Giga Texas Employee Speaks out on CT

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[Crissa]

Dunno if it's real, but that's some morale.

-Crissa

 

[Cyberman]

Sounds like it's from the heart.

 

[CyberGus]

Sounds like it's from the heart.

My sources inside Giga Austin tell me "production is hard"

 

[John K]

Production is easy, almost boring. Configuration is ”fun”.

 

[flowerlandfilms]

Listen to Billy Zane, he's a cool guy.

 

[Zapharus]

Dunno if it's real, but that's some morale.

-Crissa

Agreed. Some of us might get frustrated at times with the waiting but that might be due to the fact that we can’t fathom all the processes involved in something as complex as building a vehicle, especially one that requires an all new approach like the CT.

 

[Ogre]

HAH.

I saw that rumor/ leak/ heartfelt employee comment and it made me happy.

But here’s a tit for that tat.

Elon Musk has another CEO compensation package coming due.

<ConspiratorVoice>

If he can get vehicle margins under 30% by August, he gets one of his last stock option grants. We all know launching a new vehicle puts a hit on margins and they are already going to be under pressure with the 2 new factories coming online. So he oddly has a ton of incentive to delay production start until after he’s gotten his stock option grant.​

</ConspiratorVoice>

I’m not saying Musk is sabotaging the Cybertruck to collect on his next big payday but…


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Ok actually I’m not. But he does have stock options tied to margins which are eligible in August.

 

[anionic1]

Dunno if it's real, but that's some morale.

-Crissa

I was sold with the immediate equestrian reference , "Yall", and "gonna". Definitely Texas. Or its Elon practicing his slang.

 

[nomadmusk]

Hmm, how to say this without getting in trouble for totally accidentally stumbling upon it, and absolutely wasn't snooping at all. That original Hanz demo was no joke, I put my full weight on a door sized sheet of sample steel for the CT body last year, zero flex. Trust me, you'll be happy you waited, even before the tech. Crazy part is that steel gets better every time SpaceX sends a rocket up. All we've ever known is paper thin aluminum car bodies, but it wasn't always like that. In the 60s, we had fantastic chrome bumpers that didn't collapse from leaning on them wrong.

 

[anionic1]

Hmm, how to say this without getting in trouble for totally accidentally stumbling upon it, and absolutely wasn't snooping at all. That original Hanz demo was no joke, I put my full weight on a door sized sheet of sample steel for the CT body last year, zero flex. Trust me, you'll be happy you waited, even before the tech. Crazy part is that steel gets better every time SpaceX sends a rocket up. All we've ever known is paper thin aluminum car bodies, but it wasn't always like that. In the 60s, we had fantastic chrome bumpers that didn't collapse from leaning on them wrong.

Good engineering is about putting the right strength and material where they were needed. They put those big bumpers on the heavy cars in the 60s because that was the best choice they had to protect the 4000 lb cars and it was stylistic. Those cars also got 10 MPG, which is no way is sustainable.

Don't get me wrong. I am very excited to have a 3mm stainless truck, if it ever gets built. But much of the CT is a wow factor and not an engineering necessity. No one is going to convince anyone that 3mm stainless "exoskeleton" is necessary for a unibody vehicle. The Starship seems to be using thicker stainless so its not using it to match that. Unless maybe they plan to cold roll the thicker stainless to 3mm. Seems like they picked the minimum thickness to call it bulletproof again for the wow factor. Its not necessary to make a great truck. Even a great stainless truck. I did the math at one point and that exoskeleton is about 3x the weight and 2x the cost of a traditional body. So a 6x cost overall. Again, i am sure the, "but its a unibody exoskeleton", comments are coming and there are plenty of unibody vehicles out there not using bodies that are 6x the cost.

My concern is that the wow factor may be what is holding up actually building the truck. Elon said before and again in the last earnings call that they are struggling to figure out how to build it cost effectively. It may take a few good economic years for prices to find their way back to market rate before a unique vehicle like that actually makes financial sense. Only time will tell.

 

[SentinelOne]

no hail damage, no door dings, no hard use dents = awesome + engineering necessity for a tough truck - in my minds eye! Go 3mm!

I was under the impression that the ExoSkeleton should weight = or < than a traditional HD truck Frame & body (eg one that can haul 3500 payload and 14k towing)...eg that's how they get a weight of between 5k and 6k lbs for the truck and still have the payload/towing of a traditional HD Truck?

 

[anionic1]

no hail damage, no door dings, no hard use dents = awesome + engineering necessity for a tough truck - in my minds eye! Go 3mm!

I was under the impression that the ExoSkeleton should weight = or < than a traditional HD truck Frame & body (eg one that can haul 3500 payload and 14k towing)...eg that's how they get a weight of between 5k and 6k lbs for the truck and still have the payload/towing of a traditional HD Truck?

I definitely agree that the 3mm is awesome. I have a 2005 ford truck that I keep running and its got its share of dings and dents. But if I had to pick between waiting a couple more years on top of the years that I have already waited I would definitely pick to simplify the truck and lets move forward. With this Russia craziness it could take 5 years for the economy to right itself again.

I think the first version of that truck is going to weigh between 6000 and 6500 lbs. At 5000 lbs it will barely make the Class 2b, which is already above an F150. Its going to be a very heavy vehicle.

 

[RVAC]

But much of the CT is a wow factor and not an engineering necessity. No one is going to convince anyone that 3mm stainless "exoskeleton" is necessary for a unibody vehicle [...] Again, i am sure the, "but its a unibody exoskeleton", comments are coming and there are plenty of unibody vehicles out there not using bodies that are 6x the cost.

As others have mentioned previously no other unibody vehicle has a payload of 3500lbs and can tow 14,000lbs.

The Starship seems to be using thicker stainless so its not using it to match that. Unless maybe they plan to cold roll the thicker stainless to 3mm.

I don't work in the steel industry so I might be wrong but the fact that it would have to be cold rolled down to 3mm instead of the 4.0 & 3.6mm currently being used on Starship is fairly trivial. I'd imagine the idea behind making the CT out of the custom grade of SS SpaceX is using is to drive down its costs through volume.

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