What if Tesla made a Slate-like EV instead of the Cybertruck?

Last month, Slate Slate received last month, as it took Quip from “Slate” and “Tesla” using the same 5 letters to convert my mental to high equipment. I have covered the EV world for 15 years, and I am not spending time in counter -factors. There is enough to cover the real world.

But … I am in the opinion of Tesla, and I should have fired a small, simple and cheap truck – in other words, what appeared for the first time – from the capture it produced, Cybletruck. This car was expensive and polarization, with a phrase, sales disaster. For 18 months, Tesla sold only about 50,000 months, compared to many expectations of this size. Worse, while Ev Crossover Utailaes sell tens of thousands per month, the most expensive Pickup trucks are not so not.

It was possible that the company that led the world in the production of EV for more than a decade had launched an inexpensive small Pickup that would press EVS into a full new category of buyers. Tesla may have offered more scope at the same price due to the production of internal battery cells. It was possible to be a global product, which was likely to be sold in Europe and China at all.

More importantly, it was possible to give Tesla the amount of $ 25,000, which was promised by CEO Elon Musk since 2020 – and at the same time a new car pioneer in a “white space” in the market where there was no other entry. Now, Tesla is no longer targeting $ 25,000: Musk suddenly said in October 2024 that the company has moved away from the idea of ​​”$ 25,000 Tesla” completely. He went on to propose the idea of ​​selling any Tesla of $ 25,000, not a roboty, “meaningless” and “ridiculous”.

Why exactly you should do Tesla on a list? I see four factors: First of all, the attractive idea is really about EV at really reasonable prices. Tesla could have made a small and cheap pickup, since the current assembly factories, low -cost batteries, as well as the opportunity to sell globally outside the box.

“$ 25,000” for Tesla Prosecution in the Grand League championships

The excitement is likely to reflect an unexpected product from an unknown maker of the intense market desire for EVS at really reasonable prices. This was historically what Tesla intended to do, over time: its size grows by producing higher eVs than EVS across via savings.

In 2024, Tesla provided about 1.789 million cars worldwide – 20,000 less than 2023 million. This makes the company larger than Mitsubishi (945,000) Subaru (976,000), and Mazda (1.170 million), but smaller than BMW (2.45 million) and BYD (4 million plus).

With MUSK hopes for selling hundreds of thousands of Cybertruck annually for good, the mainstay of Tesla is now in the sixth and ninth years (Model Y and Model 3 respectively). These vehicles are now facing competitors in all their main markets, which were definitely not in 2020 or 2017 when these cars were launched. More than 20 new EVS, from current auto manufacturers and startups such as Lucid and Rivian, have hit the market for those years ago

The classic way to enhance volume is to introduce new products in new sectors-and from 2020, the “Tesla” that has long been offered was that product. Even before the customs tariff, the American vehicle market suffered from the ability to bear the costs: the average price of transactions like sales for a new car from 47,000 to $ 48,000 since the epidemic. If EVS has to take off, their prices should be equal – or cheaper than – their gasoline counterparts. EV can really sell at reasonable prices like gangs. If any company is in a good position to present it, it will be Tesla.

Instead, Musk doubles his vision to become Tesla Company is Robotaxis and Humanoid Robots. Soon we will know more about the alternatives of this model of $ 25,000, “low -cost Teslas”. It is widely expected to be “unprotected versions” (stripped) of compressed versions of the Islamic car 3 and Todel Y Crossover. They may not start from $ 25,000, but we will discover soon enough. To be honest, they seem to be likely to generate the same excitement and tinnitus in which a list is unveiled.

Slate is now where Tesla was in 2011 and 2012, where she struggled to introduce the model in production in the newly obtained GM-Toyota factory in Fremont, California. After more than a decade, Tesla learned a lot about building vehicles in size. The company now has four factories: Fremont; Austin Shanghai, China; Outside Berlin in Germany. This experience is something that will have to implement Slate production, with experience throughout the auto industry, transfer it to the new employees who rent it to build cars in its own factory, a former print factory of 1.4 million square feet in Warsaw, Indiana.

With this experiment, the Tesla menu may have used traditional sealed steel construction. Slate has chosen a non -standard building technique: Gray -gray probellin panels installed on metal infrastructure. This provides a list of several hundred million dollars on solid sealing presses and the coating store that cannot be built. Want a list of a different color? Simply wrap it – just as Tesla was exposed to Cybertruck.

