Tesla has announced plans to release a pickup truck in the near future. This electric vehicle is expected to have the versatility and utility of a traditional pickup truck, combined with Tesla’s signature cutting-edge technology and sustainability features. Excitement and anticipation are building among fans and industry experts alike as the launch date approaches.
Experts are speculating as to how the corporation will produce the Cybertruck’s distinctive stainless steel “exoskeleton,” which is already two years behind schedule.
In 2021, the electric Cybertruck will be on show in New York. Tesla will start making the truck before the year is over, according to Elon Musk.
Tesla announced last month that it would start producing the electric pickup truck by the end of 2023, more than three years after Elon Musk surprised the auto industry with a vehicle that looked more like a stealth fighter than a method to haul two-by-fours and plasterboard.
The revelation has aided in the rebound of Tesla’s stock price, but it has also reignited discussion about whether Mr. Musk’s frequently delayed pickup truck, the Cybertruck, is an example of his brilliance or his hubris.
It would be quite unusual for Mr. Musk, the CEO of Tesla, to create a pickup that resembled any of the top-selling American pickups, the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, or Ram 1500.
The Cybertruck is an attempt to reimagine the pickup with its angular stainless steel shell, just like Tesla challenged the status quo of the car industry by demonstrating that battery-powered vehicles might be useful and successful.
A top-of-the-line version of the truck, according to Tesla, will be able to haul 14,000 pounds and accelerate more quickly than a Porsche 911. When the driver arrives, the doors of the Cybertruck will open automatically.
The pickup truck is significant because it will be Tesla’s first brand-new passenger car in three years and might revitalize a model selection that some customers find stale. Since the Model Y, Tesla’s most recent automobile, went on sale in early 2020, well-known automakers including Ford, General Motors, and Hyundai have introduced a number of new electric models.
However, the Cybertruck is so far behind schedule that some auto experts question whether it has turned into yet another illustration of Mr. Musk’s propensity for pushing technological frontiers to the verge of catastrophe. Prior to choosing more conventional manufacturing techniques, his drive to construct a highly automated assembly line for the Model 3 car in 2018 caused “production hell” and almost caused the company’s demise.
Industry insiders are chuckling this time over the Cybertruck’s body being made of stainless steel.
Because stainless steel resists corrosion and doesn’t require painting, there is no need for expensive chemical coatings that are harmful to the environment. However, it is also costly and challenging to form and weld. Since stainless steel is usually heavier than the steel used in most other cars, it reduces the amount of distance that can be driven.
The fact that only one automaker has ever attempted to mass-produce a vehicle with a stainless steel body has a reason. That was DeLorean, most known for its leading role as a time machine in the “Back to the Future” movies, which declared bankruptcy after producing less than 10,000 automobiles.
An Increase in Electric Vehicles
Price reductions: Ford Motor Company announced price reductions on its best-selling battery-powered model two weeks after Tesla reduced costs for its electric cars in response to waning demand.
Tesla will construct a facility in northern Nevada to produce its electric semi-trucks, which the company unveiled in 2017 but has only so far produced in small quantities.
Mercedes-Benz: By 2027, the German automaker plans to set up a network of 2,500 powerful chargers in the United States.
Battery recycling is a hot topic as sales of electric cars and trucks soar, but few lithium-ion batteries will be accessible for reuse for at least ten years.
According to Patrick McQuown, executive director of entrepreneurship at Towson University
in Maryland, Musk is “an example of how the fetishization of digital start-ups and their founders may ultimately lead those executives to make disastrous judgments.” According to me, his fixation on using stainless steel is a demonstration of his conviction that he has a special grasp of the market and that consumers will purchase everything he delivers because it is a product of Elon Musk’s imagination.
Because it frequently includes other components like nickel and molybdenum, both of which are in great demand, as well as chromium, stainless steel is more expensive than the steel used in the majority of autos. Stainless steel cannot be stamped into fenders and other pieces as easily as the more malleable steel used by most automakers because of its propensity to return to its original shape. Additionally, specific welding methods are needed.
