Cybertruck gets stuck in Australia – CleanTechnica

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We want to eliminate some FUD and have a lot of fun at the same time. Colin Steve recently told me how he towed his teardrop caravan from Yeppoon to Sydney to see an early “surprise” of the Tesla Cybertruck. He went for a Cybertruck tumble.

We are often told: “You can’t tow a caravan with that!” “There are no electrical appliances in the world.” Words that sometimes come out of the mouths of conservative politicians in Australia. So, Colin and his wife Susan set out to refute the naysayers, towing their Tucana teardrop truck behind a long-range Tesla Model 3 on a 1,500 km (1,000 mi) drive to Sydney, New South Wales. In comparison, readers may wish to refer to previous Qatar stories. Here’s one about a two-ton boat.

The original plan was to drive from Yeppoon to Brisbane to attend their daughter’s university graduation, then have a look around the Northern Rivers in NSW. Then they saw the announcement that the Cybertruck would be on display in Sydney for a month. Colin was prepared to wait for the Cybertruck to arrive in Brisbane, but Susan had prepared a surprise. “We got impatient and decided to go to Sydney. I’d had a reservation for five years. It was only a $150 deposit and it was worth it,” Colin told me.

It took Colin two days to make the trip from Yeppoon to Brisbane (675 km). His normal driving range (450 km) was cut in half due to the truck being towed. The Tucana weighs 850 kg. The car handled the weight with ease. Colin collected some statistics that will interest the technically minded: “The car used an average of 320 W/km when towing. Normally, without the truck, it used 175 W/km. The best we did with the truck was 260, the worst was 360 W/km. We didn’t “Not only in diameter, but we also had headwinds.”

Colin experimented with different cruising speeds: “One day I sat at 90kph for 200km. Then the next day I drove at 80kph. I used less energy at 80kph than I did at 90kph. But perhaps more people were upset that Colin’s Tesla has a lift kit that raises the car by 40mm and produces more traction, and it also has bigger tires – 235/45 R19.

I asked about shipping with a connected truck. “I had to stop the truck 75% of the time to charge the car,” he told me. Was this a bit of an uncomfortable process? “Well, the more often you do it, the faster it gets. If there’s no one else around, you can park your car and access the chargers. See photo below. Although more charging stations are being built to accommodate EV drivers who They do tow, but there’s still a bit of a rarity Colin told me about one he uses in Calliope near Gladstone This supercharger has one out of 8 dedicated to the turrets that you can drive forward — but you have to drive in and out , but you do not have to disconnect. As for the other seven, you must return to them.

As expected, Colin and Susan had a lot of interesting conversations at charging stations and caravan parks where they stopped to rest and ‘refuel’. At times, they felt like a “mobile data bank.” There was a lot of interest from their fellow campers. While they were setting up, people came up and chanted “It’s amazing you tow your truck with a Tesla!” Or “My daughter/son has a Tesla, but I didn’t know you could tow it!”

As they were moving their truck into position, they had to realize that curious onlookers couldn’t hear the car and therefore had to be extremely careful. When Colin asked to charge at a powered caravan site, the answer was always positive. He paid between $30 and $67 per night for a powered site with no additional charges for plugging in a Tesla.

And the surprise? They had originally only planned to go to Brisbane, but Susan had planned a surprise. The cat was out of the bag when Steve (TOCA committee member) called to explain the protocol for displaying the Cybertruck at Tesla’s Parramatta showrooms in Sydney. It’s hard to keep secrets when the car answers the phone for you. Susan laments: “Colin always finds out when I arrange a surprise for him!”

Susan and Colleen have driven from Brisbane to Sydney before (about another 1000km). “Three years ago, every Tesla driver would wave at you like crazy. Now that Teslas are popular, people have stopped doing that. However, the driver of the white Model Y waved at you, probably because he was towing a tandem cage trailer.”

They arrived in Sydney around lunchtime, which meant traffic was light, so they had a good ride commuting with Tesla. Our friends are just 10 minutes from the showroom in Parramatta. I asked them about their reactions to seeing the Cybertruck for the first time in person: “It was like going to a nightclub. Two security guards stood on each side and recorded us on an iPad. There was no lineup because it was the second week of the show. A steady stream of customers came to view the car. We spent two hours in the showroom to thoroughly inspect the Cybertruck. So I got down and looked down.

“After all the hype, I was expecting a huge monster truck like a Ram or Silverado. My first thought was yes, this will fit in my garage and driveway. I was anticipating having to build a shed just to fit it. I still plan to build a shed, as no I only have room for one car at home but it wouldn’t have to be such a large shed that the Cybertruck shown has its suspension set up.

“Unfortunately, we were not allowed to ride in the truck due to an accident last week. Tesla had limited access. There were about 6-10 people around the truck at any given time. We had a lot of chats with other customers about what they were driving. One of The guys engineered it and downsized from two ICE cars to one electric car. I did the math and ended up with two Teslas – a 3 and a Y and the money saved made it possible.

It’s too bad that Colin and Susan missed the special event for TOCA members for one week when they are allowed into the truck.

While in the showroom, they took the opportunity to check out the Model 3 Highland Performance. The Tesla showroom is located in the Parramatta car sales area, so Colin visited other car showrooms, especially Subaru. He found that the sales staff were keen and knowledgeable about the Solterra EV. Colin has a history with Subaru. “My other car is an Outback H6 and I own a WRX and a Forester.”

No drive in Sydney would be complete without a back end. Colin’s tow bar was pushed to the back of the car. The car was drivable (because it ran on gasoline), but it made it difficult to hitch the truck. There were a few bush mechanics working with a saw, and they were on the road again on the trip back to Yeppoon.

Colin and Susan reconsidered the chargers they used on their trip south, as they knew where to park the car for easy access. They drove at night and discovered that Tesla Superchargers are much cheaper (39 cents per kilowatt-hour versus 84 cents per kilowatt-hour). Our readers will be happy to know that Susan, Colleen, the Model 3, and the truck made it home safely. The Tesla has been assessed by insurance companies and is awaiting repairs at Beau Murphy’s in Rockhampton.