Long before Tesla was able to deliver the first Cybertruck, Elon Musk published a video via Twitter (not yet X at the time). “Cybertruck pulls an F-150 uphill,” is all he wrote. You can see that a Cybertruck effortlessly pulls a Ford pick-up up a hill in a tug-of-war, even though the Ford counteracts with full force. The promise: When it comes to torque, no combustion engine can beat the Cybertruck – and the vehicle easily wins the tug-of-war. It was only a matter of time before someone tried it.
In a video from the “Cyber Hooligan” channel, a handful of YouTubers examine the Tesla boss’s full-bodied promise. Competing: A Chevrolet Silverado and the Cybertruck. Aside from the fact that the filmmakers put themselves in great danger through their negligence by attaching the rope to the trailer hitch, which in extreme cases can cause the ball head to come loose and turn into a deadly projectile, they come to an amazing conclusion Result.
Because contrary to what Musk suggests in the video, the Cybertruck doesn’t seem to be suitable for tug-of-war at all. Even on the first try, the stainless steel electric vehicle can be pulled away from its combustion engine rival with ease. Even a second attempt doesn’t make the Tesla look any better. “I have no power,” reports his driver.
It turns out that the Cybertruck cuts off power as soon as it is pulled. The YouTubers suspect that the traction control prevents tug-of-war. But since you can’t switch it off, you pull the corresponding sensor cable. The third attempt looks better, but the Chevy truck is not being driven in this tug-of-war, but is simply standing at the other end of the rope with the handbrake pulled. The video does not reveal why a comparable third attempt was not made.
The conclusion: “We come to the conclusion that the Cybertruck apparently has a safety device that prevents something like a tug of war,” it says. “I think that’s a smart decision because after Musk’s video it was clear that people would try it out. And before anything breaks, you prevent it altogether.” So the attempt clearly failed.
The sobering demonstration of the truck’s tug-of-war abilities certainly raises questions for attentive spectators. Even if the tug-of-war per se has no real relevance to the everyday use of the vehicle, spectators worry, for example, how the truck would react if you wanted to pull a heavy trailer steeply uphill, which developed a corresponding counter-pull downwards. Or a boat on a ramp. Does the truck also turn off the engine and roll along?
It’s strange that the Cybertruck doesn’t seem to live up to this advertising promise either. The Porsche race at the vehicle launch, in which Musk boldly propagated that the Cybertruck could pull a Porsche 911 on a trailer the quarter mile faster than the sports car could do under its own power, also turned out to be a clever hoax (you can find out more here) .
As far as the tug-of-war is concerned, it remains to be seen whether anyone will provide counter-evidence in a timely manner that it is possible to effortlessly drag a combustion engine behind you. The YouTubers do not rule out that they were unable to do this due to a lack of knowledge about the vehicle settings. But if it were to work, they explain, they wouldn’t know how. “Tesla will argue that a corresponding software update is planned,” one viewer assumes somewhat sarcastically, “and that will definitely come very soon, as always with Tesla.”
