Newton

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p̶r̶i̶u̶s̶ c̶,̶ y̶o̶t̶a̶ p̶i̶c̶k̶u̶p, ⼕丫⻏?尺セ尺ㄩ⼕长
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Thank you for an excellent well researched article.
I'm no hunter or much of a gun slinger so I ask this question more out of ignorance and real curiosity. Surely, even if a high velocity bullet pernitrates a Cybertruck's skin it will have lost a considerable amount of its energy and suppose it still hits me, it will cause me less grief than if the same bullet were to hit me sitting in an F150?
it would probably mushroom, tumbled, or split apart and made the wound much worse.

but in theory one could bolt on some real armor relatively easily to make it resistant to rifles.
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strongsafety31

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Can The Tesla Cybertruck Repel Stray Bullets?

Via https://cleantechnica.com/2021/02/18/can-the-tesla-cybertruck-repel-stray-bullets/

February 18, 2021

Inside EVs recently interviewed Sandy Munro, a well known automotive industry expert. He said one of the reasons he’ll be buying a Cybertruck is so that stray rounds from other hunters wouldn’t “put a hole in” it.

“I used to go hunting a lot (before the pandemic), and all hunters are worried about stray bullets,” Mr. Munro said to Inside EVs. “I heard through the grapevine that the stainless steel that they got will deflect the bullet. If something like that happened, I wouldn’t want to find a hole in my car.”

But would it really protect itself from a highly unlikely stray rifle shot? As a firearms instructor, I know a few things about guns. Let’s find out.




As we can see in the video (many of us already saw this in 2019), the truck can stop a 9mm pistol round, as long as it hits the metal and not the windows. Tesla obviously doesn’t think people will buy a Cybertruck to protect themselves from getting shot, but they did think that taking rounds would show how tough the truck’s body is. They also hit it with a hammer.

But, as a friend on Twitter pointed out, a handgun is a lot weaker than a rifle.




For both CleanTechnica and The Truth About Guns, I decided to have some fun and run some numbers on this.

First off, muzzle velocity isn’t relevant here. Nobody is going to shoot the Cybertruck from an inch away. The further the bullet flies through the air, the more speed and energy it loses to drag, eventually losing all of its energy. The 9mm handgun Tesla used to hit the Cybertruck metal was at a distance of 10 meters (around 33 feet).

Feeding this into an online ballistics calculator (assuming a pretty average 9mm full metal jacket training round), at 10 yards the energy is about 379 ft-lb, and we know that the Cybertruck’s skin can withstand that.

If a hunter shoots your truck from only 30–33 feet away, that’s not a “stray round.” That’s either done intentionally or through pretty severe negligence. One of the gun rules owners should memorize is “never point a gun at anything you don’t want to destroy.” Hunting rifles are pretty accurate, and they often use magnified optics (a “scope”) to aim precisely at targets up to hundreds of yards/meters away.

Stray rounds happen when the target is missed, and usually end up in a tree or in the ground behind the animal that’s being hunted. There’s usually some terrain in the woods that would keep a round from going directly from the gun to your truck that’s parked at the road. To hit your truck, the bullet would fly high, and go over the earth, rocks, and trees, often going well over 1,000 yards before striking something.

So, the real question here is, when does a .308 Winchester (aka 7.62mm NATO) run out of steam and have less energy than a 9mm? To test this, I assumed a 168 grain Hornady A-MAX bullet (common in hunting) was fired from a typical powder load and average barrel.

Screenshot-from-2021-02-17-23-49-47.png



According to the calculations, this bullet would drop to below 9mm energy at just before 1300 yards, and would have dropped 896 inches (almost 75 feet or 23 meters) from the point of aim (assuming a 100-yard zero) by this point.

If someone shot high, the bullet flew through the air, and it fell into your truck after more than 1300 yards, this stray round likely wouldn’t punch a hole in the Cybertruck.

Thus, Sandy Munro is correct. The Cybertruck indeed would be a good truck to not get messed up if something like this happened out hunting.

This Isn’t Terribly Likely, Though
The chances of this actually happening are very low, though.

Let’s look at El Paso, Texas, for example. During the worst years of the cartel wars just over the river in Ciudad Juarez, it was statistically the most dangerous city on the planet to live in, even beating Baghdad, and this was during the height of the Iraq War. El Paso, on the other hand, was still one of the safest cities in America.

With all of the shooting going on in Juarez, you’d think a lot of people would be hit by stray bullets in El Paso, but that only happened once.

