Sandy Munro Compares Hummer EV, Tesla Cybertruck, & Rivian R1T
In his new video, Sandy Munro compares the new Hummer EV, Rivian R1T, and Tesla Cybertruck. Some of the topics Sandy dives into are battery construction, range, and cost. One thing Sandy noted about the Cybertruck is that it’s probably not going to be able to crab or do tank turns. He describes a potential situation where “you go over a hill and suddenly you’re staring at an impasse or a blind alley. … Then you’re going to have to do some kind of 100 point turn to get yourself out of there.” Sandy noted that he did like the tank turn on the Rivian.
Sandy pulled up a comparison chart between the three electric trucks. As you can see in the screenshot I took below, he compares several factors between the three. While the Cybertruck Tri-Motor achieves 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds, its horsepower is only 800, which is in the middle of the three. It has the same payload as the Hummer EV and the highest towing capacity of the three while having the lowest price of the three.
Sandy noted that the torque of the Hummer EV — advertised at 11,500 lb-ft — is around the same as the Cybertruck and Rivian due to the Hummer using a larger diameter for the wheel. “That’s because they’ve used the diameter of the wheel. Normally that would be around 1,000 lb-ft, so they’re kind of in the same ballpark.”
The Cybertruck leads in range and Sandy noted that this was an amazing amount of travel range and that it would be very handy. The Hummer is advertising 350 miles of range, which is a bit low. “I don’t understand why there’s so much of a disparity there, but I appreciate that the Hummer guys are being honest.” Well, he actually does have an idea — it’s in the batteries.
Batteries
Sandy dives into the topic of batteries, starting with Tesla, which is coming out with the 4680 battery. “The 4680 by our estimation puts it about five years ahead of the GM LG batteries. The 2170s that are in the Rivian; are as current as today so they may be changing up in the future to go to the 4680 or maybe a 5070. It’s hard to say but at the end of the day, they’re going to be coming in at a close second.” Sandy also shared that he was a bit nervous with the LG complexity that has been showing up on the battery pack. “I’m a big fan of ‘less is more.’ I want to have the fewest number of parts because that gives me the fewest amount of failure points.
“So if we look at the battery style and if we’re talking about the 4680 that I think is going to go into the Cybertruck Tri-Motor, I think we’re looking at somewhere between 950 and 970 batteries in that pack. If we look at the Rivian, I’m pretty sure that they’re going to be around 4416 times 2. So we’re looking at 8800 batteries in there. If we look at the LG pouch style batteries that go into the Hummer, we’re looking at 24 of those pouches in each module and then we’ve got 48 modules and inside there we’ve got 576 that will create the entire produce — the entire drivetrain. That’s a lot.”
Sandy pointed out that when you look at all of this, you are looking at a massive amount of extra bits, so there’s going to be several bus bars and threader fasteners, because each one is held down. He pointed out that as you use pouch cells, you have to contain these things. “They want to expand and contract, and expansions have to be held in place by a really secure type of a box, and that’s where the module comes in. That kind of stuff adds extra weight extra cost, and then you’ve gotta connect them together, and that’s where the bus bars come in,” he said.
In comparison, Sandy thinks the Tesla will have one gigantic module. Not only will it have the 950 or so cells in it, but they are all most likely going to be connected with very few bus bars. In the video, Sandy said, “probably two busbars.” These will connect all of the different leads and zero fasteners. “That’s going to make a big, giant difference as far as reliability and whatnot,” he said.
How Does This Compare With Top Fossil Powered Truck?
This is another topic that Sandy covered in his video. He noted that his team analyzed three best-selling pickup trucks on the planet: the Silverado, F-150, and RAM 1500. The RAM won the comparison. Sandy wanted to take the RAM and compare it to the three EVs.
If you look at the horsepower, all three electric trucks win, hands down. The RAM has a higher towing capacity than the Rivian and the Hummer, but not the Cybertruck, and its price is the lowest of the four vehicles. It goes 0–60 mph in nine seconds, and it has the lowest amount of torque out of all four vehicles. See screenshot above.
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