The Exoskeleton

[FullyGrounded]

The Exoskeleton has been thought of as a huge benefit, but I wonder. Creating an exoskeleton is revolutionary, but why would you put the one thing that can "total" your vehicle in a crash, on the outside, exposed? I mean, you hit something in just the right way, with just the right force; and that could waste the effectiveness of the entire unit. Crumple zones, at least give space to absorb impact and deflect forces. That external frame, the entire strength of the vehicle is right there in your face, absorbing every last force that truck will ever encounter.

I am asking: Is that for the best?

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[CyberMoose]

i'm pretty sure the cybertruck can be repaired. It's an exoskeleton but it's not a single piece. You can zoom in on the photos from the Tesla gallery page on their website and you can see the gaps that show which pieces are seperate from others.

 

[Crissa]

The Cybertruck will have crumple zones. That it has a exoskeleton doesn't change that.

-Crissa

 

[FullyGrounded]

The Cybertruck will have crumple zones. That it has a exoskeleton doesn't change that.

-Crissa

But, do you see the difference? The crumple zones in current auto tech is into open or other spaces before it gets into the frame. The CT, the frame will be involved in EVERy little fender bender. And, just how much will it be able to stand, before your CT begins to track slightly sideways, or worse?

 

[Crissa]

But, do you see the difference? The crumple zones in current auto tech is into open or other spaces before it gets into the frame. The CT, the frame will be involved in EVERy little fender bender. And, just how much will it be able to stand, before your CT begins to track slightly sideways, or worse?

They're not empty spaces. The frame crumples. That's he crumple zone. That part of the frame is cut off, and then replaced. Frame crumples, crush cores crush, other parts rebound.

-Crissa

 

[FullyGrounded]

They're not empty spaces. The frame crumples. That's he crumple zone. That part of the frame is cut off, and then replaced. Frame crumples, crush cores crush, other parts rebound.

-Crissa

We do understand that the frame is like the backbone of the vehicle, right? And, now, we've taken and moved that from the protected, to that which protects and will take the brunt of damage.

Now, they will also crease it to allow for it to crumple. You've just made my back weaker. And, off road, that is so critical. Frames will flex if they can. Well, will it crumple? So many questions that Elon and physics need to answer. I'm, right now, not sold on an exoskeleton. I'm sure there are those that will beat on this exoskeleton body, and then we will see what the result is.

 

[jerhenderson]

We do understand that the frame is like the backbone of the vehicle, right? And, now, we've taken and moved that from the protected, to that which protects and will take the brunt of damage.

Now, they will also crease it to allow for it to crumple. You've just made my back weaker. And, off road, that is so critical. Frames will flex if they can. Well, will it crumple? So many questions that Elon and physics need to answer. I'm, right now, not sold on an exoskeleton. I'm sure there are those that will beat on this exoskeleton body, and then we will see what the result is.

Non exoskeleton vehicles are written off regularly due to bent frames in accidents, even minor ones. I don't understand your concern here whatsoever.

 

[CyberOwl]

We must remember, the CT will be able to absorb MASSIVE amounts of energy. It will be the exact opposite of current Tesla norm. Whereas now, Elon tweets photos of mangled Teslas where no one was hurt, with the CT it will be like -they all died? truck looks fine!

PS: I do worry about shear transfer through cell casings. The cells will be designed to break free before breaking open. In a wreck, I bet the structural packs get trashed WAY before the body

 

[CyberMoose]

We do understand that the frame is like the backbone of the vehicle, right? And, now, we've taken and moved that from the protected, to that which protects and will take the brunt of damage.

Now, they will also crease it to allow for it to crumple. You've just made my back weaker. And, off road, that is so critical. Frames will flex if they can. Well, will it crumple? So many questions that Elon and physics need to answer. I'm, right now, not sold on an exoskeleton. I'm sure there are those that will beat on this exoskeleton body, and then we will see what the result is.

Not sure why you are questioning physics here, the physics is fine.

First off, lets talk about collisions. It seems you missed my earlier post about how the Cybertruck is sectioned. That's very noticable if you zoom in on any of the HD photos from the Tesla gallery page that the Cybertruck isn't just 2-3 pieces of exoskeleton welded together. However the Cybertruck is held together, the front pieces are almost certainly designed to break for the front to crumple in a front end collision. When that happens, the Cybertruck is towed to a repair shop, they probably cut that part off, possible remove the panels that were behind the breaks as well, get new panels and put it back together just like how it will be done on the production line.

Now when it comes to minor collisions, the Cybertruck should easily be able to shrug those off, you'll probably just want to make sure your cameras are calibrated properly afterwards. When a regular car gets into an accident, even a small one will still affect the frame, it's just not really considered important to check the frame from a small fender bender because the frame is obviously tough enough to handle that. The cybertrucks exoskeleton will mose likely be as strong or stronger than the traditional frame of a car, I wouldn't worry about it unless it's a serious collision.

