Interesting, just published Rolling Stone article about the Tesla Cybertruck...

[COdogman]

It's well known that the auto industry "experts" hate Elon and Tesla for making them look bad. Tesla is the company that is making people realize just how inefficient legacy auto is, and how little value they bring to the new car buyer for their money, while simultaneously eating into their sales volumes and dropping prices of cars that legacy auto couldn't even make for 50% more than it costs Tesla to make. Tesla even makes legacy auto engineering look boring and outdated. It's no surprise that they try to downplay Tesla's strength, their engineering expertise.

My point is, they are butt hurt and their opinion on various terms derived from the animal kingdom has more to do with how they feel about what Elon is doing to their industry than being unbiased.

So no “industry experts” can be taken seriously unless they work for Tesla and all criticism of the Cybertruck, Tesla, etc is only explained by hate for Musk, not valid criticism about the design or marketing of the truck.

What a convenient little fantasy land you have created for yourself

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[mkhuffman]

Why does it matter if it is an exoskeleton or not?

 

[COdogman]

Why does it matter if it is an exoskeleton or not?

It doesn’t. It’s simply the same game Tesla is always playing - giving things that already existed cute new names to sell folks on the idea they just did something revolutionary.

And to be fair it’s a distraction from the good things they actually accomplish. It’s pointless lying.

 

[jebinc]

You ignored the comments I posted from the industry professionals who say it is not an exoskeleton by industry standards. Then you acknowledge that the CT casting and panels are not fundamentally very different from a unibody - which is exactly what the industry experts are saying. The door fabrication is not an exoskeleton - it's a stressed skin assembly. If Elon called it what it really is - a cast unibody with stressed skin panels for better safety, I would have no problem whatsover.

Your excuse that this is all due to hate is laughable. It seems you can't differentiate betwen industry experts calling him out for misleading statements vs hate. They are not the same thing.

It's Tesla's misuse of the word, "Exoskeleton" for marketing purposes that chaps my @$$ - just as they did with FSD.... What the CT has is a "supportive structural skin," but calling it what it is will not sell as many trucks as "click-bait-like" marketing labels.

 

[Yossarian]

This is very amusing thread, and one I read in its entirety.

My takeaway is that Elon has the same power over language as Humpty Dumpty. So when Elon uses the term "exoskeleton", it means just what he chooses it to mean, nothing more and nothing less.

 

[jebinc]

This is very amusing thread, and one I read in its entirety.

My takeaway is that Elon has the same power over language as Humpty Dumpty. So when Elon uses the term "exoskeleton", it means just what he chooses it to mean, nothing more and nothing less.

Yes, quite an amusing thread - as the OP intended it to be, I'm sure! ?

 

[KootenayEV]

According to the lead of vehicle engineering at Tesla, Lars Moravy, the exoskeleton is a composite structure made up of not only the thick, high-strength skin, but also the underlying structures like the boron steel passenger safety cage, the aluminum gigacastings, etc. These structural elements are bonded and bolted together as one unitized exoskeleton that increases strenth and rigidity while reducing overall weight. Lars said the large gigacastings are surprisingly ductile and need the stiffening of the stainless panels for added rigidity.

Military airframes also have a stressed skin on the underlying metal framework so that's another good example of an exoskeleton design that saves weight.

All the noise claiming the Cybertruck is not an exoskeleton is simply a lame attempt to frame Tesla as having nothing special. But the specs and weight don't lie.

As far as I can tell it is 100lbs lighter than an R1T... file that under "who cares".

 

[SASSquatch]

That's ridiculous, if you could only see how alarmist and silly it makes you.

Yes, trucks hurt when they hit you. No, a Dodge Ram with its tall, vertical front end is not better, it's like being hit by a wall. I would rather be deflected by an inclined plane.

This is so much noise over nothing. A big nothingburger.

Next thing you know, people will claim that bumpers are too hard and unyielding. Yes, the same bumpers that must pass federal safety standards for being able to handle a 5-mph impact with an immoveable object without damage.

No offense, but I will take the perspective of people who are considered experts and have raised concerns over the opinion of a random person on a forum throwing around the label "alarmist and silly." If actual testing proves otherwise, then this is all moot, but on the surface, since there really hasn't been anything quite ike the CyberYuck™ in mass production before, concerns are warranted.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

It's well known that the auto industry "experts" hate Elon and Tesla for making them look bad. Tesla is the company that is making people realize just how inefficient legacy auto is, and how little value they bring to the new car buyer for their money, while simultaneously eating into their sales volumes and dropping prices of cars that legacy auto couldn't even make for 50% more than it costs Tesla to make. Tesla even makes legacy auto engineering look boring and outdated. It's no surprise that they try to downplay Tesla's strength, their engineering expertise.

My point is, they are butt hurt and their opinion on various terms derived from the animal kingdom has more to do with how they feel about what Elon is doing to their industry than being unbiased.

So what you're saying is vehicle manufacturing experts are lying about basic engineering principles for the sole purpose of making Elon look bad? That is some next level cognitive dissonance my guy. I have to admire your committment.

 

[Zoidz]

Why does it matter if it is an exoskeleton or not?

It doesn't matter if it has an exoskeleton or not. What metters is that it is a CEO of a large company who has a long history of making things up ("can tow nearly infinite mass") and misleading customers and investors ("deal to take the company private") and he continues to do it. Telsa is a public company. CEOs of public companies are held to a higher standard for obvious reasons, both ethically and legally.

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