A little bit long video but worthwhile to watch it complete.
I never knew before how revolutionary the Cybertruck’s engineering was. A true game changer.
And I believe that it illustrates how come the stumbling attempts at electrification from the established automakers have not been successful.

 

A little bit long video but worthwhile to watch it complete.
I never knew before how revolutionary the Cybertruck’s engineering was. A true game changer.
And I believe that it illustrates how come the stumbling attempts at electrification from the established automakers have not been successful.

If there ever was a solution without a problem that is it.

 

Tesla makes it impossible to power your home from your EV. Ford's EV Pickup (the Lightning) can power your home. Gave that a passing consideration. But after reviewing the problems with the truck I kind of shied away from it. Problems. STUPID problems. Problems that should have never happened.

Oh well. It's a Ford. What can you expect?!

 

And I am no Tesla fanboy either.

But one has to give credit to Elon, he is kicking le derrière of the established auto companies, by taking the serious challenges and risks necessary to advance the technology.
A tiny example: ditching the 12V automotive voltage. This is not new at all, back in the mid-1990s I worked for a company which made electrical and electronics modules for the automotive OEMs. Back then, it was already realized that 12V would be too constrained for the ever increasing amount of electrical loads. But the OEMs, after some study, decided it was too expensive and the customers preferred something else. Leather, give the customers leather, as the late Lee Iacocca used to say.

 

I'm onboard with this.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/30...ruck-powershare-bidirectional-vehicle-to-load
Tesla Cybertruck will usher in a new ‘Powershare’ bidirectional charging feature

The feature will allow Cybertruck owners to power their camping equipment, power tools, or even their entire home during a blackout, just by using their electric truck as a mobile generator. The truck also features a 240-volt outlet in the rear bed that can be used to charge other EVs. An image on Tesla’s website shows the Cybertruck charging a Model Y.
The Cybertruck can put out as much as 11.5kW, which is more than the Ford F-150 Lightning’s 9.6kW of onboard power or the GMC Sierra Denali EV’s 10.2kW.

 

Can someone please clarify the purpose of the 48 volt battery? Indeed, why do EVs in general have a 12 volt battery when they have a bank of batteries at a higher voltage?

My brother-in-law has a Nissan Leaf. If the 12 volt battery goes flat you can’t start the car and you can’t charge the battery bank until you charge the 12 volt battery! Is this just another example of poor engineering design or am I missing something?

 

There are so many things wrong with the Cybertruck it’s hard to find a place to start—but there are plenty of sources on the web where people aren’t part of the cult and the problems are well laid out.

Then there is Tesla—basically a company run by a liar who can‘t deliver on the promises he pulls out of… somewhere… and fakes things to cover that up. They also don’t seem to care about killing their customers (self driving) until it affects the bottom line.

This truck was supposed to be half the price and delivered years ago to people who pre-paid. But this is right in line with other Tesla products, and other “brilliant, innovative new things” announced by Musk. If you only know about Tesla from the mainstream press and loud fanboys you don’t really know Tesla. There is a good chance this will all be moot soon, though, Tesla is in real danger of going under soonish.

 

The only thing I can find wrong with the CyberTruck is...........It's ugly.

 

The only thing I can find wrong with the CyberTruck is...........It's ugly.

“What’s wrong with the Cybertruck?"

First Google result.

 

Actually, doesn't look so bad in the black wrap, but still........ugly.

 

Ford's EV Pickup (the Lightning) can power your home.

Does it back feed through the charging port? If so it is illegal unless there is some kind of fool proof interlock with the incoming power line.

 

My brother-in-law has a Nissan Leaf. If the 12 volt battery goes flat you can’t start the car and you can’t charge the battery bank until you charge the 12 volt battery! Is this just another example of poor engineering design or am I missing something?

Probably missing something.

It's the same in hybrid vehicles, as far as I know.

When the vehicle is off, all electronics are powered by the 12V battery. The proximity radios for the FOBs, the alarm, domes, tailgate motor, brake vacuum pump, etc.

When you press the start button without pressing the brake pedal it puts the car into "ACC" mode like on old mechanical ignition locks. Then you can operate the radio and power windows, but still everything is on the 12V battery.

Only when you press the brake pedal and push the start button does the vehicle put itself into drive mode and connect all electricals to the traction battery. At which point it starts charging the 12V battery from the traction battery.

Why would the traction battery get disconnected completely when the vehicle is off? Probably many reasons, and all of them are safety and government regulations related. And you obviously can't start or charge a car that has no power source connected.

