Can anyone explain the Cybertruck?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

New York
CNN
—
There’s a mystery taking root in my neighborhood. It’s the story of a person who dropped somewhere between 80 and 100 grand, and maybe even more than that, on a Tesla Cybertruck that is consistently parked on the street — exposed to the elements, far from a charging station, losing value by the second.

That person — I promise to ask them for comment if we ever cross paths — and thousands of others in the United States have elected to put their money into one of the most divisive consumer products ever made. And as a business reporter, I can’t help but wonder what pushes people to drop such serious money on such a novel, decidedly weird-looking car that has been plagued by performance problems from Day One.

And driving something different than anything else on the road certainly says… something.

“It’s a vehicle that’s certainly meant to make a statement,” said Jonathan Elfalan, the director of vehicle testing at Edmunds. “You can almost be a pseudo-celebrity by owning one.”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/29/business/cybertruck-tesla-nightcap/index.html

Someone who has more dollars than sense.

[kimbutgar]

1. I live I S.F. and saw one of them that look like it was rusting from the exposure of fog in the city.

[SheltieLover]

4. They do rust pretty quickly

Yet are supposed to be stainless steel.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Stainless Does Not Rust

However, they used N-304 stainless steel. 300 series SS, especially 304, does not play well with chlorides.
As in: road salt or sea spray. The other poster mentioned San Francisco which, of course, gets plenty of salt spray.
It doesn't rust because the chromium & nickel in the matrix form very resilient oxides from air. This binds the oxygen and creates a barrier to new oxygen from getting to the iron atoms.
But, if chlorides are too plentiful they actually extract those other 2 metals causing submicron cracks.
This not only weakens the metal, but discolors it. Nickel chloride is green; chromium chloride is purple. The cracks let oxygen in causing iron to rust. That of course, is red.
So we get green, purple, & red. We see that as brown.
So, it's not actually rusting, but it does look like crap.
I've seen reactors damaged by chloride cracking. Every one of them was a total loss.
They could have used 18/10, like what most of us have in our flatware drawer. It's cheaper & it is more chloride resistant.
But, no! That had to use a steel that wasn't meant for this sort of application.

[keep_left]

44. Doesn't all stainless have an upper limit on corrosion resistance...

...basically a lifetime carrying capacity? Because I saw a fume hood in one of the labs at work where there had been a bit of an accident--apparently involving large amounts of acid gases like HCl and SO2, maybe some SO3. The stainless fixtures in the hood were various shades of green and red. The whole hood was torn out and replaced, at great expense of course.

I'm not sure that the kind of corrosion that's happening with the Cybertrucks is easily remedied with any kind of chemical treatment after the fact. It's like the engineers at Tesla never even thought about the reality of acid rain and other corrosives in the environment. But they can't possibly be that dumb. I'm just wondering why they picked such an unsuitable alloy for the Cybertruck. Was it ease of fabrication or something like that? Because I've never seen a good explanation.

[ProfessorGAC]

49. Sure!

Any stainless is susceptible to acid attack. It still may not rust, because the new surface reoxidizes the alloy metals when the acid dissolves the first few atomic layers.
Having worked with SO2 & SO3 a LOT, the former is not a problem in stainless, the latter moreso. SO3 is not stored in stainless tanks, as mild steel is better for it, but it's also a matter of cost. It would be silly to spend more for a material that doesn't add benefit.
For highly acidic applications, reactors are built with glass linings, or even tantalum cladding (very pricey) to be acid resistant/impervious.
Acid rain is not a huge problem since fuel oil gets desulfurized & coal burning power plants are fitted with sulfuric acid generators to scrub & get rid of the SO2.
But, we completely agree that the designers didn't give consideration to regular use exposure.
I've seen these monstrosities around here in northern Illinois where we have salt on the streets 3 or 4 months a year. Chlorides are hard on stainless steel & any metal supplier would have told Tesla that. They either didn't ask those important questions or they ignored the answers.

[keep_left]

50. But corrosion cracking leads to material failure quickly, I would imagine.

Do you have any idea why such an unsuitable alloy was chosen by Tesla?

[ProfessorGAC]

55. Catastrophic Failures ahave Occurred

I've heard of reactor collapse & I've seen a storage tank break loose at the loading flange.
Fortunately, that was an active ingredient in baby shampoo, so the guy didn't get hurt at all.
No, I don't know why? They could have used something like 18 series which is used in flatware.
My guess would be they wanted something more dent resistant, but that's strictly a guess.

[SheltieLover]

2. It's for those that want to "drive" a video game controller, I'm convinced

Add to your list that tesla co. provides virtually no customer service, frequently refuses warranties and their vehicles are junk.

I wouldn't give you a nickel for a whole trainload of them if I had to keep them and drive one.

[senseandsensibility]

3. There's one in my small town

I've seen it on the streets twice very close to where I live. It's lacking in style to put it mildly. And if it also suffers from mechanical issues, then it's obvious the owner is just going for attention.