I’m not saying that stray bullets from a hunter’s gun never hurt anyone (you can find lots of stories of this happening on Google), but when you consider just how many people hunt every year and how rarely this happens, you’d have to be one of the most unlucky hunters on the planet for someone to hit you or your Cybertruck. You’re more likely to die in a car wreck on the way to or from the woods.

One of the reasons this is so rare is another gun safety rule people learn in Hunter’s Ed: “Know your target and what’s beyond it.” Almost everyone hunting knows that you can’t take a shot if you don’t know where the bullet will go if you miss or it passes through.

Where The Cybertruck’s Protection Will More Likely Be Tested
Your car is more likely to be shot by a criminal or a police officer with a pistol than a hunter with a rifle, and you’ll find many more criminals and cops in the city. That’s also where most Cybertrucks will roam.

Teslas have already been shot, and every story I can find of this happening was in the city. For example, some lunatic shot at a Model S in Nashville last month. Nobody knows who they were or why they did it, but it was caught on the car’s camera.

Before readers jump into the comments telling us that this is why they don’t live in the States, keep in mind that incidents like this are still extremely rare, even here. You’re more likely to be struck by lightning or die from choking, no matter what country you live in. However, stray bullets in the city are far more likely to hit a Cybertruck than those from a hunter. It’s just numbers.

Nobody buying a Cybertruck is going to buy one because they think it’s going to save them from a bullet. They’re going to buy it because they think it will be tough and durable, and that’s where the conversation actually gets serious.
It is my understanding the windows are bullet proof, also. Does anyone know where Tesla has said they are not?
 

Cyber_Dav

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It is my understanding the windows are bullet proof, also. Does anyone know where Tesla has said they are not?
It's not that they said they aren't, it's that they never claimed they were. And if they were, they would have proclaimed it.

They haven't, so they aren't.

I believe you are confused because they call it "Armor Glass". Just a name. Smartphones use "Gorilla Glass", but there are no gorillas in it. :unsure:
 

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I considered it irresponsible of Tesla to promote the doors being "bulletproof" on release day. And I fully expect more than one idiot to see a CT and shoot at it. And I won't be surprised if Tesla gets sued over that.

The doors may repel weaker pistol rounds, but any decent sized rifle round (even 5.56mm) will penetrate 1/4" mild steel like butter , so I hope the elongated crystalline structure and dopants of 3mm cold-rolled 30X make it a lot stronger. But I'd still bet on rifle rounds going straight through.
 

Quicksilver

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I know several people that legally own Title III weapons (machine guns or other "Destructive Devices") and we used to have a yearly machine gun shoot.
The guy that put it on would always have his buddy that owned a junkyard bring several cars that would be set up as target vehicles.
You would be surprised how bullet resistant (there is no such thing as "bullet proof" unless you are talking armored vehicles) some vehicles are to blunt nosed rounds.
Unless the bullet hits the sheet metal straight on there is a good chance it will be somewhat deflected. Front windshields can also deflect smaller caliber bullets to some degree but side windows will usually blow out after one or two shots hit them.
Since the weapon of choice among most thugs is the 9mm there is a chance that any bullets hitting a metal vehicle will deflect somewhat or be slowed down when they do penetrate.
This is where the stainless steel skin of the CT might prove to be an advantage in an armed confrontation.
Rifle rounds are a different matter and most pointed tip rounds will penetrate exterior metal depending on the makeup of the bullet. The good news is armor piercing rounds are getting harder to get hold of by civilians be they good guys or bad guys.
If you encounter a group or individual armed with rifles intent on committing mayhem you are prob screwed anyway.
In that case you better hope your evasive driving skills are up to date.
 


TheLastStarfighter

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You chose to delete a post I made that you deemed too political. While I agree that politics should normally be left out of most online posts, usually because they're completely off-topic, how do you address a very real problem when the cause is political???

IT IS A FACT that there are those on the far right who are behind most of the anti-Tesla crowd, which is an extension of the anti-environmentalism and anti-science bullshit being pushed by certain conservative groups, most of whom have some connection or funding from the fossil-fuel industry. This is FACT and has been proven through investigations using the Freedom Of Information Act.

These anti-Tesla groups contain members of subgroups that include white nationalists, right-wing militias (aka DOMESTIC TERRORISTS) science deniers who are militantly against global climate change. If you were to look at a Venn diagram of these groups, you'll see a definite link to Tesla-haters.

The worst of these are those pickup driving assholes who go around ICE-blocking superchargers, vandalizing, coal-rolling and often intimidating Tesla drivers (sometimes leading to life-threatening accidents), and we've ALL SEEN THE VIDEOS THAT PROVE IT!!! And if you think the cause of this isn't largely political, then you're not the sharpest tool in the shed.

