Sandy Munro Talks Cybertruck Icon Status, Manufacturing Cost, Safety on HyperChange

[Administrator]

Sandy Munro, teardown guru and manufacturing expert talks about the Cybertruck on HyperChange videocast.

Here are the highlights of what he said:

"I put it [Cybertruck] in a different classification. People want to call it a pickup truck; it doesn't fall into that class. I think it's a new class and that's how it's going to be remembered, I believe... it's going to be an icon."​

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"I know they were talking about 50,000 vehicles a year but I think they're grossly underestimating what they could sell."​

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"The material they're using and the styling is basically a piece of cake to produce. It's going to be relatively inexpensive as far as tooling.​

The car material cost itself will be high because stainless steel is expensive... and those windows are going to be expensive."​

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"Everything about this [Cybertruck] appeals to people who want to go out and have a small adventure. "​

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"We have five of them on order."​

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[thejohnllama]

Great interview, enjoyed all of it!

Regarding heat pumps and such... I had a three-zone Mitsubishi hyper heat ductless system installed in my home (48,000 BTU unit and KJ18+KJ09s).

They are nice efficient systems, work even when temperatures are well-below 0°F, but the air filtration is extremely basic. Just a mesh screen, still allows dust through ?

The current niche in the HVAC industry are ductless heads that include HEPA level filtration systems. Ductless + dustless is my dream! ?

 

[Blue Steel]

I couldn't agree more on the classification. It's really hard to find a vehicle to accurately compare this to. For my family it will act as our new SUV. For others it's more of truck. It's why I was so irked by Doug Demuro insisting on comparing it to an entry level Silverado.

 

[Newton]

It's a pickup truck. Look at other unibody pickups Honda ridgeline, chevy avalanche, upcoming Hyundai. I'm pretty sure monroe is payed somehow by Tesla. I'm not hateing, I find things he says and his videos great. Actually any full sized truck is essentially the same as CT. I'm not sure why he thinks it needs another classifier
And CT will be a classic. But it's a pickup truck

 

[thejohnllama]

It's a pickup truck. Look at other unibody pickups Honda ridgeline, chevy avalanche, upcoming Hyundai. I'm pretty sure monroe is payed somehow by Tesla. I'm not hateing, I find things he says and his videos great. Actually any full sized truck is essentially the same as CT. I'm not sure why he thinks it needs another classifier
And CT will be a classic. But it's a pickup truck

Let’s talk more about unibody design of Cybertruck vs the design of Ridgeline and Avalanche. I believe both of those models are actually body on frame, but would love more input!

 

[Newton]

I'm fairly certain they are unibody. With a small (light, thin, only in essential areas) frame, To help support everything. CT will have supporting structural members where necessary too(I would assume).
As I think about it, unibody means the vehicle holds itself together with suspension,engine,etc. mounted to it.

While frame on body is pretty much the frame(large thick, heavy) is necessary to support suspension drivetrain, forces, etc. And the body also mounts to it.

The previously mentioned trucks don't have a main frame like typical pickups. I should note I'm talking about the first gen ridgeline( 2007i believe) with the cybertruck -esque bed

 

[Newton]

I'm fairly certain they are unibody. With a small (light, thin, only in essential areas, which cars have too btw) frame, To help support everything. CT will have supporting structural members where necessary too(I would assume).
As I think about it, unibody means the vehicle holds itself together with suspension,engine,etc. mounted to it.

While frame on body is pretty much the frame(large thick, heavy) is necessary to support suspension drivetrain, forces, etc. And the body also mounts to it.

The previously mentioned trucks don't have a main frame like typical pickups. I should note I'm talking about the first gen ridgeline( 2007i believe) with the cybertruck -esque bed

 

[hridge2020]

Heard the statement another type class of vehicle.

We had these other class of vehicles awhile back..

 

[thejohnllama]

I'm fairly certain they are unibody. With a small (light, thin, only in essential areas) frame, To help support everything. CT will have supporting structural members where necessary too(I would assume).
As I think about it, unibody means the vehicle holds itself together with suspension,engine,etc. mounted to it.

While frame on body is pretty much the frame(large thick, heavy) is necessary to support suspension drivetrain, forces, etc. And the body also mounts to it.

The previously mentioned trucks don't have a main frame like typical pickups. I should note I'm talking about the first gen ridgeline( 2007i believe) with the cybertruck -esque bed

Quick search results...

http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/chassis-suspension/1705-honda-ridgelines-frame-the-untold-story

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stepha...ine-are-unibody-trucks-the-way-of-the-future/

https://www.carfax.com/blog/unibody-vs-body-on-frame-construction/

 

[martinsky]

Heard the statement another type class of vehicle.

We had these other class of vehicles awhile back..

I think Munro is more referring to the unique manufacturing processes and externalised load bearing aspects of the CT. Traditional pickup trucks have their body panels stamped out from a large press. This includes cab on chassis as well as the unibody styles shown here. The benefits to stamping out carbon steel panels are that the material is cheap, and strong but flexible enough to allow some complexity in the panel design.

Because the CT design involves hardened, relatively thick stainless steel it cannot be stamped out in the traditional manner. This requires new manufacturing techniques involving the folding of the panels forming the exoskeleton. Also the exoskeleton is load bearing unlike cab on chassis style trucks. Unibody pickups probably spread the load into the rear sides of the vehicle, extending into the cab via the thickened B pillar.

Though if you look at the unibody style vehicles above you can see that the front fender does not provide any load bearing at all. The thick B pillar that joins the cab to the bed is also compromised for styling (and arguably practicality) purposes. A straight line from the top of the cab to the end of the bed would be strongest, if that outer panel needed tocarry a lot of load. But I think you will find in the unibody pickup trucks most of the load bearing is in the underbody of the vehicle and minimal load is transferred to the outer body.
In contrast the CT has thick hardened stainless steel, in a triangle shape for the key purpose of load bearing. Naturally some load will be carried by the underbody as well, it is after all carrying some very heavy batteries.

Munro also expects these CT design elements to be ultimately copied by other vehicle manufacturers, because it provides excellent strength to weight ratio at minimal cost.

I think these factors led Munro to state that the CT is in a class of its own and that would be the 'Exoskeleton' class.

 

[cybrtrk_maybe]

Heard the statement another type class of vehicle.

We had these other class of vehicles awhile back..

On November 22, 2019 I mentioned in a post:

"... I thought it looked more like an El Camino or Ranchero ..."

 

[Newton]

I suppose when u think about like that, it could get its own class. Where the outer panels are also load bearing. As apposed to a typical unibody where the internal structure takes the loads and the outer body panels are thin stamped coverings basically.