Bulletproof Steel Tesla Cybertruck Unveiled

The Tesla Cybertruck will be unveiled at 8PM PDT today at http://livestream.tesla.com/

The Tesla Cybertruck is made out of stainless steel like the SpaceX Starship. They hit it with a sledgehammer and it was not damaged.

The prices start at $39,900 and then go up to 69,900 for the tri-motor version.

Elon Musk loves stainless steel. The windows are transparent metal. They dropped a softball sized metal ball from about 15 feet high onto the glass and it did not break.

However, they threw the metal ball at the glass in the truck and it did break. The metal ball did not penetrate.

It has the most ground clearance and adaptive suspension.

It is one hundred cubic feet of storage and can haul 3500 pounds in payload.

It can two 14000 pounds.

It can go 0-60 mph in 2.9 seconds.

Elon Musk has stated that he feels the Cybertruck is the best product Tesla has ever made.

This article will be updated with information from the Tesla presentation.

The positive expectations are at Hyperchange.

Negative expectations from CNBC.

69 thoughts on “Bulletproof Steel Tesla Cybertruck Unveiled”

  1. 500 mile range. Seems like heavy towing would reduce battery life and therefore range.

    Wonder if there will be an option for a big battery pack in the truck bed to extend that?

  2. I’ve changed my mind.. I kind of like the design now, and the genius of the price (due to simplified production) and the durability has me on the fan side.

  3. If Tesla does end up putting bullet-proof glass in the pickup, will they equip all emergency response teams with large ball bearings in case they need to break the glass to rescue a Tesla driver?

  4. You are wrong. The drop test was successful because it was done on a unframed glass that we can see bounce a lot to absorb the impact. But when framed on the side windows it couldn’t flex and it broke.

    Unbelievable but true, they just didn’t try it beyond the most superficial of trials.

  5. You’re probably right, but there could be other reasons too. Maybe the angle from the fall test is different and that’s what all their tests up to now used. Who knows, all I know is that I’ve never expected any car of mine to have windows that can survive metal baseballs anyway. Embarrassing for Musk, but irrelevant when it comes time to buy.

  6. The price is outstanding and the specs are fantastic. The problem from a sales standpoint is 100% the design. I sincerely doubt Musk’s board of directors is going to allow him to go forward with this design. It’s ugly as sin.

  7. From what I’ve seen something like 50% of urban dwelling women think they need a huge armoured truck to drive 10km on paved city roads.
    There’s a reason that such vehicle’s are called Girlytrucks.
    I wouldn’t be surprised if it sells very well.

  8. Transparent aluminium was a cool joke in a Star Trek movie but too many people somehow thought it was a real thing and use the phrase when trying, inarticulately, to describe something that is beyond their feeble vocabulary.

  9. DeLorean-squared? DeLorean-Hummer?
    I sort of see what they were going for, but they went overboard.

    Musk – treat this as a learning experience, and next time ignore the car industry’s “keep it secret” approach to design. Follow your own better practice of being much more open during development and failing early. This design would have survived about 1 day on the internet, and inspired a dozen better variants that kept some of the same spirit.

  10. I saw one contractor say it’d help him a lot to have the built-in battery power and air compressor, instead of hauling a compressor and generator around.

  11. That is partly my point. This will instead appeal to people who would have considered buying a pickup but the fuel millage was a deal breaker.

  12. Stainless steel is an awful material for other drivers. All sorts of irritating sunlight reflections.

    You can’t really smooth out that truck shape to make it look less hideous. It is what it is.

  13. speaking aesthetically this car looks like a prototype. I get what they’re going for which is hard, angular and futuristic but it doesn’t quite look right. Something about the wheel wells and the rudimentary crudeness of it all. I can’t articulate it. Its a design issue. The stainless steel aspect is interesting but who are these Mad Max moms in need of an armored car?

  14. Imagine your insurance rate when they realize that it will flatten Honda Fits. Hope the radar assisted braking is working.

  15. I rather liked Acura’s brief flirtation with highly angular vehicles (ZDX, TL, etc) so much so that I bought one. And I think that thing is a monstrosity.

  16. People who blow $50k on a truck:

    Do not care about gas. They are towing a $50k boat.
    Drive hours to construction sites with four people and 2,000 lbs of “stuff”.

  17. It’s beyond ugly. Maybe it’s so ugly, so ugly, that in the end it will be endearing (like an ugly dog), but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

    The most pathetic part of the presentation was the demonstration of the unbreakable glass … that happened to be extremely breakable.

  18. Wait that is what it actually looks like???

    I thought that image was an internet joke.

    I like B film 80s dystopian Sci-fi way more than is healthy but that thing is a monstrosity.

  19. Seriously? If there is a blackout the gas pumps at the station are not going to work either.
    And electricity does not need to be 7/24, 365 to keep a truck with 500 mile range charged. If you plug it in every night, there will be plenty of charge. It isn’t like they are going to shut down the grid for a week. It is like you topped off you gas tank every evening. No, you are in better shape with an electric.

  20. It’s generally considered a bad idea to hit a wall in any sort of vehicle. Fortunately, they stand still, so not hitting them isn’t generally very challenging.

  21. Yeah, I could see the appeal of electric vehicles given California gas prices… if California also had reliable electricity.

    But wild fires, emergency evacuations, rolling blackouts, and electric cars? That is NOT a good combination.

