Courtesy of @mchambers_22, @jcov_84, and @Stoopdogg84
I have watched the video of a Tesla Cybertruck failing to climb a hill more times than I should probably admit.
The obvious takeaway some people had was: "LOL the Cybertruck sucks." (I'll get into the veracity of this in a moment.)
This isn't just a clip of a car — there's a whole storyline here. There's character- and world-building. This is cinema.
First of all, the most noticeable thing is that the Cybertruck is carrying a Christmas tree in its bed. (You can get a permit to chop down a Christmas tree in the Stanislaus National Forest in Northern California, where this video was apparently shot. However, the tree permit rules state that cars have to stay on the roads. So this means the Cybertruck driver could very well have been breaking the rules by going off-road here.)
Then, there's the Ford truck that comes in to help tow the Cybertruck out of the muck. Is it a friend who came along? A stranger, who heroically happened to come by and offer a tow?
There's two women or girls in the background, and a small child who's on the ground making a snow angel out of boredom — unclear on which vehicle they're from, if any.
One thing we do know is that it's not a plant by Ford. (Ford's CEO said towing the Cybertruck wasn't a stunt to advertise his trucks.)
But the central question — does the Cybertruck suck? — is more complicated. Here's what we know:
The information is all third-hand. The Instagram poster wasn't there; his friends who were on the scene sent him the video. He's relaying the information he heard from them,
The driver apparently said he worked for Tesla.
The "RC" on the side of the truck appears to indicate it's a prototype — potentially an early or incomplete model.
The vehicle had to be pulled out using its suspension and didn't have any towing points or hitches on its body, apparently — another sign it was a prototype.
It seems that there was a software malfunction that caused the all-wheel-drive to malfunction.
The driver —either by accident or for testing purposes — wasn't using the right kind of tires for snow, it seems.
The tires weren't aired down for better traction.
The driver wasn't really rocking the vehicle back and forth the way an experienced snow driver might.
In other words, we might just be dealing with a bad driver.
So does the Cybertruck suck at climbing out of snow? Unclear. (Tesla didn't respond to BI's request for comment.)
But what we do know is that one Tesla driver is going home with a beautiful Christmas — and one Ford owner is going home with a great story to tell.
