A Leaked Tesla Report Shows the Cybertruck Had Basic Design Flaws

Tesla has been making electric cars since 2008, but experts say building a truck presents a completely different engineering challenge. Other manufacturers, like Ford, whose F-150 Lightning[1] electric pickup began production in April 2022, have decades of experience in the category. Other electric truck-makers, including General Motors‘ Chevrolet and GMC brands[2], and Rivian have or likely will beat the Cybertruck to market.

Tesla has promised specs that would significantly outclass the F-150 Lightning in terms of range and towing capacity. But the company has to start from scratch in engineering or procuring many of the Cybertruck’s parts, against competitors who can reuse or evolve parts from other models. The Lightning is an electric version of a truck that has outsold all others[3] for more than 45 years in the US.

“Tesla is going to have to enter the truck market against the one thing that the US companies seem to know how to do really well, which is build pick-up trucks,” says Mike Ramsey, an analyst with the tech research and consulting firm Gartner.

On top of that, Musk himself has stated that the Cybertruck is a hard vehicle to make[4]. “You can’t just use conventional methods of manufacturing,” he said on an earnings call in May. “We had to invent a whole new set of manufacturing techniques in order to build an exoskeleton car rather than an endoskeleton car, so it is clearly not trivial.”

The unique styling of the truck, with its angular plates and stainless steel alloy construction, mean it’s not only hard to manufacture, but will probably be hard to repair, experts say.

Stainless steel is not easy to shape or mold, “Hence the look as if it's the output of a student in an in-class ‘Pop Quiz Number 1’ for the course ‘Intro to Car Design,’” says Raj Rajkumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.  The material requires specialized welding techniques, and it doesn’t flex easily, which could be dangerous in a crash, when force usually absorbed by a “crumple zone” could be transferred to cabin occupants instead, Rajkumar says.

Experts have noted that the odd shape of the vehicle, and particularly its sharp edges[5], will make it hard for the Cybertruck to meet pedestrian protection rules in Europe, and possibly in other markets.  “These long, unbroken sheets of metal, with the sharp lines and a humongous windshield, make me think there’s going to be some real issues with potentially passing safety regulations, especially outside the US,” Gartner’s Ramsey says.

References

  1. ^ F-150 Lightning (www.wired.com)
  2. ^ GMC brands (www.wired.com)
  3. ^ outsold all others (www.cnbc.com)
  4. ^ hard vehicle to make (uk.news.yahoo.com)
  5. ^ particularly its sharp edges (www.wired.co.uk)

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