These difficulties most likely contributed to Tesla’s two-year delay in producing the Cybertruck, which the company intends to do at its Austin, Texas, facility.
According to Raj Rajkumar, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, “Tesla feels they can solve any problem and don’t have to learn from anyone else, and then they become stuck in a corner.”
In a financial report released last month, Tesla stated that it will start manufacturing the Cybertruck before the year’s end. The business wouldn’t start producing the vehicle in big quantities until 2024, Mr. Musk clarified on a conference call with analysts and investors. The Tesla Cybertruck was scheduled to go on sale in 2021 when it was first introduced by Tesla.
In 2023, the car “will not be a substantial contributor to the bottom line,” but it will be next year, according to Mr. Musk.
Due to Tesla’s delays, conventional automakers were able to launch electric pickups before it did, leaving Tesla with nothing to appeal to the large number of Americans who favor pickup trucks over automobiles and sport utility vehicles.
The demand for electric trucks is booming. Ford no longer accepts bookings for the battery-powered F-150 Lightning because the company cannot produce the cars quickly enough. Rivian, a more recent manufacturer of electric vehicles, is also having trouble keeping up with demand for its R1T truck.
A Hummer pickup vehicle is available for purchase from GMC, although in sparse quantities. And this year, Chevrolet is anticipated to start selling an electric Silverado. Ram has announced that a 1500 truck powered by batteries will be available in 2019.
According to Mr. Rajkumar, “the first-mover advantage that Tesla could have utilized has absolutely gone away.” “It’s a huge chance missed,”
Almost no information has been provided by Tesla regarding how it plans to address the difficulties associated with dealing with stainless steel, including safety. Most cars’ steel is made to collapse in an accident, absorbing energy and safeguarding occupants. Passengers are exposed to more of the force of a collision since stainless steel does not collapse as quickly.
Requests for responses from Tesla were not answered.
There are hints that the stainless steel formula utilized by the truck will be the same as or comparable to that employed by Mr. Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. Vice President of Materials Engineering at Tesla is Charles Kuehmann, who also holds this position at SpaceX.
Mr. Kuehmann was on an Apple design team and co-founded the materials design company QuesTek. Some engineering experts are confident that Tesla has produced an alloy that will overcome the difficulties of stainless steel because of his reputation as a pioneer in the utilization of novel materials.
In response to a request for comment, Mr. Kuehmann remained silent.
The body of the Cybertruck lacks the characteristic curves found in most vehicles and is made out of flat steel panels that, according to experts, were likely cut using lasers before being welded together. This eliminated the need for robust stamping machinery.
According to Kip Findley, a professor of metallurgical and materials engineering at the Colorado School of Mines who has studied improved steel for cars, “broadly the concept could make sense.” “This is advancing the evolution of steel and changing how people view steel, which is wonderful.”
But there are still some unanswered issues, Mr. Findley said. Among them is how owners will fix damage to the Cybertruck’s body, or “exoskeleton,” as Tesla calls it. Though less prone to dents than standard auto-body steel, stainless steel is more challenging to pound back into shape once it has been damaged.
Because Tesla is the only company mass producing vehicle bodies from stainless steel, it will be unable to benefit from the shared economies of scale that other automakers enjoy. That might raise the cost of manufacturing the truck.
Tesla initially stated that the Cybertruck would start at just around $40,000. But it’s widely anticipated that the final cost would be far greater.
Without specifying a price for the Cybertruck, Tesla is accepting reservations, which cost $100. Tesla has not disclosed the number of bookings it has received.
The Cybertruck will be noticeable in a packed field, if nothing else.
Wei Xiong, an associate professor of metallurgy and materials design at the University of Pittsburgh, noted that computer-aided design allows researchers to manufacture high-performance materials more quickly than in the past. He added that stainless steel automobile bodies are “definitely doable.” “I can see his motivation for going there.”
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