Engineering Explained
15 HN mentions · mentioned in 10 months, 2024–2026
20:10 · 2.2M views · May 17, 2024
Engineering Explained follows up on Tesla's claim that a Cybertruck towing a Porsche 911 could beat the 911 alone over a quarter mile. He walks through the MotorTrend drag race and explains why the claim did not hold up.
HN uses it almost entirely as evidence in criticism of Tesla's marketing claims, repeating that Tesla never ran the quarter mile it advertised.
15 comments from Hacker News
Or maybe it's because Musk runs around calling people pedophiles: [LINK] Maybe it's because his behavior is increasingly erratic and he doesn't seem to care about Tesla anymore: [LINK] Maybe it's because Tesla employees describe him as a pigeon CEO because "he comes in, shits all over us, and then leaves.": [LINK] Maybe it's because he advocates for the submission of Taiwan to China: [LINK] And for the submission of Ukraine to Russia: [LINK] Maybe it's because he says "China rocks" while the US is full of "complacency and entitlement": [LINK] Maybe it's because he pledged his commitment to China's core socialist values: [LINK] Maybe it's because he called California's covid measures "fascist": [LINK] But praised China because "Shanghai's COVID-19 measures helped lay the foundation for the city's future development": [LINK] Maybe it's because in 2016 Tesla claimed "that, as of today, all Tesla vehicles produced in our factory – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver" . That was a lie: [LINK] Maybe it's because Tesla lies about things as dumb as quarter mile times. There's simply no need to lie about it, but lying is just too much a part of the company culture: [LINK] this video [LINK] And so on and so forth. There's a lot not to like.
Musk has no commitment to the truth or even reality. He lies constantly. He lies about things there's simply no need to lie about. He can't help himself. He's spent 10 years lying about Tesla's full self-driving: [LINK] [LINK] He lies about being good at video games: [LINK] He lies about Cybertruck quarter mile times: [LINK] this video Tesla never even ran that quarter mile. When your engineers don't have commitment to basic honesty then you've got a rotten company. And the fish rots from the head: [LINK] He enjoys and promotes conspiracy theories: [LINK] He dabbles in antisemitism: [LINK] He stokes partisan division over the Los Angeles fires: [LINK] And so on and so on. X is an endless swamp of falsehoods with Musk himself spreading as much of it as he can. Without facts America will have no past and no future. America will be stuck in an eternal present, just like Russia. This is Musk's attempt at a Russification of America. America's in trouble.
The plug is just a plug. The more important part is the charging protocol and standard. That's CCS going forward. CCS now supports three plug types: Type 1 combo, Type 2 combo, and J3400. Older Teslas can't charge on these chargers because they don't have CCS support. Those cars will need to get a CCS retrofit. In general you shouldn't take anything Tesla says at face value. Lying is just too much a part of the company culture at Tesla. Tesla lies about things as dumb as quarter mile stunts. There was absolutely no need to lie about it, yet they just couldn't help themselves and they went ahead and lied about it anyway: [LINK] this video [LINK] Tesla never even ran the quarter mile. And the worst thing about it is the Cybertruck's lead engineer trying to rationalize the lie: [LINK] When your engineers lack commitment to basic honesty then you've got a sick company culture.
The problem is Tesla and Musk have been lying about full self-driving for years: [LINK] In 2016 Tesla said that "as of today, all Tesla vehicles produced in our factory – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver." That was a lie: [LINK] Tesla even lies about things as dumb as Cybertruck quarter mile times: [LINK] this video [LINK] Tesla never ran that quarter mile. And the worst thing about it was the Cybertruck's lead engineer trying to rationalize the lie: [LINK] When your engineers lack commitment to basic honesty then you've got a sick company culture. Lying is just too much a part of the culture at Tesla. Musk clearly doesn't value honesty or credibility.
Why do you want the articles to be "positive" or "negative"? Why do you not want them to simply be the fact of the matter? If you want more good news about Tesla then perhaps Tesla should be better run. Perhaps Tesla should abandon their policy of constantly lying. Tesla's been lying continuously about full self-driving for a decade. Tesla lies about dumb things there's no need to lie about like how fast the Cybertruck is: [LINK] [LINK] this video Tesla never ran that quarter mile, a lie which the lead Cybertruck engineer pathetically tried to defend. When even your engineers can't achieve basic honesty then you've got a sick company culture: [LINK] What "positive" spin do you want to see on these lies?