Elon Musk teases ‘lots of improvements’ for the production Cybertruck

[Mini2nut]

This is what the GMC Hummer chief engineer, Al Oppenheiser, was quoted saying;

“The primary body-in-white Hummer prototypes will roll off the road this week. When the unpainted physique buildings make it by way of the paint store, closing trim, and roll off the road as completed automobiles, the primary Hummer will probably be despatched for winter testing and the subsequent few will probably be despatched south for testing as desert runners, Oppenheiser says.“

On how the EV Hummer was fast tracked to the market;

https://todaysautomobilenews.com/20...ed-the-2022-gmc-hummer-electric-pickup-truck/

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[Jhodgesatmb]

LOL, the Cybertruck is a triangle on wheels. I doubt if they can do any worse. You have to have some room for adjustment since the NHTSA will certainly not grant them to the leisure of not adding mirrors for cameras and windshield wipers. Annnnndddd, it's price extremely well compared to ICE trucks and way under for other EV options.

You aren’t doing your homework about the mirrors. Tesla has requested a waiver from NHTSA and they (NHTSA) have already granted waivers for exactly this. They are required to rule on it next year about this time. Go read the NHTSA reports and then tell us what NHTSA will or won’t allow. In my research I haven’t been able to tell for certain one way or the other, so I wonder what you know.

 

[GnarlyDudeLive]

“It’s dependent on completing that factory and there are some new technologies with the high hardness exoskeleton. This has never been done before so there will probably be some challenges.”

This is the biggest take away that I took from the article. Nobody has ever manufactured a 3mm thick SS monocoque exoskeleton for a truck or car before. It will be a challenge for the engineers but I know they are up to the task. I visualize rows of origami inspired robots scoring, folding, cutting, and TIG welding the monocoque chassis together.

Are we sure the entire monocoque is going to be 3mm thick? I hear Elon specifically mention multiple times that the doors were 3mm think but don't recall him even mentioning the entire body. I could very well have missed it though. My impression was jus the doors were planned at 3mm and could be completely wrong too.

 

[Crissa]

I don't think the exoskeleton is really a monocoque, either, since they show a diagram which has it being more of a unibody frame rather than an eggshell.

-Crissa

 

[Idaho_7]

2022 is great news for not spending money! So far I've resisted buying a new truck for a couple years and now two more years. New meaning to, "The cheapest vehicle to own is the one you drive now". Keep'n the ole RAM and Buying Tesla Stock is a good thing..... Thanks Tesla!

 

[mprimo]

You aren’t doing your homework about the mirrors. Tesla has requested a waiver from NHTSA and they (NHTSA) have already granted waivers for exactly this. They are required to rule on it next year about this time. Go read the NHTSA reports and then tell us what NHTSA will or won’t allow. In my research I haven’t been able to tell for certain one way or the other, so I wonder what you know.

nope, just speculating...until the production version rolls out for all to see, none of it really matters. I was just leaving room for some common sense features to come out. The specs alone make this a must-buy for me so I don't care one way or the other.

 

[Julien]

Elon Musk made some rare new comments on Tesla Cybertruck and gave a better idea of the production ramp for the electric pickup truck.

During the conference call following Tesla’s release of its Q3 2020 financial results, Musk was asked to give more color on the production ramp of the Cybertruck and when we can expect deliveries.

The CEO started by mentioning that he recently did a design review of the Cybertruck with Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Design Chief:


Musk reiterated Tesla’s strategy to always improve on concept vehicles with the production version unlike other automakers who often significantly tone down vehicle from concept to production.

The CEO added:



Tesla has apparently been making a lot of changes to the Cybertruck design over the last year since unveiling it in November 2019.

Musk previously talked about Tesla updating the Cybertruck’s adaptive air suspension. They also talked about making the truck smaller, but Musk scrapped that plan after another design review back in May.

However, several design refinements are expected to be implemented.

As for the timeline to production, Musk did remind everyone that the Cybertruck is tied to Tesla completing Gigafactory Austin in time:



Musk said that if all goes well, Tesla should deliver some Cybertrucks in late 2021 as previously announced, but people should not expect volume production until 2022.


Electrek’s Take

To be honest, I have some doubts about Tesla bringing the Cybertruck to production by the end of next year.

Elon did say that deliveries in late 2021 and volume in 2022 is dependent on everything going well.

I put the probabilities of everything going well on both building a brand new factory and deploying brand new manufacturing techniques for an armoured exoskeleton to nearly zero.

