Tesla Cybertruck

[edwest4]

In the alternative, this truck could appear in an action movie. A sliding panel in the back reveals a gun mounted in the cargo bed.

 

[Orionblamblam]

More seriously one approach to selling electric vehicles is to make them look very different to what’s gone before, why should they look like petrol cars.

Automobiles are the refinement of more than a century of development. While some of the design of an automobile is driven by the needs of the internal combustion engine and thus won't be relevant for an electric car, the bulk of the design is driven by the needs of aerodynamics and passenger safety/comfort and cargo haulage. There's little reason for an electric vehicle to look much different from a conventional auto, and changing for no other reason than just to be different is very likely going to drive the design away from good engineering.

 

[Arjen]

The cybertruck is a unibody design as opposed to the body-on-frame construction of conventional pickup trucks. The sloping rear end contains 'sail pillars' to help the car to retain rigidity. From what I have read, unibody construction offers better utilization of space too. Helpful when deciding where to stick batteries. All in all, this design might owe a lot to functional considerations.
Greyhavoc's link to Techcrunch-piece in reply #24:

Here's why the Tesla Cybertruck has its crazy look | TechCrunch

Elon Musk revealed the Cybertruck last night, saying it looks like nothing else on the market. That's true, but the Cybertruck shares several key features

techcrunch.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

Analysts, Gamers, and Blade Runner's Artistic Director React To The Look of Tesla's Cybertruck - Slashdot

Syd Mead, the artistic director on Blade Runner says Tesla's new Cybertruck "has completely changed the vocabulary of the personal truck market design." Or, for another perspective, "Tesla's Cybertruck looks weird... like, really weird," wrote Toni Sacconaghi, a senior equity research analyst...

tech.slashdot.org

Will Elon Musk's Cybertruck Arrive Before the Flying Car?

Building the future is hard. And nowhere was that more evident than at Tesla’s grand unveiling of the Cybertruck in Los Angeles last night. But if anyone can do it, Elon Musk can, right? Right?

paleofuture.gizmodo.com

 

[Grey Havoc]

Elon Musk explains why Tesla’s Cybertruck windows smashed during presentation

Broken windows theory

www.theverge.com

 

[TomcatViP]

The competition @Ford : notice the different approach in power pack design and lower values.

A Look At The Engineering Behind The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E

I had a chance to talk with some engineers about the Mach-E’s tech; here’s what I learned.

jalopnik.com

 

[sferrin]

3mm thick body panel is a lot of material. Stainless. This thing is gonna last for centuries.

There are good reasons cars are made out of thin deformable panels instead of boiler plate.

So they can make more money on repairs most likely. Also, plastic parts are cheaper than metal. I've had front & under carriage panel damage from road debris on my 2015 Hyundai that my '78 Celica would have laughed at. Twice. If I hit a good sized bug at speed the whole front fascia would probably blow off. Just absolute $hit. (And Hyundai isn't alone in this kind of construction.)

 

[edwest4]

Always be wary when you see phrases like "inflection point." It would be interesting to hear what plans the oil companies have as the world, supposedly, shifts away from gas cars. Saudi Aramco comes to mind (net income over 111 Billion USD in 2018).

 

[Flyaway]

Is it correct that the Cybertruck would need a change in US Federal law to be road worthy due to lack of rear view mirrors?

 

[Hobbes]

There are good reasons cars are made out of thin deformable panels instead of boiler plate.

So they can make more money on repairs most likely.

No, thin deformable panels are used to make crashes more survivable. A car that does not deform will make you go SPLAT on the dashboard. Crash regulations have become more stringent over the past 50 years because cars from 50 years ago (made out of much thicker steel than is used today) were really bad at protecting their occupants.

 

[sferrin]

There are good reasons cars are made out of thin deformable panels instead of boiler plate.

So they can make more money on repairs most likely.

No, thin deformable panels are used to make crashes more survivable. A car that does not deform will make you go SPLAT on the dashboard. Crash regulations have become more stringent over the past 50 years because cars from 50 years ago (made out of much thicker steel than is used today) were really bad at protecting their occupants.

Yes but there are degrees. I'm not saying we need something like my parent's Buick but plastic is just crap.

 

[Hobbes]

plastic is just crap.

if that's the level of the discussion I'm out.

 

[sferrin]

plastic is just crap.

if that's the level of the discussion I'm out.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to try to defend the use of flimsy plastic on the front exterior of a car either.

 

[Arjen]

It depends. My car has bumpers made of ABS which is quite good at deflecting the odd chunk of gravel. Better than steel in automotive gauges.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Plastic bumpers etc, the automotive industry's way of saying they want your money for every little dinged panel and boy will it hurt. Plastic was supposed to be cheaper to replace, well, try telling that to dealers.

