this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
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traingang
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First off, lol
Second, that seems like a major design flaw given the possibility of something exactly like this happening. Was it that difficult to disengage whatever the mechanism is when it’s not running?
That might as well be the guiding philosophy of these junkers.
A billionaire narcissist high on his own PR hype can not be corrected when he gets a really fucking ignorant idea, so whatever he conjures up gets praised by yes-men.
The cybertruck is shit but this is a problem for most if not all EVs. The wheels are mounted to the motor which then generates current when the wheels spin. I’m not sure how difficult it is to solve but at least Toyota, Ford, BMW, BYD and Rivian haven’t figured it out either. They all recommend towing on a flatbed or using dollies.
In AWD gas cars it's a problem because the front and rear wheels are linked together, but this thing has two bazinga drive packs that are independent. It only needs to lock one to have an effective "park" and it doesn't even needs that because it could use one axle's brakes as a parking brake. They could have made it easier to tow (you know, for when it inevitably breaks) but they chose to spend more time and effort to make it worse.
There's actually loads of vehicles you can't tow like that without damaging. It's one of the major reasons most tow trucks are flat beds, now.
However (and likely what is happening here in this picture) a lot of dense cities with parking issues and traffic will have plenty of tow trucks like what is pictured because they're quicker and don't need as much room. But after the initial hook up and dragging the towed vehicle away from the curb (as pictured) the tow truck driver will get out and place wheel dollies under the two tires still on the ground so that they also don't end up rolling.
This is really the only way you can tow a vehicle against an owners wishes if you can't get the drive wheels picked up off the ground (since the vehicle would be in park) so all tow truck operators who don't use flat beds will have a set of wheel dollies with them. Drag it away from the curb, then attach the dolly, then drive away.