  22. “The windows are transparent metal.”

    Where did that come from? Ain’t no such thing. Even that “Transparent aluminum” is actually just an aluminum ceramic.

  23. First I read Cyberpunk. The truck would perfectly fit into the game. Btw. whoever was responsible for the glass is gonna be fired today.

  24. I would rather feel a few more G forces than to loose a leg or two in a 50mph collision.
    And rear-ending a semi is probably much safer in this. With other vehicles that often means instant death. And that goes double for the 3-axle box trucks with the lift gates because their bumpers are often much weaker making the bed of the truck a knife into your driving compartment.

  25. I think a lot of Californians are going to be interested in this truck. Our fuel prices are very high. Those with pickups have to be feeling this.
    But, I think this will appeal to a wide variety of people. The people who already blew $50,000 on their guzzling stinking trucks may not be interested…big deal.

  26. Down $20, but I am buying. Maybe I am early, but I don’t think it matters that this does not appeal to the usual pickup owners who don’t mind the fuel waste. It will instead appeal to the millions and millions who wanted a pickup but the fuel millage kept them away.

  27. There must have been a lot of people shorting and a lot of people who were eager to give this a thumbs down. People defending what they consider their turf. Lots of passionate truck owners. These people were never interested in buying one in the first place. However, this will appeal to a different set of people. I think they will have a lot of orders provided the battery options don’t add a huge amount to the price.
    500 mile range alone is a feature many people have been waiting for since the first electrics started selling.
    This thing is revolutionary. A strong uni-body of stainless steel? Terrific. The audience loved it.
    I personally think it was a good thing the windows broke. If they had survived, then there would be teens throwing things at these trucks all the time to see the unbreakable windows in action and often breaking the windows. Emergency responders would also be concerned that they can’t break the windows to help people trapped in vehicles.

  28. What a total failure. Prince Andrew’s BBC interview was a success compared to this. Makes the Aztek look like a Bugatti Royale, the “bulletproof” windows both shattered, front and back when hit with a single blow, Musk was clearly embarrassed. Those trying to play off this debacle as fine are deluded.

  29. What a wasted opportunity. A good looking truck with Tesla technology could easily sell 100k the first year it’s on the market and then increase to some hundred k’s. But this truck? No way. I’m guessing an average yearly volume of 20k, when the initial zealots have had their buy.

    Just imagine the money and time they have put into this car… Great specs, great technology and a really of putting design that keeps all normal truck buyers at arms length. And no, the enthusiasts are not enough to sustain the market….

  30. Well, if the stock price is any indication, this was not a hit. -12 USD pre-market. Since I own Tesla shares, I don’t want it to fail, but it’s hard to understand how this truck would sell more than 10k per year.

  31. Tesla stock dropped 12 USD pre-market. Somebody should have told Elon not to make the truck so ugly, but apparently all employees as afraid of him.

  32. Can it get there quickly though? Acceleration gets you out of trouble as much as into it, moreso if you actually know what you’re doing.

  33. It looks like it could crumple a wall too.

    Now a solid concrete bridge pillar (Princess Diana style), that could be a problem.

  34. I am curiously waiting to see how the Tesla share price develops when the market opens. I have 70 shares and am quite bullish on Tesla, but I expect it too drop quite a bit on the initial reaction to this presentation. Long term I am sure it will recover though.

  35. How does this handle vehicle impacts? You want crumple zones, you want the body to collapse and absorb the shock of impact, otherwise its all transferred into something less solid and squishy inside the vehicle.

  36. They don’t need to change anything, these will sell just fine. Not a fan of the wheels. But I suspect you can get some other wheels. The headlight I don’t care for either. Nowhere for cars ahead in your lane to dodge the reflections in the mirror. And I really liked the high driving position in the original picture when it appeared to be based on the Semi. The price tag is the most interesting choice they made. That should be very attractive to people in the market for a car.

  37. Drat, I only have 11 shares of Tesla.
    DeLorean on steroids. How can this not sell? It may not sell to exactly the same people who have pickups now.
    Women will want these to feel secure and protect the kids from random bullets, carjackers and other vehicles.
    I am also not sure about the crash tests. Thick stainless does not exactly crumple easily. That means G forces could be high. Though I gotta think that the designers have that covered somehow.
    The price is very friendly, and the acceleration is way better than other trucks. That is a lot of bang for the buck. Given the durability of Teslas in general and the fact that they went all out for durability here…these things could still be on the road a hundred years from now.
    The USAF still has and uses B-52s. By the time they are retired they will be 100 years old. That is the plan anyway. If this cybertruck is produced…which is a virtual certainty, people will drive these until the wheels fall off.

  38. It’s beautiful. That metal is badass. It’s like a huge knife. Imagine crashing into a honda fit with that.

  39. This must be some sort of joke surely. After producing some beautiful cars Musk brings out this monstrosity? Looks like something out of minecraft.

  40. Musk said previously that if people don’t like the “CyberTruck” they will go with a more normal looking truck. It looks like the reaction is overwhelmingly negative, which means they’re going to have to scrap it and go with the more normal version.

  41. Awesome, we will have an opportunity to get a hard look and see if Tesla can develop a new EV of a type that other innovative companies are working on, and still outpace them and create a superior product. I don’t think that this will happen.

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