A Tesla Cybertruck had to be recovered from the sand on Nantucket Island on May 2nd. iPullOut Beach Towing
Tesla’s Cybertruck doesn’t seem to be as “apocalypse-proof” as Elon Musk initially claimed.
Since its debut in November, the vehicles have become stuck in rough terrain and have had to be recalled.
When the 60,000 US dollar (around 56,000 euro) vehicle was first presented, the windows were broken during a live demonstration.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by a real editor.
Tesla’s Cybertruck hasn’t quite had the debut that Elon Musk had announced.
Since its market launch in November, the $60,000 (around 56,000 euros) vehicle has repeatedly made negative headlines.
How useful is the Cybertruck really?
For example, there were inexplicable warning messages regarding “critical steering errors”. In other cases, Cybertrucks have gotten stuck off the road and most recently almost all vehicles have been recalled. The model is anything but the “monster for the apocalypse” that it was advertised as.
“If you ever have an argument with another driver,” Elon Musk promised when the truck was introduced last year, “you will win it.” He added: “The apocalypse can come at any moment, and here at Tesla we have the best technology for the apocalypse.”
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Cybertruck gets stuck on a sandy beach
But on May 2, a tourist on Nantucket got his Cybertruck stuck in the sand and had to be towed away. According to the towing operator, the driver made a crucial mistake: he forgot to deflate the tires.
Typically, a Cybertruck’s tires are inflated to about 50 psi (pounds per square inch). However, in the Cybertruck’s user manual, Tesla warns against reducing tire pressure before off-road driving to improve traction and reduce the risk of flat tires. The towing operator said the safe range for beach driving is between 18 and 22 psi.
“Unfortunately they missed it or didn’t know about it,” the towing operator, who asked to remain anonymous because he runs his one-man towing company unofficially, told Business Insider. “So that set them back three steps from the start.”
The operator said most towing jobs like this are due to inexperience. He added that during the summer months he is often called upon to help tourists who misjudged how soft the sand is near the coast or were unaware of how tire pressure affects a vehicle’s off-road ability.
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Extra weight causes problems
According to the operator, what happened to the Cybertruck could have happened to any other pickup truck driver. However, he noted that the Cybertruck’s added weight, which is about 1,000 pounds heavier than comparable gasoline-powered pickups, didn’t help.
“The question has always been how electric vehicles will cope with excess weight on the beach,” he said. “They have the same tire size as a regular F-150 or other standard pickup, but they are heavier.”
The all-electric pickup was eventually freed – but not before attracting a crowd of confused onlookers from the small island community. The towing operator said he wasn’t “overly” surprised when he got the call, as the arrival of the first Cybertruck on the island was on everyone’s lips “earlier that day.”
“He immediately disembarked and parked in a crosswalk in the heart of the city,” he said. “It made the rounds on the internet and then at 5pm he was on the beach.” The entrepreneur added: “We joked that we admired his ability to check off all the things not to do on Nantucket in quick succession,” he added. “He really made the most of the day.” The incident went viral on social media as the Cybertruck’s latest mishap.
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The problems of Cybertrucks are not only due to incorrect use
As with the Nantucket incident, the 3-ton vehicles have gotten stuck in the snow and struggled to climb steep hills. Although the official causes of these incidents remain unconfirmed, the Cybertruck’s problems cannot be attributed solely to user error.
Tesla’s vehicles touted as bulletproof also struggled with the following quality issues: The stainless steel body is prone to rust spots and handprints, and the massive vehicles have unsightly gaps in the door panels, which YouTube tech influencer Marques Brownlee called “the worst thing.” “I have ever seen in a vehicle”.
Another YouTuber reported that his finger got caught in the trunk of the vehicle after the sensor failed to detect the obstacle. The incident left a dent and a small cut on the skin – despite a recent software update that was supposed to prevent such problems.
Reports of the Cybertruck’s accelerator pedal getting stuck at full throttle also caught the attention of regulators. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) expressed concern that the problem was likely caused by an “unapproved change” during the production process, increasing the risk of a collision.
The NHTSA report prompted Tesla to issue a voluntary recall of approximately 3,878 vehicles in April, affecting virtually all Cybertrucks delivered to customers since their launch.
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Experts are concerned about the safety of the Cybertruck
Business Insider previously reported that Michael Brooks, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, called the Cybertruck a “pilotless rocket” and Myles Russell, a Canadian civil engineering technologist, a “death machine” because of its size, speed and autopilot features.
The problems with the tank-like vehicle are not limited to the production models. When the Cybertruck prototype was first unveiled in 2019, the first demonstrations of its “shatterproof” glass were thwarted: The vehicle’s windows were shattered during a live test.
Musk warned investors during a conference call last October that the vehicle’s unique design posed massive problems in scaling production, saying: “We dug our own grave with the Cybertruck.”
And given the decline in Tesla shares by almost 25 percent since the Cybertruck was introduced last year – from $241.20 to $181.14 (from around 224 to 168 euros) per share – he could be right.
Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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Tesla’s Cybertruck: Problems with sand, snow and the authorities
‘Ciodil Baby Cream’ is launched in the market for baby skin care.
– 2024-05-07 14:34:08
American skin care brand Ciodil has recently introduced ‘Ciodil Baby Cream’ specially designed for children’s skin care in the country. Formulated with an effective combination of Glycerin, Sodium PCA, Trehalose, Paraffin, Shea Butter, Allantoin and Sodium Hyaluronate, this baby cream ensures the health of baby’s skin by providing maximum hydration and moisturization.
In just 10 to 14 days of twice daily use, this cream removes 80% of roughness, dryness and discomfort of baby skin and improves skin hydration by 35%.
According to the experts, the active ingredients in it keep the moisture and hydration of the skin while adding nutrients naturally to the baby’s skin, making it soft and soothing.
Experts say that gently massaging Ciodil Baby Cream on baby’s dry skin twice a day will be enough to reap the benefits.
Dhaka Medical College Hospital Children’s Department Consultant Dr. Tasnubha Khan said, be careful in using different products. It is better to use products of established brands, avoiding substandard products that come in the stolen way.
Remark HB Limited is working to manufacture international quality authentic skincare products in Bangladesh. Those concerned think that Ciodil Baby Cream will play a role in the implementation of this initiative of Remark.
‘Ciodil Baby Cream’ is launched in the market for baby skin care. – 2024-05-07 14:34:08
From liberalism to oligopolies
– 2024-05-07 16:36:33
The Prime Minister and the core group leading the economic policy advocate liberalism, defend open competitive markets and firmly believe that through their smooth operation, and to the extent that fiscal and wider economic stability is not disturbed, credibility is gradually gained and together they are shaped the conditions for the creation of new wealth, which, spreading to society through investment, increasing employment and the consolidation of public finances, can guarantee the preservation of the resources of the welfare state.
This is broadly the basic government doctrine, this defines most of the individual policies and this is what the finance minister promotes at every opportunity Kostis Hatzidakis.
Dispute
However, recently the almost dominant liberal neo-democratic doctrine is not performing as expected. New wealth can indeed be created, but its diffusion into society is highly contested, as is the efficient functioning of open liberal markets.
There are not a few who, from the results, estimate that the open liberal markets, in which the ruling New Democracy abounds, tend to turn – if they have not already turned – into purely oligopolistic networks, with all that this implies for the economy and the number of those active in them.
The operation of the four systemic banks is described as typical, following common deposit and lending interest policies, applying identical commission charges to a number of banking transactions and transactions, distinguished by this reluctance to take risks in their financing, taking care of their high clientele, systematically ignoring the small and medium-sized enterprises, as a result of which they do not offer growth opportunities to the entire economy, but only to large and powerful business schemes.
Categories
The criticism leveled at the banks is that they price deposits with almost zero interest rates, they reward the financing of large powerful companies with reduced competitive interest rates and, on the contrary, they charge exterminating interest rates of 6% and 6.5% to the others, old and new, financings. Somehow in 2023, without much effort, they secured profits of 3 billion euros and it is estimated that they will secure more this year as well.
In essence, they are accused of borrowing from depositors at zero interest rates and pricing their loans very expensive.
In other words, the banks, without taking on any separate risk, basically exclude households and small businesses from financing, and at the same time, with high fees on old loans, they are profitably profitable, that is, without attempting anything special.
It is indicative of the fact that in the current booming environment of the real estate market the net balance of mortgages is decreasing rapidly, the repayments far exceed the new loans and of course the new building wealth is concentrated in the expensive areas of Athens, the beach front and the tourist island complex , while on the other hand across the river, in Aegaleo, in Nicaea, in Peristeri and elsewhere, not even a wall is raised.
It is a common belief that there is no competition between banks. Something that can happen if only one tries to open one of the markets e.g. of mortgage loans, which is imposed by the crisis conditions prevailing in the housing market.
In the past there were initiatives by the managements of commercial banks that suddenly changed the conditions of competition. We have been seeing such acts for two decades. The misfortune is that among most bank executives there is no sense of participation and role in the functioning and development of the economy. The only concern is the profits at any cost and the bonuses claimed from them, regardless of how they arise.
Overprofitability
But it is not the only zone where oligopolistic conditions prevail. And in fuel, a corresponding condition is formed. Oligopolistic conditions also tend to form in the health market, where the abandonment of public hospitals, their technological decline, outdated equipment and the slowness of providing medical services send sick citizens en masse to private centers and hospitals, which are rapidly developing at the expense of of the public Health system and earn hundreds of millions of euros a year, part of which is reinvested in modern machines and techniques, as a result of which they benefit and create conditions for the full prevalence of private health.
One could mention other areas of production and trade where the principles of liberal markets are undermined and replaced by oligopolistic schemes that distort competition and create large foci of concentration of any new wealth and its non-distribution, as the initiators of the liberal model would like.
Be that as it may, the evidence is multiplying that confirms that the distortions are excessive and the population is left with the feeling that it has little to expect from any development wave, except to give more and more.
#liberalism #oligopolies
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