 

[edwest4]

There are good reasons cars are made out of thin deformable panels instead of boiler plate.

So they can make more money on repairs most likely.

No, thin deformable panels are used to make crashes more survivable. A car that does not deform will make you go SPLAT on the dashboard. Crash regulations have become more stringent over the past 50 years because cars from 50 years ago (made out of much thicker steel than is used today) were really bad at protecting their occupants.

Having driven in cars from 50 years ago, having a seatbelt was good. Protection came from the speed/mass comparison. I think most modern cars would have little effect on a 50 year old four door. The rule then was the larger vehicle had the better chance of protecting the driver and occupants, assuming it was going around the speed limit and the driver was not intoxicated, and ready for those who were.

 

[sferrin]

It depends. My car has bumpers made of ABS which is quite good at deflecting the odd chunk of gravel. Better than steel in automotive gauges.

I hit a relatively small piece of a shredded tire kicked up by a car in front of me on the highway. Hit just under the front bumper lower right. Tore up a piece of the wheel well. A second time a piece of debris came OVER the top of the car in front of me (again on the highway) hits the road right in front of me and cracks the front fascia across the bottom. (No, I don't tailgate. Traffic was such I pretty much had to eat it both times. In older cars I've owned it might have left a smudge on the paint but that's about it.)

 

[Foo Fighter]

I had a dent repair bloke knock on my door a while ago now, he had repaired a local car and was trying to scare up business. The other half's car was on a pcp scheme which did not want the job done until handover time and he looked at my car and told me, "The metal body is far too thick for me to deal with you'll have to get that done in a proper body repair shop. Bess is quite old now being a 1971 car.

 

[Arjen]

Your dent repair bloke would probably have passed on fixing our car.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Yeah, I guess that won't polish out anytime soon.

 

[Flyaway]

 

[Foo Fighter]

That is rather pointless, the Ford can be refueled in a few minutes and is much more usable right now. Some time in the future this may change but right now the balance has not shifted far enough.

 

[sferrin]

 

[Foo Fighter]

OMG that guy has got more than a touch of the verballs. Someone give him a breath mint, it might shut him up for a minute.

 

[sferrin]

OMG that guy has got more than a touch of the verballs. Someone give him a breath mint, it might shut him up for a minute.

Yeah, his videos definitely aren't for short attention spans.

 

[jeffb]

My first impression was that it was ugly AF. It's growing on me a bit though.

Very much this. Stealth shaping for police radars maybe?

 

[Flyaway]

For the Tesla Cybertruck to excel in the pickup truck market, it will have to exceed or at least match the utility capabilities of the industry’s biggest players such as Ford, whose F-150 has become an icon of the United States. Elon Musk’s recent comment regarding the results of a rather shocking test on a Ford F-350 hints that the Cybertruck will have the goods to make it a formidable competitor in the pickup market, and then some.

Tesla’s Elon Musk explains Cybertruck's adaptive air suspension after seeing a Ford F-350 get mangled

For the Tesla Cybertruck to excel in the pickup truck market, it will have to exceed or at least match the utility capabilities of the industry’s biggest players such as Ford, whose F-150 has become an icon of the United States. Elon Musk’s recent comment regarding the results of a rather...

www.teslarati.com

 

[sferrin]

Reminds me more of when they introduced the HUMVEE for civilians.

 

[TomcatViP]

Painful to watch.

 

[Flyaway]

Sporting some modifications in the lights.

Tesla Cybertruck welcomed home by next-gen Roadster as it returns to Design Center

A recent sighting of the Tesla Cybertruck has shown that even the electric car maker’s most daunting vehicle comes home for the holidays. Recorded in Hawthorne, CA, the Cybertruck sighting depicts the massive all-electric vehicle returning to its home at Tesla’s Design Center, joining what...

www.teslarati.com

 

[TomcatViP]

Sharp corners like that (see bed end) will never pass the first barrage of certification in many European countries. Let's hope Elon will realise that on time.

 

[kitnut617]

Considering the Cyber Truck is as big as a Humvee, I wouldn't have thought Europe was the market target ---

 

[Arjen]

Of the USA's three most popular large pickup trucks in 2018 - Ford F-series, Chevrolet Silverado and Ram P/U - about 2.36 million were sold worldwide. Of that number, about 2.03 million were sold in the USA. Europe is not the target market for any large pickup truck.

Best-selling pickup trucks worldwide 2017 | Statista

The most popular pickup truck worldwide in 2017 was the Ford F-Series, which sold almost 1.1 million units across the globe.

www.statista.com

U.S.: best-selling pickup truck models 2023 | Statista

With year-end sales of nearly 750,800 units, the Ford F-Series was the best-selling light truck in the United States in 2023.

www.statista.com

 

[kitnut617]

And just look at the 'tug-of-war' video posted above, when I first read the title I thought they had miss-identified the Ford truck --- (they have a smaller one)

 

[TomcatViP]

I can see a lot of Ram and F150 being driven in Europe. Lot is relative of course, but certainly more than real Amg.
Moreover Tesla is now becoming a popular drive. Ppl will adapt and choose their specific type given that there is a choice.