Now for offroading. I drive a jeep offroading pretty often, at least a few times a month. The frame on my jeep is solid and the suspension is protecting my jeep from taking damage. The Cybertruck will have it's active suspension and I won't comment on if that will be better or worse for offroading because I don't have an active suspension to compare it to. Either way, offroading will be fine as long as you end up rolling the truck down a hill onto some big rocks that damage the exoskeleton. Just like the same could happen and damage the frame of my jeep, except my jeep is lighter so it wouldn't hit with as much force.

As for the physics, it's always going to depend on the force of an impact and how much stress the exoskeleton can take, just like the frame of a car and until we see those numbers, I have no reason to doubt Tesla.

 

[BillyGee]

As someone who was hit last fall in my F350, if the vehicle is heavy enough and sturdy enough, chances are that you'll be fine, especially if hit by something more "normal sized". I was hit by a Ford ranger on the freeway and their truck was totaled, but my truck was hit on the driver side read end and I just needed some minor box work. I was able to drive away just fine with no injuries of any sort and the other guy was thankfully fine too. Thanks to MV+MV=0 I didn't even get knocked out of my lane. The CT is supposed to weigh about as much as my F350, so I think I'll be fine.

I don't know how big of trucks you guys plan on getting hit by where this is a point of concern.

 

[bradmente]

The CT still has a "frame" - the battery pack + front & rear castings. The cabin just isn't made of steel panels over a steel body.

 

[CyberMoose]

As someone who was hit last fall in my F350, if the vehicle is heavy enough and sturdy enough, chances are that you'll be fine, especially if hit by something more "normal sized". I was hit by a Ford ranger on the freeway and their truck was totaled, but my truck was hit on the driver side read end and I just needed some minor box work. I was able to drive away just fine with no injuries of any sort and the other guy was thankfully fine too. Thanks to MV+MV=0 I didn't even get knocked out of my lane. The CT is supposed to weigh about as much as my F350, so I think I'll be fine.

I don't know how big of trucks you guys plan on getting hit by where this is a point of concern.

That's definitely another benefit of the Cybertruck, a solid and heavy truck in a collision is going to keep the passengers safe. It's one of the topics I was going to use on my wife if she didn't like the truck, luckily she did.

I still have every confidence that the truck will be repairable from a collision like any other cars. Sure there can be damages that will total any vehicle, but that's just life. However, I think we can all agree that Tesla loves their safety ratings, they have the safest production vehicles out of everyone. I'm going to love to see the crash test videos of the Cybertruck, not only to satisfy my curiosity of how it will handle, but also how it will protect the people inside.

Even if the unlikely situation where the Cybertruck is more susceptible to being totaled in a collision, I would trade my truck getting totalled in a serious collision for a higher safety rating.

 

[jerhenderson]

We do understand that the frame is like the backbone of the vehicle, right? And, now, we've taken and moved that from the protected, to that which protects and will take the brunt of damage.

Now, they will also crease it to allow for it to crumple. You've just made my back weaker. And, off road, that is so critical. Frames will flex if they can. Well, will it crumple? So many questions that Elon and physics need to answer. I'm, right now, not sold on an exoskeleton. I'm sure there are those that will beat on this exoskeleton body, and then we will see what the result is.

don't forget that its the frame bending that prevents you getting hurt.... that's where the energy is dissipated. if vehicles were made to not crumple, you'd look like a splash of mayonnaise on the inside of a shaken jar in an accident.

 

[BillyGee]

don't forget that its the frame bending that prevents you getting hurt.... that's where the energy is dissipated. if vehicles were made to not crumple, you'd look like a splash of mayonnaise on the inside of a shaken jar in an accident.

Yeah, it's really too bad nobody ever thought to put a strap of some kind in a car that belted you down to the seat. Would really make a difference.

 

[Crissa]

We do understand that the frame is like the backbone of the vehicle, right?

No, we don't. Because that's not how crumple zones work.

Crumple zones are failure points built into the body and frame of a vehicle to direct forces away from the next-in zone. There are multiple layers of this.

The 'safety cell' is the part you can't let break, the part with the squishy passengers in it. But it is only part of the frame.

In the new Tesla cars, that massive megacasting is the frame. But it is also several layers of the crumple zone. The body mounts to it, and as each body piece fails in a collision, the crush cores of the frame activate, saving the next-in one until overwhelmed and then it crushes.

So a bumper will have a couple layers, the plastic one, a rebound part, a crush core, then you'll have the frame. which will have layers of crush cores and crumple points itself.

The damage should be able to be cut off, then replaced. It's part of the design. Of course, at certain speeds, the damage will reach that inner safety cell and then there's nothing left to save. The motor mounts will have been sacrificed at that point, or the collision will have hit the safety cell (like in a T or roll-over) directly.

-Crissa

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