THE UGLY FACT IS THAT THIS KIND OF POLITICS IS THE ROOT CAUSE AND AS SUCH POSES A VERY REAL THREAT TO TESLA OWNERS, and your choosing to ignore it or censor any such conversation simply avoids addressing the problem and leaves the uninitiated exposed to a real, albeit uncommon threat. But forewarned is forearmed, so some discussion of the topic should be allowed in some forum with the only censorship being that to maintain the "temperature" of the discussion to an acceptable level.

Simply to act as if it doesn't exist out of a misguided desire to remain apolitical is a mistake, because if you own a Tesla, IT IS QUITE PROBABLE THAT IT WILL AFFECT YOU TO SOME DEGREE OR ANOTHER, until our political climate changes. And you can rest ABSOLUTELY ASSURED that when the Cybertruck rolls out, it will be the most polarizing vehicle on the road and as such will likely receive far more unwanted attention from these hateful idiots, some of whom are armed and dangerous.

Well that's my rant, and I will simply add that being someone who values freedom of speech and abhors censorship, I'll be leaving this site.

Good luck in whatever site you move on to. There's a certain irony in your post, however, saying that there will be issues until the political climate changes, while at the same time bashing a segment of the political population. You are a primary example of the heart of the problem, and yet you're oblivious to it. You assume the improvements must come from "the other side".

This is why political discussions don't work. Politically I view myself as an "extreme moderate", and as such I love a good talk about a political issue. I don't get worked up, and I enjoy hearing views on something controversial as I try to shape where I stand on a topic. The problem is people tend to connect to political parties like they do sports teams, and support them regardless of whether they agree on a specific topic, and blanket the "other" side as the enemy. It's getting more passionate by the day, and less civil.

I'm a passionate believer in free speech. I believe on "open", friend-based platforms like Facebook or Twitter you should be able to say whatever you want, even if it's offensive, as long as it's not illegal. That's because if I'm not your friend, I don't have to listen to you. UBU. But in a forum such as this, we have all left the comfort of our private FB pages and gone to a place that likes to discuss cybertrucks. It's a club with rules to make people happy, and one rule is no politics. At home you can lie around naked and eat peanut butter if you want, but when you go to a restaurant, no shirt, no service. Same here.

The ant-Tesla crowd is a relevant topic for Tesla owners, sure. Maybe we should have a thread on it. But we should discuss the jerks as the jerks that they are, not by stereotyping them into a possible political belief system. It's one step above racism, and causing hurt and division in much the same way.
 

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I honestly think it was a big mistake for Elon to state this during the reveal. You know people are just crazy enough to test it. "Hey bubba, my trucks bulletproff wanna see? Hold my beer!"

you also know the liability lawyers are just waiting for the first incident where someone gets shot through the door to sue Tesla.
Couldn't agree more. Musk says/does a lot of sensational, provocative things, which don't ultimately serve the cause. Hopefully he'll learn to be more restrained one day, and just deliver all the amazing things he does and leave the BS out of it.
 

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Couldn't agree more. Musk says/does a lot of sensational, provocative things, which don't ultimately serve the cause. Hopefully he'll learn to be more restrained one day, and just deliver all the amazing things he does and leave the BS out of it.
If any other of the truck companies had a bullet resistant truck, I would bet they would market the snot out of it.
 

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An old growth redwood tree is very, very heavy.

Even a thoroughly rotted one like that. Basically a ton of bricks landed on that car. It's amazing anyone survived. They should have been traveling about 60mph, too.

"Officials did not know why the tree fell..." it was rotted. You can see that in the picture. Trees don't shatter on the ground unless they have a serious disease.

I was once in Big Basin and a friend of mine stopped to drink a beer at the foot of a giant cedar, one of the few in the park. Once her was done, he stopped away, and it fell down, bisecting that trail and another. It had termites, and it was just its time.

Coast redwoods can live forever. That doesn't mean they do.

-Crissa
 

Bigvbear

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Would the Cybertruck have prevented the horrible death of the 2 parents, with 5 children, recently when a redwood tree fell on them and demolished their car?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-redwood-falls-car-kills-parents-children-76769368

Can't test the what-ifs, but I wonder.
although it sounds good, it may have the same outcome if it was a CT. Although Tesla's are extremely safe and have some of the best roof strength out there they are not indestructible. A falling tree is very very heavy and has alot of velocity behind it.
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