There’s also this Ukrainian report on the matter but it’s in Ukrainian, so I’m sharing the Mastodon post in English.
From Musk… against Ukraine.
I hope that message is played loud and wide here in the US. Hell, in Europe too for that matter.
Um, excuse me… excuse me!
https://sh.itjust.works/c/noncredibledefense
We exist for a reason, stop stealing our stuff.
Setting aside the question of whether he’s actually going to take the thing into a fight, I don’t see how you’d get much more out of it than acting as a technical.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_(vehicle)
A technical, known as a non-standard tactical vehicle (NSTV) in United States military parlance, is a light improvised fighting vehicle, typically an open-backed civilian pickup truck or four-wheel drive vehicle modified to mount SALWs and heavy weaponry, such as a machine gun, automatic grenade launcher, anti-aircraft autocannon, rotary cannon, anti-tank weapon, anti-tank gun, ATGM, mortar, multiple rocket launcher, recoilless rifle, or other support weapon (somewhat like a light military gun truck or potentially even a self-propelled gun), etc.
Technicals fill the niche of traditional light cavalry. Generally costing much less than purpose-built combat vehicles, the major asset of technicals is speed and mobility, as well as their ability to strike from unexpected directions with automatic fire and light troop deployment. Further, the reliability of vehicles such as the Toyota Hilux is useful for forces that lack the repair-related infrastructure of a conventional military on land. However, in direct engagements they are no match for heavier vehicles, such as tanks or other armored fighting vehicles, and they are mostly helpless against any air support from a proper military. [citation needed]
The Cybertruck is a light truck. It’s got no armor, no relevant sensors. It’s not tracked, which probably isn’t the end of the world. The only notable thing about it is that runs on electricity, but in a battlefield context, my bet is that it’s easier to get ahold of fuel than electricity. I guess you don’t have to worry about fuel in a tank catching on fire, but lithium makes for exciting reactions too – I kind of doubt that the battery cases deal well with being ruptured. Militaries are generally using ICEs, not EVs, today.
I’d say that a Hummvee is a considerably-better-suited vehicle in that category, and nobody is going to make a big deal out of taking a Hummvee into a fight.
So …positives:
Its quite fast compared to most other technicals, on an undamaged road.
Its nearly silent.
Air Conditioning.
You can cut vegetables for meal prep with the frunk.
. … …
Ok negatives:
Unless they wrap or paint it, it is extremely shiny and highly visible.
Also, it is no longer silent once you start unloading with a rear mounted Kord or PKM.
It is significantly heavier than a similarly sized truck, not great for mud or crossing a structurally dubious bridge.
It can’t offroad for shit in actually difficult or broken terrain, we’ve seen many of these things completely break their axels over curbs or collisions that most modern SUVs would be able to drive away from.
Its functionally totally unarmored.
It will probably explode/go up in flames if shot.
Also, if its electrical systems are sufficiently damaged, it will lock you out, or in.
It may or may not just stop working, or prevent itself from turning on fully if it decides to do a software update and has connectivity issues.
If the doors are damaged or your stupid key fob thing breaks, the door ‘handles’ are by default flush with the door panel and you cannot actually enter the vehicle.
If the central touch screen is say, shot, or maybe just bumped and cracked by an ammo box… probably you also cannot even get the thing to start.
Also, once you’re close to the front line, where are you going to charge this thing? There’s definitely no fast chargers, and if you do find a house with a working 220v outlet you’re a sitting duck for the next 8 hours or so.
Ukrainians have been using electric bikes and scooters successfully, but a whole EV is another kettle of fish.
Conceivably they could macgyver together a diesel generator/transformer combo unit into an electrical cable that can charge a tesla?
Maybe?
I used to have a survival/backup battery/transformer combo that could be charged from portable solar panels or a wall outlet, and while I have no idea of their availability or price in Russia and Ukraine, I know there diesel generator/transformer/battery combo units or sets.
Recharging a Tesla off of solar would require basically a football field sized solar panel array though rofl, a very static and fragile target
8 hours
More like 3 days. A Tesla 3 standard range takes 10 hours on 240V @15A
Cybertrucks have big batteries
Oh, the noise is a good point. I do recall reading an article about use of EVs talking about potential utility for reconnaissance. Fair enough.
Not really. Vehicles of that size are not stealthy from a visual perspective, and far enough away to avoid visual detection makes it likely that engine sound isn’t going to give it away. Plus the limted range and lack of offroad ability makes it worse than something as simple as a motorcycle.
Now and electric motorcycle would be small and mobile enough to get close enough for the reduced sound to let it get a little closer. But at that point drones are far, far superior for reconnaissance.
Its main strength is that Ukraine would probably want to have Kadyrov’s personal Cybertruck as a trophy, so they’d be careful not to destroy it.
While that might play a very small part on their strategy I don’t think anyone in Ukraine thinks twice before shooting it should the situation really need it. It would make a nice trophy, agreed, but I think the mentality is that if it doesn’t burn then nice and even if it does the charred remains are still a trophy and a big PR win via social media.
Does a fully charged CyberTruck have enough range to drive from… wherever it is, to say… Kursk?
It would be the funniest thing in a while if Ukraine managed to hack into the Autopilot and tell the thing to drive itself across the frontline to be captured.
Just because I don’t really know the geography there, I thought I’d look it up. Sticker range on the cybertruck is apparently 500km, which (as the crow flies) would get you from Moscow to Kursk, or from Kursk to Kyiv.
Plus it fits Kadyrov perfectly to pretend having received something directly from a “big company leader”. He used to try and woo these kind of business people when he wasn’t sanctioned.
Musk won’t deny it probably simply because it fits with his current political alignments to ignore anything anti-Ukrainian.
Are republicans just openly supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now?