Things are bound to not go perfectly.

On top of it, Elon is talking about the Cybertruck design still not being final as of last week?

Sounds like they would need a miracle to bring the electric truck to production next year.

But anyway, Tesla needs to ramp up battery cell production to deliver any significant volume of the Cybertruck and that’s not expected until 2022 so a delay probably wouldn’t have a massive impact on delivery volume as long as the battery cell supply is not secured

SOURCE: ELECTREK

The best thing they could (IMO) is the 4-wheel steering. It would not only make it amazing off-road and on-road.

 

[firsttruck]

If Cybertruck could support a 5th wheel with 180 degree swivel the Cybertruck could take a big part of Ford F-250 & Silverado 250 market and save these types of owners a lot of money.

 

[FutureBoy]

If Cybertruck could support a 5th wheel with 180 degree swivel the Cybertruck could take a big part of Ford F-250 & Silverado 250 market and save these types of owners a lot of money.

I wonder if it would be feasible to make the raised triangle area of the bed walls that hold the tonneau cover be retractable or foldable in some way. Basically, if the tonneau cover was fully opened up and locked there, could the upper bed walls fold into the bed for storage? That way a fifth wheel could be hitched in and not hit the truck when in a tight turn. It would certainly be an extra complication for how the exoskeleton is set up so it might just not be feasible. But if it was possible, the 5th wheel crowd would certainly be happy .

 

[azjohn]

With everyone concentrating on the batteries I'm wondering how off-road capable of cyber truck is I'm hoping that it's similar to a Jeep Rubicon or Jeep gladiator that's what I have experience with I hope that did their homework I plan on taking mine to Moab to play in the sand in the rocks

I am not expecting the CT to be able to compete with a Rubicon or Gladiator off road especially rock crawling, only vehicle I can think of is the new Bronco

 

[azjohn]

I don't think the exoskeleton is really a monocoque, either, since they show a diagram which has it being more of a unibody frame rather than an eggshell.

-Crissa

Can you share the diagram?

 

[Mini2nut]

“Lots of improvements” tell us nothing unfortunately. I wish Elon would share some specific details with reservation holders. We are hungry for details!

 

[Bill906]

I don't think the exoskeleton is really a monocoque, either, since they show a diagram which has it being more of a unibody frame rather than an eggshell.

Agreed. Although the Exoskeleton uses some of the external body panels for support, I believe the true definition of monocoque has most, if not all the support structure being the external shell. The CT is probably more correctly categorized as semi monocoque. However, this is based on very limited information on the CT. Maybe looking at the frame from different angles or seeing it in person it would indeed look more like a true monocoque structure.

I liked Sandy Munro’s terminology. The CT along with the Honda Ridgeline and almost all cars are considered unibody construction (as opposed to body on frame). The CT‘s unibody construction uses exterior body panels for structural support where as most (if not all) unibody automobiles, including the Ridgeline, do not use body panels for structure but attach them to the frame later. Sandy calls the CT an exoskeleton unibody. All other unibodies he calls an endoskeleton unibody. I personally avoid using the term monocoque to describe the CT as there seems to be some ambiguity in that term when it come to the CT design.

(the above picture is a screen capture from the following youtube video from Munro Live)

Cybertruck -E1- Body Panel Comparison

Can you share the diagram?

I believe (please correct me if I’m wrong) the diagram referred to is this one:

 

[FutureBoy]

“Lots of improvements” tell us nothing unfortunately. I wish Elon would share some specific details with reservation holders. We are hungry for details!

I also yearn for more details. But I would much prefer to have the final details. Instead of giving us some details that get subsequently changed multiple times, I am willing to wait for the details to be finalized before being shared with us. The FUD of changing details would just be confit and ultimately disappointing.

Just look at all the speculation that we’ve managed to collectively amass so far. Some of it is surely valid conjecture but some will turn out to be absolute horse puckey. I am enjoying the ride and have no illusions of thinking I can tell the difference so far.

Someday all will be revealed and a new storm of ecstasy will break through. I’m excited in anticipation of that day.

 

[Bill906]

I wonder if it would be feasible to make the raised triangle area of the bed walls that hold the tonneau cover be retractable or foldable in some way.

I believe it is very unlikely the raised triangle area will be retractable or foldable. It is believed and widely accepted that these triangles are structurally required because of the unibody construction.

Here’s why the Tesla Cybertruck has its crazy look