Ulrich, Lawrence. “From Global Giants to Feisty Startups, Electric Trucks Battle for Supremacy.” IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News, IEEE, 24 Mar. 2021, 15:10 GMT, spectrum.ieee.org/cars-that-think/transportation/advanced-cars/electric-trucks-cybertruck-hummer-f-150-rivian-who-will-be-first-to-deliver.
Article title:
From Global Giants to Feisty Startups, Electric Trucks Battle for Supremacy
Photo: Tesla
My summary of the article:
It's a new era of cars with an ongoing trend of moving away from fossil fuel vehicles and towards electric vehicles. Tesla has ever since dominated the EV market with more than 80% of EV customers using Tesla vehicles. The battle for domination of the EV market, however, is not yet done; it has only begun. Automobiles are not the only vehicles in the EV industry. It is just one part of it. Trucks are following up with the trend, with many companies diving into it: from tech giants like Tesla and Ford to startups like Lordstown Motors and Canoo. As Ulrich, the author of the article, puts it, the question that everyone is curious about is: who will "become the next Tesla"?
The list obviously begins with Tesla, which is also Ulrich's bet on the ultimate winner of the competition. Indeed, it would be unwise to bet on any other company than Tesla, more so if the competition is on electric vehicles. Tesla just has all the expertise and experience needed to create such vehicles. Tesla's model in the truck industry is the "Tesla Cybertruck", a truck that certainly would not appeal to some traditionalists but still has some amazing stats that put it highest up on Ulrich's list. Most notable about Cybertruck is its dent-resistant stainless steel exoskeleton along with its polymer-composite glass.
Down the list are other electric trucks such as the Ford F-150 EV, Rivian R1T, GMC Hummer EV, etc.
My response to the article:
My bet also goes to Tesla, and just a slight glimpse of Cybertruck is more than enough to make up my mind and solidify my choice. The greatest strength of Tesla is, along with having the technology to make genuinely well performing electric vehicles, their design philosophy. Tesla vehicles are never bland. When you look at any model of Tesla (Model X, Model 3, Model S, etc), you can notice that their design is nothing like any other cars or electric cars. Their design is unique but at the same time intriguingly very appealing and satisfying. It shows how eager Tesla (and/or Elon Musk) is at taking risks.
Cybertruck is well along the line of Tesla's design philosophy; just that they may have gotten a bit too radical this time. This, however, is not a bad thing at all, since it is a way to reinforce the audiences and customers that Tesla is unlike other companies and is openly willing to take risks at the cost of failure. This is the very aspect of Tesla that makes it such a great and successful company. It is also why Elon Musk is such a renowned businessman. He knows what captivates the customer's mind (or at least my mind; my mind is definitely captivated by Cybertruck, Tesla, SpaceX, and in fact most things Elon Musk do).
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