 

Probably missing something.

It's the same in hybrid vehicles, as far as I know.

When the vehicle is off, all electronics are powered by the 12V battery. The proximity radios for the FOBs, the alarm, domes, tailgate motor, brake vacuum pump, etc.

When you press the start button without pressing the brake pedal it puts the car into "ACC" mode like on old mechanical ignition locks. Then you can operate the radio and power windows, but still everything is on the 12V battery.

Only when you press the brake pedal and push the start button does the vehicle put itself into drive mode and connect all electricals to the traction battery. At which point it starts charging the 12V battery from the traction battery.

Why would the traction battery get disconnected completely when the vehicle is off? Probably many reasons, and all of them are safety and government regulations related. And you obviously can't start or charge a car that has no power source connected.

Thanks, but you have confirmed how they work, but not why. The main battery presumably consists of a matrix of serial and parallel cells. Is there a valid safety reason why they don’t just tap into the lowest voltage, even if it’s only 3.7 volts? The stupidity of government regulations is not a valid engineering or safety argument in my view

 

Well first off you would have to deal with the uneven discharging and charging of the traction batteries.

Second if you did use 3.7 volts for the "other" devices you would not get the copper benefit of using 48 volts and you would probably have issues with usable voltage for the "other" devices.

And of course, if the traction battery fails you can't use OnStar or listen to the radio while the tow truck arrives.

 

Thanks, but you have confirmed how they work, but not why.

There are many reasons. I can speculate about a few obvious ones. I imagine putting a hybrid/electrical vehicle into drive mode is not like plugging in a toaster. Before all the systems are brought online there must be dozens of different fault and sensor checks.

And they all need to pass in the right order before all the systems are started in the right order also. This is a system in close proximity to humans, operating at many hundreds of volts, as much as 800V in the case of the Cybertruck. A system that gets wet, shakes, and rodents can chew on the wires if they get in somewhere.

So it makes sense to have a smaller battery bootstrap the computers that do all the checks and bring everything online.

Even if you decided to not do that, then you'd still have to pick some battery charge level where everything shuts off so as to not damage the traction battery. So if you get into a situation like this, you'd need to tow the vehicle to a high voltage charger. You would not be able to "jump" start it from any other 12V vehicle on the road. Or is the case with hybrids, since there is no engine starter, they can be "jumped" from a little pocket 12V jumper battery.

 

Does it back feed through the charging port? If so it is illegal unless there is some kind of fool proof interlock with the incoming power line.

Don't know enough about the how's of the backed, but I'd assume there's some sort of transfer switch within the control box. But like I said - I don' know. You CAN have batteries on your solar. When power fails and the battery is put into service - there must be some way of preventing sending dangerous voltage out on the grid.

 

Don't know enough about the how's of the backed, but I'd assume there's some sort of transfer switch within the control box. But like I said - I don' know. You CAN have batteries on your solar. When power fails and the battery is put into service - there must be some way of preventing sending dangerous voltage out on the grid.

'Legal' line interactive grid-tie inverters must conform to this code.
Anti-islanding protection is a requirement as per UL1741 / IEEE 1547.
https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/anti-islanding-and-smart-grid-protection

Any off-grid outputs from solar/battery powered inverters, from any source MUST be isolated from the utility grid connection on the device. Yes, there is a auto transfer/disconnect switch when on battery power.
https://solar.se.com/us/en/solution/residential-grid-tied-solar-with-backup-power/

 

 

The main battery presumably consists of a matrix of serial and parallel cells. Is there a valid safety reason why they don’t just tap into the lowest voltage, even if it’s only 3.7 volts?

Having worked for many years with battery banks, one should never, ever do that.
A series connected battery bank already poses a significant challenge to maintain each individual cell balanced with the rest of the stack. Adding a shunting current draw would mean that those cell(s) would have its charge depleted first. If one continues to draw current from the bank, that individual cell will become reverse-polarized, damaging it and/or creating a fire hazard.

I also worked for automotive-electronics OEMs. The automotive companies are beyond cost-conscious, and would gladly delete a 12V battery if it made sense and didn't create risks.

 

Would you pay $3,000 for this tent?

https://electrek.co/2023/11/30/teslas-cybertruck-basecamp-is-a-funky-2975-tent-attachment/
Tesla’s Cybertruck Basecamp is a funky $2,975 tent attachment


https://electrek.co/2024/03/08/tesla-shipping-cybertruck-tent/