Moreover the size doesn't matter as much with heavy battery packs that tend to alter the body to power pack ratio and make it less dependent to the sole body weight. Hence a larger car won't burden your milage as much as for gazoline cars (see the model S out accelerating most sport coupé around). They can also be more aerodynamic (something gov should weight upon to impose minimals per type).

So that is why, everybody here (on that subject) should keep their heads fresh and not make 1980ish based projections (both side, fans and opponents).

 

[Flyaway]

I see a fair number off pickup trucks in the UK these days, not huge numbers admittedly but it’s nonsense to say they don’t sell over here.

 

[TomcatViP]

Tesla outsell anything else in Netherland last trimester:

Tesla Model 3 takes over the Netherlands with more than 11,000 deliveries this month

Tesla’s sales are surging in the Netherlands with over 11,000 Model 3 deliveries this month. The market is closing the...

electrek.co

 

[ADVANCEDBOY]

Tesla shouldn`t have compared their Cybertruck to F-150 because it ( Cybertruck) is a Class 2B-3 medium-duty vehicle . So it should go against F-250. Besides that Tesla doesn`t state anywhere what is the vehicle`s weight? To me it seems that Tesla started designing a decent truck but was either running out of finances or decided to cut corners. As you can see the frame beneath the exterior is a stamped, curved surface. There is no reason to spend extra resources to do that and then apply flat exterior surfaces everywhere. My wild guess is that Tesla wanted to make the car very heavy on purpose so it would fit in medium duty segment where it could have easier crash test requirements. They decided to pull the bulletproof card to cut corners on exterior and add weight. It also doesn`t state anywhere what capacity is the battery. So we can`t estimate charging times either.

Also, Tesla presented an electric ATV. That was another scam. It is actually a 2001 Yamaha Raptor 700R with Tesla garbage panels attached to a Japanese ATV with Japanese batteries and Asian Kenda tyres.
I hope Tesla doesn`t end up like Nikola which has presented 3 of their own designed trucks but once production started they resorted to rebadging a 100% Italian Iveco.
In my opinion Tesla factories have excess capacity in long term as I doubt they will be able to sell so many vehicles considering their price, end of government incentives and escalating competition. Cybertruck is a dud, Model Y is a 70 % Model 3, And Model X and S are aging fast., Their coupe is an expensive niche model and the Semi is, well... somewhere out there. I hope I am wrong.

 

[Flyaway]

Rather than the post above here’s a more based in reality take on Tesla’s prospects.

This is bad news for the company’s critics and shorts. TSLAQ loves to claim that the downfall of Tesla is just around the corner. Last year, the narrative surrounding the company almost made it feel like Tesla’s failure was indeed imminent, with several Wall St. analysts embracing the “no demand” narrative. TSLA stock fell to over two-year lows as a result. Autonomy Day was practically dismissed by Wall St. Few took Tesla’s Robotaxi concept seriously. And Elon, who appears to be super passionate about the companies that he runs, turned serious.

Tesla turned its fate around after Q3 2019, with the stock climbing to record highs and giving shorts a painful blow worth over $2 billion. TSLA stock ultimately ended 2019 on a powerful note, showing that Elon Musk’s serious change of tone seemed to have worked.

The Tesla bears’ narrative is crumbling with sustainable demand seemingly being established by the company’s Model 3 numbers quarter after quarter. Sales continue to rise and Tesla is in the process of opening its second foreign production plant in Brandenburg, Germany. With the Model Y coming in Gigafactory 3, Elon Musk may have literally just danced on TSLAQ’s proverbial grave.

Elon Musk's epic dance moves in China foreshadows a painful future for Tesla critics

Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrived in Shanghai on January 7 to handover a batch of Made-in-China Model 3 to non-employee Chinese customers. Musk was his classic, lighthearted self on stage during the event as he showed off his dance moves in front of Tesla enthusiasts who were in attendance. Musk was...

www.teslarati.com

And here’s some more:

Tesla's hitting new highs, and Jim Cramer is 'dumbfounded' that it hasn't gone higher

Tesla has strong growth, GM is barely growing and Ford is shrinking. "Nobody wants to pay up for stagnation," CNBC's Jim Cramer said.

www.cnbc.com

Or this:

Tesla Is the Most Valuable Car Company In America Ever

First, there was Henry Ford, then came Alfred Sloan and Lee Iacocca. Now Elon Musk gets his place on the American automotive Mount Rushmore.

www.marketwatch.com

 

[Arjen]