In order to be fair, Cybertruck also uses non -standard materials, which contributed to some important production delays before deliveries began in late November 2023. It was due to the new assembly factory only in Austin, Texas, but also the special tools for their flat and unwanted angle design and unusual challenges to reach acceptable levels in a vehicle built in that metal. We’ll see how Slate works in turn.

Elon Musk has identified the need for what was called “Gigafactory” to produce huge amounts of battery cells early in 2013. Tesla brought its partner in cells, Panasonic, to Reno Gigafactory while each manufacturer or other cars still buys cells of battery suppliers. Renault started providing 2170 cells to produce model 3 in January 2017.

It is now rumored that Tesla has the lowest cost of the battery per kilowatt hour from any non -Chinese maker. Globally, cells are produced for about 1.8 million volts per year, as well as more than its increasing energy storage. (Although it should be noted that last year, General Motors produced cells with higher energy with higher energy through its detailed project of Tesla’s Ultium cells – at least in North America.)

On the other hand, Slate will buy battery units collected from the Korean company SK-on, which also provides batteries to Ford for their F-150 electric receipt, and collect them in battery packages in its factory. Are they? same lonliness? A Slate spokesman did not respond to the comment.

We were betting on the cost of Slate for each KWH higher than Tesla. So Tesla could have captured a Slate capture with either more scope (of the battery capacity at the same price) or a lower price if it is stuck with expected Slate domains. Perhaps Tesla only provided the upper model (240 miles), of course; From the start, she said that EVS should have 200 miles.

One of the biggest defects of Tesla Cybletruck is that, at least at the present time, the North American vehicle remains only. Its length is a few inches from 19 feet – more than 2 feet longer than the S -6600 pounds. This is so large that it cannot be used comfortably on many European and UK roads. Analysts express doubts about the ability of the non -rust truck to comply with the effect of pedestrian protection in the European Union and standards.

As for China, Tesla said in December that she had no plans to sell the truck there “Now”. So it seems that Cybletruck is now limited to North America. For a new product that has been largely directed, it is supposed to have obtained one million or more reservations from all over the world, which could only be a lost chance.

On the other hand, on the other hand, a compressed Beck App can be designed or consisting of a sector of Tesla, on the other hand, from scratch to sale in all three main-completely-just like each Tesla model before Cybletruck. Small capacities are a well -known and acceptable amount there, and the news that Slate has a set of accessories for the goods box in development for use as a small car will put this car directly in competition with European makers who are now releasing electric compressed trucks. Except for this, Cachet Tesla could have had until recently.

The reasons for this idea are stupid

Of course, there are many reasons that make the menu -like vehicle completely the wrong thing for a to start it instead of Cybertruck.

The first and the most important thing is that, as the old industry says, “The low price is equal to low profits.” After 2020, when the company became profitable for the first time, its margins grew in the sales of Model 3 and the Y Model to impressive percentage. Even in high sizes, a low -price car is likely to have a battery of 80 kilowatt hours of small margins despite the low Tesla costs for cells. Cybertruck, which has been sold in the claim folders, may not be the challenge.

Second, any Tesla must have a central touch screen and the doctor. It is part of the brand’s DNA. This adds the cost clearly, as well as the camera suite to allow Tesla to continue to collect visual data for its hopes of obtaining a self -future.

Third, again to the brand’s image, the pickup is small, cheap and very square is what we thought was “Tesla”. This will require expanding the concept of what Tesla – though he did so online. Side note: Capture like the Treasury List may not be good in China, where a small Pickup is seen as a commercial vehicle for low wage workers.

Finally, a charger-like truck-or any two-door vehicle-is an inappropriate means that turns into a roboty, even on the assumption that it is equipped with the camera collection and the appropriate sensors wing. Five years ago, this was the direction in which Musk was leading the company.

As observed, I almost do not deal with anti -agents. There was an exception here, taking into account that the road did not take, because it seems to me more walking with what the world expected from Tesla from 2012 to 2020. Not to mention a lot of compatibility with the 2006 main Tesla Motors plan, specifically its third point: “Use Which – which money [from building affordable cars] To build a more affordable car. “However, cars at affordable should be desirable to make a change, Cyberrtruck is not, as the market showed. But it was possible to capture the small Tesla that resembles the list. Sic Transit Gloria Mondi.