The Rise (and Fall) of the Suburban Main Battle Tank

[Cudzoziemiec]

It reminds me of the vehicles drawn in a cartoon I can't remember the name of that used to feature in a motorbike magazine in the late 80s (and I don't mean Ogri!). All sort of Mad Max on a Katana.

[spesh]

The Cybertruck would have looked right at home on the pages of futurology books that were a thing in 80s*. With the benefit of hindsight, they were often hilariously wrong about what the early 21st century would look like.

* Examples being, but not limited to:

https://www.amazon.com/Arthur-C-Clarkes-July-2019/dp/0246129808
https://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Tomorrow-Robin-Kerrod/dp/0831794933
https://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Future-Cities-Living-Century/dp/0727011847

[Mr Larrington]

You know when Clarkson et al said "How hard can it be?" Before heading for the Sheds to play with angle-grinders?  The Cybertruck was one of the results that ended up on the cutting room floor.

[sg37409]

It reminds me of the vehicles drawn in a cartoon I can't remember the name of that used to feature in a motorbike magazine in the late 80s (and I don't mean Ogri!). All sort of Mad Max on a Katana.

Blood Runners by Andy Sparrow

[Mr Larrington]

Comment on FB: it's what you get if you combine cutting-edge tech and hard drugs.

[DuncanM]

I don't understand the whole thing about beating up doors. Doors are supposed to be flimsy - they are designed to be as light as possible while providing side impact protection. They aren't a stressed member in terms of the structure. So a door that can't be dented is almost entirely pointless weight.

[Kim]

The key factoid seems to be that it's the same steel that SpaceX is using for Starship (because rocket science).  It's a git to work with, so presumably getting hundreds of thousands of Tesla fanboys to bankroll a production line will help with R&D costs.  Besides, the stainless steel construction made the flux dispersal... [interrupted by the urgent beeping of a digital watch]

[DuncanM]

The key factoid seems to be that it's the same steel that SpaceX is using for Starship (because rocket science).  It's a git to work with, so presumably getting hundreds of thousands of Tesla fanboys to bankroll a production line will help with R&D costs.

Alternatively, the time spent trying to teach the robots to weld that steel into car bodies will result in massive production delays and enormous brittleness problems when out in the real world.
It sort of makes sense, if you want to build an "exoskeleton" instead of a body-on-frame. But making the bonnet, or the doors, or any other bolt on parts from it is just daft - loads of cost, almost no benefit.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Didn't someone say upthread that it was armoured? So instead of VIPs buying a regular car and getting it bullet-proofed, they can be a ready-armoured Tesla. Apparently there are some countries (South Africa...) where this is almost normal...

[quixoticgeek]

The key factoid seems to be that it's the same steel that SpaceX is using for Starship (because rocket science).  It's a git to work with, so presumably getting hundreds of thousands of Tesla fanboys to bankroll a production line will help with R&D costs.  Besides, the stainless steel construction made the flux dispersal... [interrupted by the urgent beeping of a digital watch]

Am I the only one looking at this stainless steel monstrocity, and thinking it will only be a matter of time until it causes something to catch fire?

Aren't doors also designed normally to break off if hit when open? I wonder if the overengineered nature of this tank means that they are too strong for such a fail?

J

[MattH]

[spesh]

Simone Giertz couldn't wait for Tesla to make a truck, so she made her own from a Tesla Model 3.

Fake commercial: https://youtu.be/R35gWBtLCYg

How she built it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKv_N0IDS2A

https://twitter.com/SimoneGiertz

[Mr Larrington]

Elsewhere the startling resemblance of the Muskon's latest to the tank in 80's video game "Battle Zone" has been noted.

[spesh]

Elsewhere the startling resemblance of the Muskon's latest to the tank in 80's video game "Battle Zone" has been noted.

I saw that one, along with a reference to the Warthog from the Halo computer game franchise in the replies to a post pondering eco-friendly "technicals"* (which sort of ties in with Cudzo's last post in this thread).

https://twitter.com/Jon_Christian/status/1197990384372191232


* Though I guess the lack of charging points across the Levant and north Africa might put a crimp in yer average jihadi's plans for acquiring Cybertrucks in the name of their perversion of Islam...

[The Family Cyclist]

Ah just saw the audi wankpanzer/suv advert. Give them an inch and they'll take a mile it says. Shouldn't it say give them an inch and they'll give you an inch if your lucky

[Sergeant Pluck]

Leaving aside the 37:1 ratio, which will no doubt change if it hasn't already, I am surprised that despite all the advances in ICE efficiency, catalytic converters etc., that overall emissions are going up and not down.

The "immense" rise in sales of high-emission sports utility vehicles means they now outsell electric cars in the UK by 37 to one, research has found.

As a result, overall exhaust emissions from new cars have been increasing, not declining, for the past three years, says the UK Energy Research Centre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50713616

[Cudzoziemiec]

Quantity beats quality.

[Jakob W]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox may be of relevance here.

[simonp]

Leaving aside the 37:1 ratio, which will no doubt change if it hasn't already, I am surprised that despite all the advances in ICE efficiency, catalytic converters etc., that overall emissions are going up and not down.

The "immense" rise in sales of high-emission sports utility vehicles means they now outsell electric cars in the UK by 37 to one, research has found.

As a result, overall exhaust emissions from new cars have been increasing, not declining, for the past three years, says the UK Energy Research Centre.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50713616

The advances in ICE efficiency are less than you'd think, since much of the advance is down to gaming the tests rather than real efficiency improvements.

[Jaded]

The efficiencies are there, they are just used for gadgets, more gadgets, and huge quantities of vanity and safety metal.

[Rowan]

Its these monster trucks that do my knut in


laws don't seem to apply

or is it just me being a silly cyclist not understanding traffic lights?

[rower40]

"Must overtake cyclist" beats red light every time.

[Socks]

l wonder if that driver complains about 'cyclists' going through red lights?

[ian]

Drivers go through red lights whenever it suits them, they're just blind to the practice and only notice it when a cyclist does it.

Anyhow, back to the wanker tankers, I passed a splendidly glossed and immaculate Range Rover sitting outside a house on the steppes of southerly Croydonia on Sunday replete with an electrical cable plugged into its snozzle. It could have been subtitled 'and this is why we're fucked.'

[Rowan]

Surely the "van" speed limits should be applied to these behemoth SUVs?

And the M6 Toll should charge then the van rate?

After all, they are bigger and heavier than some vans.

When I am plodding along gently in Big Van (my sleep-over van, registered as a motorhome, slept in when working away on client sites) it does shock me rather to see the speed those things go at. Move Over White Van Man- you have competition!

GC

I would take this a stage further and categorise any vehicle over a certain size / emissions / weight  as being of 'Special Type'  and have them fitted with Speed Limiters,  may be also Tachographs and require drivers to be better trained and face harsher punishments if they flout the law.  I'm sure there are very valid reasons for some of these vehicles, but if they couldn't go above 40mph (a speed that I would also limit HGVs to)  then they would only be used by those who really needed them.

Society needs to be moving away from bigger and bigger vehicles for personal transport and I don't see this happening unless these vehicles become onerous to own and use. We need to stop seeing giant 4x4s,  high performance limo's and sports cars as desirable and start viewing them as the environmental catastrophe  that they are.  I don't even see electric versions of range rovers etc  being acceptable either, their size and weight will still consume more energy that still has to be generated somewhere.

And if we did start to rid our roads of these oversized monstrosities may be more people would feel comfortable cycling, we need a completely different mind set to personal transport.