PSA: Cybertruck body shell exoskeleton is not one contiguous piece of bent steel

[Jhodgesatmb]

My comments are related to the general release of FSD essentially ending the Beta program. They even removed the incident report button on the most current software release.

My wife is anxious to get FSD on her Model 3 but her expectation is that the car will indeed be Full Self Driving and at this juncture, that is clearly NOT the case. If you don't see this as potentially litigious well, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. FUD impacts Tesla every day and this foolish FSD move will only compound that perhaps exponentially.

Sorry, I do not recall you specifying the wider release of V11 [hopefully] later this month in your argument. I do not consider any beta release so far, including 10.69.3.1, as what your wife thinks the public beta will be. I used NoAP on a recent road trip to LA and back and even that, which has been in use for many years (and continues to improve) is not completely trustworthy. I suspect that when city driving goes public it will be at least a year before it is trustworthy and longer than that to be 'Jack' (me) trustworthy. And who knows when it will be approved by the NHTSA for L4/L5 autonomy.

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[Cybertruck Hawaii]

Living in the rust belt of America where salt is used to melt snow, a stainless steel body trumps any “bends” in this discussion.

 

[Crissa]

Living in the rust belt of America where salt is used to melt snow, a stainless steel body trumps any “bends” in this discussion.

Salting the earth seems a dumb idea and yet you guys do it every winter...

-Crissa

 

[Kirsten]

I know this has been vastly discussed, many still believe it is.

There are several seems around the body, where 2 separate pieces meet. See below

There's also the interior shell, the "exoskeleton" as it's been called. Same gaps on the official Tesla.com/cybertruck render, and you can see the interior stamped "exoskeleton".

Now, this post is not meant to being mean, call anyone crazy, pick fights, but really - give hope.

Tell appears to be "bending" 7(at least) body panels, excluding doors.

- front right fender
- front left fender
- front bumper
- center upper rail left
- center upper rail right
- rear quarter left
- rear corner right

Obviously 4 doors, frunk lid, tail gate too, but not relevant here.

This makes for 2 very good things

1. Steel is easy to bend for Tesla, they already do it
2. They won't have to figure out some insane new technique we all think they do(bending one piece of steel to make a body)

Tesla already knows how to use AIDA equipment, they've been utilizing their tooling for years already. Their machines are quite interesting, the molds drive them selves into the punching tool, it's nearly fully automated. This machine is there, and as of today - IT IS BEING SET UP(credit JoeTegtmeyer for image)

Assuming 3 weeks to build, Tesla will "start" punching Cybertruck body components before New Year. This is probably why they're hiring for BIW positioning NOW, since 9K IDRA Giga Press hasn't landed(I'm watching, I promise..)

This was my weekend meditated thinking. Just thought I'd share here and also show the image Joe got for us today in the Stamping 2 extension area, showing the AIDA machining being set up!

My own 2 cents, I wouldn't be shocking if there is indeed some trucks in Jan at this point, demo units for cold testing and such.

That is awesome! I’m glad the body is not one piece or I think insurance rates on these would skyrocket.

On a different note, I want to make a prediction. I think Elon is going to make Twitter a marketing cash cow and then make it public again. Any comment on this?

 

[HaulingAss]

Sure.


Sure sure, anything you say.
So lets try it your way then:

1) is the cabin frame inside or outside the skin covering?
2) are the front and rear casts inside the skin covering?
3) is the structural pack inside of the skin?

What loads do you think are left for the skin or "exoskeleton" fenders to carry?

Remember inside is the opposite of outside, so things that are inside the skin covering are "endoskeleton" and things that use the outside skin covering for load bearing purposes are "exoskeleton".

Hence my position that you, not EM, are flip flopping between different components and calling them the same thing, whereas in reality they are not and have different names. EM at least uses the term loosely "like an exoskeleton" for marketing reasons, but it seems you want to turn it into scripture by taking the rest of the structure out of context and applying the theology across everything CT.

You still fail to understand. The castings and structural battery are external and are part of the exoskeleton. The cabin frame is part of the exoskeleton. I'm not flip-flopping, I have been 100% consistent in this. As long as the structural framework comprises the exterior of the object, it can be referred to as "exoskeleton". Compare that to the human body that has a skeleton of rigid bones surrounded by soft tissue. That is not exoskeleton but endoskeleton. You are making this far too complicated in your apparent effort to take issue with what Elon said.

Any unibody car could loosely be called "exoskeleton". Cybertruck is exoskeleton and it wears that badge with more authority because a much higher percentage of its overall rigidity and strength comes from the bodywork vs. any current unibody cars with thin and soft painted steel body panels that don't add much strength at all. Yes, all unibody vehicles are technically exoskeleton because the strucural frame and skin are on the exterior of the vehicle but Elon applied the term to the Cybertruck in particular, and not to their other unibody designs, precisely because the body is so much more structural than any of their other designs and the fact that all the most popular pickup trucks are of a body-on-frame design and are not exoskeleton.

Don't make it more complicated than necessary with all your funny pre-concieved ideas of what qualifies as an exoskeleton. It's really not that hard - just think like the biologists who coined the terms exoskeleton and endoskeleton.

 

[Zapharus]

I know this has been vastly discussed, many still believe it is.

There are several seems around the body, where 2 separate pieces meet. See below

There's also the interior shell, the "exoskeleton" as it's been called. Same gaps on the official Tesla.com/cybertruck render, and you can see the interior stamped "exoskeleton".

