Ford X VP Sunny Madra challenged Tesla CEO Elon Musk to a tow battle with Ford’s F-150 truck following a publicity stunt by Tesla which featured the electric car makers “Cybertruck” appearing to pull a Ford truck up a hill.
TechCrunch reports that following the disastrous reveal of Tesla’s “Cybertruck” vehicle, which featured a clip of the truck appearing to tow a Ford F-150, Ford X VP Sundeep Madra has called on Tesla to allow his team to do an “apples to apples” test on the vehicle. Ford X is the auto manufacturer’s venture incubator.
In a tweet to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Madra asked Musk to send his team a Cybertruck to perform a test:
hey @elonmusk send us a cybertruck and we will do the apples to apples test for you 😉😉😉https://t.co/H3v6dCZeV5
— sunny madra (@sundeep) November 25, 2019
Many have pointed out issues with the legitimacy of Tesla’s test, firstly the Cybertruck is much much heavier than the F-150 particularly in the rear-end. On top of that, the test appeared to use a Ford F-150 in 2-wheel drive mode running on older tires with no payload on the rear. Without weight on the rear wheel and the front axle spinning, the Cybertruck can easily overpower the vehicle.
Astrophysicist Neil Degrasse Tyson pointed these issues out in a tweet:
A badass @Tesla looking like it’s doing a badass thing. But if the @Ford F-150 is RWD **with no payload** then weight on the Rear Axle is greatly reduced, offering only mild traction for the Tesla to overcome. This contest is more about the Physics of Friction than Engine Power.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 25, 2019
TechCrunch also notes that Tesla did not state what engine the F-150 was using but it is not sporting the badging used with Ford’s 3.5L Ecoboost, which implies that it’s using a lower-end V8 engine or Ford’s smaller 2.7L Ecoboost. In the test, the Cybertruck also pulls first increasing the traction the Tesla has while decreasing that of the Ford. All of this adds to claims that the test was unfair.
Regardless, Elon Musk has accepted Madra’s challenge, telling him to “bring it on” in a tweet:
Bring it on https://t.co/pCnln1NdRO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2019
Breitbart News will continue to report on the testing of these vehicles.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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