Article: CyberTruck an "oddity" and not as indicative of Tesla's future as Model 3 Highland -- Agree or Disagree?

[PilotPete]

I'm going to order a small plate or 2 of 3mm 304 Stainless. (I'm going to assume that is close to whatever they have created for 30X) and take a number of different calibers to it at the range. I'll take some video and stills and see where the stopping point stops stopping! As I recall, EM said it will stop a 9mm at 15 feet. Will it? What about a .40? .45? .357? .44Mag? Various rifle calibers?

Place your bets!

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[PointHope]

Right. But I think it's safe to say at least from a design standpoint, when looking at Teslas lineup. The Cybertruck is a one off. Based on current evidence.

The model 3 refresh is in line with Teslas design language across all vehicles besides CT.

Which would lead some to assume that the cars design language will continue to be Teslas future whereas the CT is an oddity.

Oddities aren't bad imo

One off in terms of planned obsolescence. Cybertruck is perhaps the only mass production vehicle designed to go a million + miles since the Mercedes Benz W123. (the ugliest Mercedes)
Mercedes built about 2.7 million before realizing their mistake.
The precision and simplicity of the Cybertruck doesn't seem like a mistake.
Gonna be interesting to one of the first million owners.
Breathtaking to consider that nearly 2 million orders are already pending.

 

[Gurule92]

One off in terms of planned obsolescence. Cybertruck is perhaps the only mass production vehicle designed to go a million + miles since the Mercedes Benz W123. (the ugliest Mercedes)
Mercedes built about 2.7 million before realizing their mistake.
The precision and simplicity of the Cybertruck doesn't seem like a mistake.
Gonna be interesting to one of the first million owners.
Breathtaking to consider that nearly 2 million orders are already pending.

If you're looking for someone to tell you it won't be popular or successful, that's not me. I 100% believe in the truck.

I just think that it's design language and form factor won't make it into the rest of the Tesla lineup. Aside from maybe a CT based van/suv.

 

[CyberGus]

I'm going to order a small plate or 2 of 3mm 304 Stainless. (I'm going to assume that is close to whatever they have created for 30X) and take a number of different calibers to it at the range. I'll take some video and stills and see where the stopping point stops stopping! As I recall, EM said it will stop a 9mm at 15 feet. Will it? What about a .40? .45? .357? .44Mag? Various rifle calibers?

Place your bets!

 

[PilotPete]

Well, I guess I don't have to now!

 

[HaulingAss]

I'm going to order a small plate or 2 of 3mm 304 Stainless. (I'm going to assume that is close to whatever they have created for 30X) and take a number of different calibers to it at the range. I'll take some video and stills and see where the stopping point stops stopping! As I recall, EM said it will stop a 9mm at 15 feet. Will it? What about a .40? .45? .357? .44Mag? Various rifle calibers?

Place your bets!

Elon said the 30X stainless steel will be cold-rolled to full-hard condition. It's pretty difficult to source a sample of 304 cold-rolled to full hard. Even in that common alloy, full-hard is not very popular due to the difficulty working it. If you find a source of 3mm full-hard 304 stainless in small quantity, let us know.

One thing we don't know, assuming it really is a custom alloy, we don't know whether the alloy is different because its stronger, easier to work, more corrosion resistant, or exactly how it will differ from 304 alloy.

Testing it for bullet penetration in a meaningful way, using a small sample size, is difficult because it matters how it's mounted. For example, a door panel of the same material may not be penetrated while the same round, at the same distance, may penetrate a smaller rigidly mounted sample. The door panel will have a lot of energy absorbing "give" to it due to its larger size.

 

[PilotPete]

Elon said the 30X stainless steel will be cold-rolled to full-hard condition. It's pretty difficult to source a sample of 304 cold-rolled to full hard. Even in that common alloy, full-hard is not very popular due to the difficulty working it. If you find a source of 3mm full-hard 304 stainless in small quantity, let us know.

One thing we don't know, assuming it really is a custom alloy, we don't know whether the alloy is different because its stronger, easier to work, more corrosion resistant, or exactly how it will differ from 304 alloy.

Testing it for bullet penetration in a meaningful way, using a small sample size, is difficult because it matters how it's mounted. For example, a door panel of the same material may not be penetrated while the same round, at the same distance, may penetrate a smaller rigidly mounted sample. The door panel will have a lot of energy absorbing "give" to it due to its larger size.

Everything you say here is true. I was searching for something close, and thinking about how to mount it. Then I watched this video. Straight 304 unmounted stopped a 9mm FMJ. He had to go to a rifle to get through the 3mm plate. So that’s level 2A body armor in the US. I saw another video where a 304 plate stopped a 300 blkout subsonic as well. Certainly impressive.

As for the alloy, I did some research and spoke with some guys in that field. Supposedly, 30X is mostly about additional corrosion resistance, no pitting, and some strength increase. One mentioned the “flip” maneuver that the starship was originally going to do for separation from the 1st stage. Said the 30X additional strength was to address this as well.

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