the low end model. So they say they intend to build a $40k vehicle but Ford doesn't know when they will be able to release it. Meanwhile, the $40k Cybertruck, with 250 mile range is expected to start shipping next year.
Ford is in trouble.