Chassis Materials (Stainless or traditional steel)?

[Revoltlution]

What do you think the other parts in the undercarriage (suspension parts, formed structural battery case, etc...) will be made of?
I know there is also galvanic corrosion of carbon steel if it's not properly isolated from any stainless.
I'm sure Tesla is thinking about this, but wondering what your opinion is?
#cyberboat

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[Jhodgesatmb]

One thing we can be certain of is that Tesla knows materials and won’t make such a simple mistake. I can see the NHTSA getting in the way for mirrors or wipers, but for structural integrity I am not concerned.

 

[OneLapper]

This question is a biggie for me.

I really hope that the inside door stampings are made of stainless steel. If they aren't, they will eventually rust.

I really wonder how the inside door stamping is attached to the 3mm SS door skin. Can't be spot welded without discoloring the outer door panel. I suspect it'll use a 3M panel bond type epoxy. Not cheap and takes time to cure.

I really hope that the suspension links are forged aluminum, not stamped/welded steel as on the M3 and MY. If not, they will rust and look shitty. This wish is unlikely, the cost difference must be huge.

I'm sure the battery pack will be regular steel. Again, eventually that will rust, at least here in New England.

I would think that the interior stampings will be mild steel, unpainted. Tesla is doing this already with the dash and seat supports, not primed or painted. They will unlikely make these out of stainless steel due to material cost.

Other than the above, I imagine Tesla will mostly use aluminum, such as the front and rear casting.

 

[Revoltlution]

This question is a biggie for me.

I really hope that the inside door stampings are made of stainless steel. If they aren't, they will eventually rust.

I really wonder how the inside door stamping is attached to the 3mm SS door skin. Can't be spot welded without discoloring the outer door panel. I suspect it'll use a 3M panel bond type epoxy. Not cheap and takes time to cure.

I really hope that the suspension links are forged aluminum, not stamped/welded steel as on the M3 and MY. If not, they will rust and look shitty. This wish is unlikely, the cost difference must be huge.

I'm sure the battery pack will be regular steel. Again, eventually that will rust, at least here in New England.

I would think that the interior stampings will be mild steel, unpainted. Tesla is doing this already with the dash and seat supports, not primed or painted. They will unlikely make these out of stainless steel due to material cost.

Other than the above, I imagine Tesla will mostly use aluminum, such as the front and rear casting.

I like how your brain thinks! Thanks for the reply fellow Alta owner

 

[Cyberman]

This question is a biggie for me.

I really hope that the inside door stampings are made of stainless steel. If they aren't, they will eventually rust.

I really wonder how the inside door stamping is attached to the 3mm SS door skin. Can't be spot welded without discoloring the outer door panel. I suspect it'll use a 3M panel bond type epoxy. Not cheap and takes time to cure.

I really hope that the suspension links are forged aluminum, not stamped/welded steel as on the M3 and MY. If not, they will rust and look shitty. This wish is unlikely, the cost difference must be huge.

I'm sure the battery pack will be regular steel. Again, eventually that will rust, at least here in New England.

I would think that the interior stampings will be mild steel, unpainted. Tesla is doing this already with the dash and seat supports, not primed or painted. They will unlikely make these out of stainless steel due to material cost.

Other than the above, I imagine Tesla will mostly use aluminum, such as the front and rear casting.

Huh? I gotta disagree here. Spot welding is the only way to go. I think the discoloration can be dealt with. Door stampings? SS, attaches by spot welding. Epoxies are great for a lot of things, but not for a truck that's going to see action on the highway and off road. It would rattle apart in no time with epoxy. I can't see suspension being made of stamped or welded steel, it'd be odd to see stuff rusting under a SS truck, so I'm guessing aluminum. Battery pack? C'mon, with all that SS lying around, I doubt it's going to be regular steel. Especially seeing how susceptible batteries are to corrosion. As far as interior stampings, I don't care so much. I've never had to worry about rust under a dashboard or on seat frames. Just remember what Elon said: "If there was something better, we'd use it".

 

[OneLapper]

Huh? I gotta disagree here. Spot welding is the only way to go. I think the discoloration can be dealt with. Door stampings? SS, attaches by spot welding. Epoxies are great for a lot of things, but not for a truck that's going to see action on the highway and off road. It would rattle apart in no time with epoxy. I can't see suspension being made of stamped or welded steel, it'd be odd to see stuff rusting under a SS truck, so I'm guessing aluminum. Battery pack? C'mon, with all that SS lying around, I doubt it's going to be regular steel. Especially seeing how susceptible batteries are to corrosion. As far as interior stampings, I don't care so much. I've never had to worry about rust under a dashboard or on seat frames. Just remember what Elon said: "If there was something better, we'd use it".

