Ford Backs Away from Tesla Tug-Of-War, but Musk Is Doing It Anyway

Ford executive Sunny Madra tweeted a challenge to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday for a rematch of a tug-of-war Tesla conducted between its electric Cybertruck and an F-150 that has been criticized by many, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, for being unfairly matched, to which Elon Musk replied: “Bring it on”.

Electric vehicles are famously heavy – over both axles. It’s all about the weight borne by spinning tires. That’s the source of traction, not the engine power.

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 25, 2019

However, when asked if Tesla had reached out to Ford to set up a competition, a Ford spokeswoman said “Sunny’s tweet was tongue in cheek to point out the absurdity of Tesla’s video, nothing more.”

“With America’s best-selling truck for 42 years, we’ve always focused on serving our truck customers regardless of what others say or do. We look forward to our all-new F-150 hybrid coming next year and all-electric F-150 in a few years,” she added.

Nevertheless, Musk agreed to do right by deGrasse Tyson’s suggestion that the heavier weight of the battery-powered Cybertruck gave it a traction advantage and that Musk should level the playing field and repeat the test.

We all love Torque. But high Torque just spins a tire in place if there’s not enough weight to provide traction. Fully load the F150, giving highest traction to its rear wheels, then try to drag that up the hill. I otherwise agree: Load both to the max and the highest torque wins

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 26, 2019