Elon Musk’s idea of an all-electric, stainless-steel truck is one that you just would possibly say belongs … properly, again to the longer term.
Taking a cue from that film’s greatest star — John DeLorean’s excessive imaginative and prescient of a stainless-steel-bodied sports activities automobile — Musk three-plus years in the past shocked the business when he introduced that Tesla would construct a “Cybertruck” that may speed up quicker than a 911 and look nothing like a Ford F-150. And it will be constructed of DeLorean-esque stainless-steel.
The Musk plan, like many Musk plans, has but to return to fruition. In a revealing essay in The New York Occasions, veteran auto author Jack Ewing particulars the trouble to supply the Cybertruck, with a deal with the usage of stainless-steel in an “exoskeleton” car as “one other instance of Mr. Musk’s penchant for pushing technological boundaries to the brink of catastrophe.”
Ewing discusses with specialists the challenges of working with the fabric — challenges, he writes, that will “assist clarify why Tesla is 2 years delayed in manufacturing the Cybertruck, which the corporate plans to supply at its manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas.’’
The story quotes Raj Rajkumar, a professor of engineering at Carnegie Mellon College, on Musk’s go-my-own-way strategy: “Tesla thinks they’ll clear up any drawback and don’t should study from anybody else. After which they get caught in a nook.”
In the meantime, Tesla’s been lapped by opponents whose electrical vans have been introduced later however went on sale sooner. Citing the excessive demand for EV vans, Ewing notes, “Ford stopped taking reservations for its F-150 Lightning, a battery-powered model of the best-selling car, as a result of it will probably’t make the autos quick sufficient. Rivian, a more moderen electrical car firm, can be struggling to supply sufficient of its pickup, the R1T, to satisfy demand.”
But it surely’s stainless-steel that the majority intrigues him. Ewing explains that the price of the fabric exceeds typical metal “as a result of it accommodates chromium and infrequently different substances, like nickel and molybdenum, which might be in excessive demand. Chrome steel’s tendency to spring again to its unique form means it can’t be stamped into fenders and different components as simply because the extra pliable metal utilized by most automakers. It additionally requires particular welding strategies.” In different phrases, you possibly can ignore Musk’s preliminary declare of a $40,000 truck; that is not going to occur.
The story takes a dive into design and mass-production questions, noting the Cybertruck physique “has not one of the curves typical of most autos, as a substitute consisting of flat metal panels that specialists say are most likely reduce with lasers after which welded collectively, eliminating the necessity for highly effective stamping machines.”
Ewing additionally speculates about security. “The metal utilized in most automobiles is designed to crumple in a crash, absorbing power and defending passengers,” he writes. “Chrome steel doesn’t crumple as simply, exposing passengers to extra of the power from influence.”
Summing up, he writes, “If nothing else, the Cybertruck will stand out in a crowded discipline.” However when? It is now wanting like 2024 earlier than the truck will get produced in any actual numbers.
For a deeper dive into the difficulties bringing a chrome steel truck to market, try the Occasions’ full report.
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