I hope you're right!

I agree that spot welding would be ideal, it's fast, easy and cheap. I hope that Tesla can do that without heat soaking through the SS panels. I have my doubts. Maybe Tesla (or the car industry) has a better solution than spot welding, and better suggestion that I offered.

Ah, the battery pack. Aside from the cast alum honeycomb, I'm willing to bet $1 the stamped metal covers will be mild steel. Maybe the pieces are aluminum now? That would be better than steel.....

I just don't see how the CT can have the best of the best and cost only $40k to start.

 

[OneLapper]

I like how your brain thinks! Thanks for the reply fellow Alta owner

Ah, Bryan from Oregon! Fellow AOF member!

Yes, the Alta is what really opened my eyes to Tesla! I bought the Alta on a whim, then it blew my mind with its performance! It immediately became my favorite motorcycle.

When I heard about the CT, and it being stainless steel, I knew it was for me. I never thought I could live with an electric dirt bike for all the reasons everyone spouts. But, none of that really mattered. Yup, takes longer to charge than to fill the fuel tank. Ok, more time to have a beer. I realized that I could adapt to an electric truck (less drinking beer when it's supercharging, of course).

 

[Crissa]

Elon described the process as origami. The panels will be scored and folded in to create the mounting points and tubular frame elements. That will be welded.

Beyond that, we can't be certain, but once you have the unibody shell, you can laminate, weld, bolt to that as needed.

We've talked about how the battery pack will probably need to be bolted on so that it can be replaced in case of failure.

-Crissa

 

[Newton]

I would imagine little to no high iron steel, mostly aluminum and stainless.
I do remember a tweet or something talking about friction welding

 

[Revoltlution]

Also, pretty sure there was a custom Tesla tow hitch seen in some of the videos when the CT was at the Peterson Museum... It was black that kinda points to painted cast carbon steel. Hmmm, how do you bolt that to aluminium cast or SS without corrosion potential (when wet)?
Albeit, Alum and steel have similar anoic potentials, but still a risk.

So excited to see how they tackle these cool engineering challenges.

 

[OneLapper]

Also, pretty sure there was a custom Tesla tow hitch seen in some of the videos when the CT was at the Peterson Museum... It was black that kinda points to painted cast carbon steel. Hmmm, how do you bolt that to aluminium cast or SS without corrosion potential (when wet)?
Albeit, Alum and steel have similar anoic potentials, but still a risk.

So excited to see how they tackle these cool engineering challenges.

At work we often have to bolt steel to aluminum. We use a thick mylar tape between the two materials. It works till the mylar ages out.

 

[flowerlandfilms]

...if Teslas M.O. is followed...
...it will be a weird alloy from the space program that they won't quite reveal what it is...
...another thing for Sandy Munro to scratch his head over...

 

[Rockvillerich]

What do you think the other parts in the undercarriage (suspension parts, formed structural battery case, etc...) will be made of?
I know there is also galvanic corrosion of carbon steel if it's not properly isolated from any stainless.
I'm sure Tesla is thinking about this, but wondering what your opinion is?
#cyberboat

Having a stainless body would be pointless if the undercarriage is regular rusting steel. I will cancel my reservation in a second if that turns out to be true.
Update: Elon was said to have indicated they were installing an extra large casting press in Austin for use for production of the Cybertruck, so it looks like the undercarriage will likely be aluminum.

 

[Revoltlution]

As expected, Tesla is on top of these issues as discussed by Elon and Sandy
(specifically discussed galvanic corrosion at 18:30).

Sandy seems like a REALLY big CT fan, but, unfortunately, didn't discuss CT at all

 

[Sonnus]

I can’t imagine Tesla using regular steel for any part of the Cybertruck’s frame. One of the cost savings of using stainless is the ability for the Cybertruck to bypass the paint shop on the production line. All traditional steel (and aluminum) cars are completely dipped in primer after all of the welding and assembly has been done. Since the Cybertruck’s raw stainless exterior can’t be dipped (to save the appearance) then I’m not sure how they would get these other components effectively coated in primer.

I really wonder how the inside door stamping is attached to the 3mm SS door skin. Can't be spot welded without discoloring the outer door panel. I suspect it'll use a 3M panel bond type epoxy. Not cheap and takes time to cure.

I hope these panels are all welded. The discoloration that happens when welding is just oxidation and is usually only very superficially on the surface. It can be easily removed with chemicals or a very light brushing.