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It's crazy how they blew their lead. In 2019 there was no Rivian, no F150 Lightning, just them and their goofy prototype. If they went for something they could have actually mass produced w/o the stupid gimmicks, they probably would have dominated the E-truck market before it even started.
I just liked their shatter-proof glass. That’s my favourite part of the Cyber Truck.
It's actually kind of problematic, since tempered glass is an important safety feature in cars. It's strong and resists impacts, but when hit with the right kind of tool will shatter into small 'cubes' that don't have sharp and dangerous shards. Without safety glass it's much harder to rescue people that are trapped in a vehicle, you basically have to hammer on the shatterproof glass for several minutes which you might not have if the car is sinking in water, near a fire, exposed to dangerous chemical spills, etc. Honestly, I don't think that design for 'cybertruck' would be approved by US regulatory standards.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempered_glass#Uses
Yeah that seems like a very important safety feature. Any idea why Tesla went against that to a shatter proof glass? It’s not like this is a presidential suv or something
Because Elon Musk is a manchild who thought it was cool and forced his engineers to entertain his idea? The entire design of the Cybertruck just screams "someone high up had a shitty idea and told engineering they had a month to figure out how to make it real without any regard for rules or regulations".
Ever see that Simpsons episode where Homer gets to design a car? Always reminds me of that.
It’s also pointy as fuck. Mobile guillotine.
North American trucks in general are death on four wheels for pedestrians, cyclists etc. The tall vertical leading edges hit pedestrians in the hip and torso and then toss them under the wheels.
In the EU there's regulations about this stuff, designed to ensure that people are hit (ideally not hit at all, but you know what I mean) in the legs and thrown up onto the hood. Plus regulations about spacing underneath the hood to the hard engine components which allows for a certain amount of cushioning deformity when the victim hits the hood. Would love to see that sort of thing regulated in North America but not a chance in hell of it happening.
Eh, to be fair, in 2019 Rivian was as much of a force as Tesla was. That year Tesla only had a Cybertruck prototype, but so did Rivian - in fact, they unveiled theirs two years prior in 2017. It then took them three years to stand up their factory and begin mass production, which they've done.
The Cybertruck isn't really too comparatively behind schedule relative to Rivian. It's not like Tesla had spare capacity at their existing factories, so they also needed to build a new one.
Elon probably thought he could save a lot of time by building a truck that didn't need a full paintshop, and easy to stamp and weld in body shop. Of course, despite the added cost of complex steel/aluminum body panels and paint shops, these are well understood processes, with literally hundreds of thousands of people familiar with them in North America. Comparatively few know how to make a stainless steel vehicle.