[doc03]

5. I think of that Johnny Cash song "One Piece

at a Time". Everyone laughed for miles around when he drove it down the street.

[hlthe2b]

6. Ugly as sin. Look like someone constructed from the junk yard.

[lapfog_1]

7. I can't explain people that eat spaghetti from a can either

and to compound their bad taste... pay Chef Boy-T-Dee $20 per can for the privilege!

[Yavin4]

8. Would bet $1M that the owner complains about Biden's inflation all of the time. n/t

[ornotna]

9. There's one around here

Idiot mounted long horns on the front.
Ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.

[MichMan]

65. It passed me driving on I-75

You Tube influencer named Danny Duncan

He put the horns on it and also shot at the door with a rifle to see if it was bulletproof. Then had one of his friends ( little person) strip naked and shoot at it some more. All on his You Tube channel.

I did a double take when it passed me. I first saw the bullet riddled door and just caught a glance of the longhorns. Crazy world when someone can make a comfortable living doing stunts like this.

[tulipsandroses]

10. It's making a statement alright. Not the one they think. Just like a stainless steel refrigerator, fingerprints are left

I saw a reporter post a review video, he pointed out how many visible finger prints were left on it. There was a woman in the video that said it looked like an overturned refrigerator on wheels.
They have smudge proof refrigerators, - I don't own one. But ya think Musk would have thought of that? For 100 -120 grand. That should have been included.

[doc03]

11. I have seen a couple Rivians they look

alot better in person than in photos.

[vanlassie]

31. I loved riding in my (wealthy) friend's Rivian truck.

That thing is the opposite of a cyber whatever.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

12. I've seen a couple in Sarasota...

… and sadly, I’d seen this meme saying, “Learn German” and declaring it “Der Wankpanzer” first, so I just crack up giggling each time I see them.

I think there’s a good deal of Homer Simpson in Musk, which was my first thought when this dumpster fire first appeared.

[yonder]

30. New word for me, thank you.

[keithbvadu2]

13. Status. Attention seeker. Early adopters. Not at all practical. Look at me!

A display of cheap wealth or phony wealth.

Real wealth knows it is a toy. A rapidly depreciating toy.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. Elon Musk is an idiot who has never been in a real truck

[TlalocW]

15. Just like Trump has his MAGA worshipers

Elon has his cult. A Trump prophet I follow on Youtube for shitz and Giggles has a Tesla that he sometimes makes videos in partly to show off his status symbol and partly because he's as big a simp for Musk as he is Donald.

[da svenster]

26. tesla owners aren't all elon worshipping MAGA heads

... nor are all prius owners tree huggers.

i did a lot of test drives with the vehicles that a) i could afford and b) were available to test drive without going 2+ hours to chicago or 5 hours to the twin cities. did some of them twice.

settled on the Y (would have gotten the 3 but i wanted a hatch - i'd had a prius for 20 years and 248k miles and would have missed the practicality).

elon musk is little more than a human bowel movement. but it was the most capable car of the ones i tested (although i came very close to the kia EV6... if anyone can't get past their loathing of musk, hyundai and kia have some excellent offerings). but the cars his company makes are years ahead of most of the competition.

[TlalocW]

47. I didn't mean to imply they are

This guy though...

[TlalocW]

16. My other theory

People buying them really, really, REALLY liked the vehicles in 1997's Goldeneye video game.

Google Goldeneye video game vehicles then click on images.

[Carlitos Brigante]

17. It's like that time Homer Simpson was given free reign to design his own car. nt

[Captain Zero]

27. It's like a designer looked at a VW Thing

And said he could do worse than that.

[RubyRose]

63. I wondered what it reminded me of. A VW Thing is it!

[sky_masterson]

18. Those trucks are such garbage

I've seen videos of the frame snapping in half just attempting to pull a truck. Also, that thing is pure garbage offroad.
My 2002 Tacoma does better off road than that waste of cash

[Arthur_Frain]

20. 06 Taco here.

Simply the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. Grateful to have lived in the true Golden Age of the light duty truck.

Thing is, I am as derisive of the super duty monstrosities by Ford, Chevy, and Dodge as I am of the cybercuck. At least all but the last are good for one specific purpose.

[sky_masterson]

21. I've got about 110,000 miles on my 2002

I'll drive it forever. Awesome vehicle

[Arthur_Frain]

41. 265,000

After I retired in 2010, I drove it like I stole it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

23. I have an 09

Just over 100,000 miles on it and it still runs well.

[Permanut]

35. 2004 PreRunner here with 187,000 miles..

Wouldn't trade for that weird piece of junk, in fact I'm keeping it forever and will be buried in it. Well, not sure my wife is gonna go for that last part.

[Arthur_Frain]

42. Gonna drive it 'til it rusts out from under me.

And that’s going to be a while!