Now, this post is not meant to being mean, call anyone crazy, pick fights, but really - give hope.

Tell appears to be "bending" 7(at least) body panels, excluding doors.

- front right fender
- front left fender
- front bumper
- center upper rail left
- center upper rail right
- rear quarter left
- rear corner right

Obviously 4 doors, frunk lid, tail gate too, but not relevant here.

This makes for 2 very good things

1. Steel is easy to bend for Tesla, they already do it
2. They won't have to figure out some insane new technique we all think they do(bending one piece of steel to make a body)

Tesla already knows how to use AIDA equipment, they've been utilizing their tooling for years already. Their machines are quite interesting, the molds drive them selves into the punching tool, it's nearly fully automated. This machine is there, and as of today - IT IS BEING SET UP(credit JoeTegtmeyer for image)

Assuming 3 weeks to build, Tesla will "start" punching Cybertruck body components before New Year. This is probably why they're hiring for BIW positioning NOW, since 9K IDRA Giga Press hasn't landed(I'm watching, I promise..)

This was my weekend meditated thinking. Just thought I'd share here and also show the image Joe got for us today in the Stamping 2 extension area, showing the AIDA machining being set up!

My own 2 cents, I wouldn't be shocking if there is indeed some trucks in Jan at this point, demo units for cold testing and such.

TL;DR…but the circles on the doors?!? Really?! Of course those will have seams, otherwise how would one get in an out of the vehicle.

 

[HaulingAss]

Salting the earth seems a dumb idea and yet you guys do it every winter...

-Crissa

Ever notice they salt the roads around Detroit and the rest of the mid-west, where big auto has sway. It's guaranteed repeat sales.

Might as well spray bleach on your baby to keep them germ free!

 

[greggertruck]

TL;DR…but the circles on the doors?!? Really?! Of course those will have seams, otherwise how would one get in an out of the vehicle.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Crissa]

That is awesome! I’m glad the body is not one piece or I think insurance rates on these would skyrocket.

I doubt manufacture will change insurance costs. It's repair costs that matter. As long as parts can be replaced in the units they're broken in.

On a different note, I want to make a prediction. I think Elon is going to make Twitter a marketing cash cow and then make it public again. Any comment on this?

That's unlikely at this point. He doesn't seem to understand customer service, which is what Twitter is.

-Crissa

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

Salting the earth seems a dumb idea and yet you guys do it every winter...

-Crissa

I live in sunny Hawaii. All I know about salting is from watching cars in the Midwest America thanks to You Tube.

 

[Kirsten]

I doubt manufacture will change insurance costs. It's repair costs that matter. As long as parts can be replaced in the units they're broken in.


That's unlikely at this point. He doesn't seem to understand customer service, which is what Twitter is.

-Crissa

Crissa,
Elon does understand customer service or Tesla would not be the leading EV manufacturer. He understands customer service and demands and that is why he sleeps at his office. . Few are that dedicated. He is driving his employees like he drives himself (no pun intended). They are changing the world though. They will look back on life and know they were a part of something really big - moving the world to EVs to save the environment and change the whole industry. That’s exciting and I get why he is spending so much time at the office.
As far as Twitter, he could change how people are marketed to - make it more efficient than it has ever been done before. Ever get junk mail you did not want because it wasn’t relevant to you. A waste of time for you, a waste of money for the marketer. If Elon can make a better match between customer and marketer - and only forward it to people who are sincerely interested, that would be a service to society. It would also put him in the same arena Google is playing in. Google makes a lot of money doing that. He gets it perfected, he can publicly sell Twitter for a lot more than he bought it for. At least once he proves it works. Then people might think he made a better decision than they first realized.

As far as a one piece body - that would increase insurance rates as a simple rear end could total the whole car. That would really drive insurance rates up. Having different pieces is a better solution so parts can be replaced if there is a minor accident. Although it might add to the labor to assemble each vehicle.

kirsten

 

[JBee]

It's really not that hard - just think like the biologists who coined the terms exoskeleton and endoskeleton

I am, you aren't.

Now you are argueing that a unibody is a exoskeleton as well, so CT isn't as "special" as you thought after all, all just to make your point to keep calling things "exoskeleton".

Flip flopping. But that's ok, I now know where to go to get some random words generated.

You still haven't answered how the fenders add support through their "exoskeleton structure."

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

Salting the earth seems a dumb idea and yet you guys do it every winter...

-Crissa

Salt and dirt keep accidents down, and thus vehicles moving. It isn’t a good idea but it is a necessary one - unless of course you have a better idea.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

That is awesome! I’m glad the body is not one piece or I think insurance rates on these would skyrocket.

On a different note, I want to make a prediction. I think Elon is going to make Twitter a marketing cash cow and then make it public again. Any comment on this?

You really want to go there and start a political discussion? I say let sleeping dogs lie.

 

[Kirsten]

You really want to go there and start a political discussion? I say let sleeping dogs lie.

I think when you say “political” you mean something negative. I was hoping for a “discussion”. It is sad that political has come to mean a polarized discussion that separates people instead of an interesting discussion that connects everyone. But by the way you stated this, it does sound very negative. I keep hearing negative comments on Elon’s purchase of Twitter but I believe it could have some positive benefits. I am curious if others are pondering what could happen but in a positive light. Reaching out and hoping not to get slapped.

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