[Rstrstx]

22. It was an interesting concept vehicle that wound up creating just as many problems as it solved

The metal exterior was meant to serve as the frame of the car and reduce the cost, it ended up doing neither. I would guess that Tesla thought most people were going to wrap their vehicles and some people have, it was one extra way to reduce costs but again look at the problems that have come up with things like rust and washing the car.

Probably the most impressive feature is the 48 volt wiring of the car, it cuts down a little on cost and allows it to run some things that need that many volts, namely the giant wiper. I would guess the USB ports can charge gadgets faster than most cars too.

But in the end I don’t see how the truck is anything but a flop: it’s not cheap like it was meant to be, you can’t use it as a backup power supply or even a generator for your house like a Ford (maybe you could but it voids the warranty), the fit and finish is bad, the angular design could end up hurting someone, there is no pass-through from the bed to the interior so you can’t camp/sleep in it or carry long items with it, the range is limited, the battery technology is already outdated, it looks like an angry kitchen appliance going down the road, etcetera etcetera. At $39,000 a lot of that would be forgivable but at 6 digits no, it needs to be near-perfect.

[da svenster]

24. no...

and this is coming from someone that owns a tesla. the cybertruck is ugly and overpromised. here in madison, i've only seen 2 so far.

the only teslas that make sense are the 3 and Y. the X is a gimmic and the S isn't practical.

the cybertruck (they spent $100k or more - at this point foundation series is the only trim they're selling)

[Ninga]

60. Welcome to DU! I am 81 and have driven an X for nearly 4 years. I love the self presenting door, the

door closes with a press on the break peddle, the range, the comfort and the handling.
The cabin is a bit noisier than I like, but all in all a wonderful vehicle to drive.
My friend who has mobility issues absolutely loves being able to get into the back seat very easily because the gull winged door gives full access to the seat.
Love my X - have no use for Elon.

[BlueSpot]

25. Remember the OG email scam about penis enlargement?

Same thing, different product.

[justgamma]

28. I heard

they made up for the owners teeny, tiny, micro mushroom.

[DBoon]

29. a mini version would make a cool hotwheels toy for a 7 year old

[LudwigPastorius]

32. Obama can explain the Cybertruck

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

34. Looks like a lame imitation of Trump's air accordian

[OAITW r.2.0]

33. When Elon was 10, he drew the best Cyber-truck of all time.

And he made it a reality.

[Tree Lady]

36. On my walk I saw one up close parked

in front of house. The bed was open, its pretty small. Looks weird to me.

[highplainsdem]

37. They're very expensive and highly visible loyalty oaths to Elon Musk.

[RedSpartan]

38. It's a $100,000 MAGA hat.

Which isn’t the flex the owners think it is.

[Conjuay]

39. If I had 100 grand to spend on a truck -

I wouldn't.

[meadowlander]

40. When a Hummer isn't enough to compensate...

[EX500rider]

43. Wrapped they look a little better

People keep saying it looks like a cheezy '70's Sci-Fi movie prop like thats a bad thing! lol
I loved the one in Damnation Alley

[Initech]

45. To quote Tony Stark - "it's a high tech prosthesis".

[keithbvadu2]

46. New cars... more complex, less reliable, poor longevity

Bad News: These OLD Used Cars Will Outlast The New Version!

[Deminpenn]

48. There is one in my area

First time I saw it, thought it was some sort of military vehicle like the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. When I described it to my neighbors, they said it was a Tesla truck. I've seen it on the road a couple time since and yesterday it was parked in the lot at nearby strip mall, looked like it had a business logo on the side.

[Iggo]

51. Well, it costs a lot of money. But at least it's ugly.

[niyad]

52. Bad acid trip? Funny mushrooms?

[Shermann]

53. I saw one in the wild this week

I think the Model S and Model Y are pretty sharp, but the Cybertruck looks like shit. It needs a better-looking grill, rounded off wheel wells, and a flat roof of some sort.

[waterwatcher123]

54. It is the modern day equivalent of the AMC Pacer or Cheverolet Aztec.

It will last forever in the salvage yards with its stainless steel body.

[arlyellowdog]

56. I saw a man driving a cybertruck with an American flag shaped like a fist

With the striped middle finger sticking up. Soooo, excess testosterone?

[NEOH]

57. I've Seen a Few

I’ve seen a few, especially in the past couple of months. That is one fugly vehicle. Looks like if it gets in a bad accident , somebody is going to be seriously injured or worse.

[Zorro]

58. The Cybertruck is both a Tesla testbed for new auto technologies

AND a way to reduce Tesla's EV marketshare.

Steer-by-wire and the Cybertruck's 48 volt architecture are innovative tech, and hopefully will migrate to Tesla's other models. At the same time it's a polarizing design that, combined with Musk's loathsomeness, is causing potential EV customers to look to other purchase alternatives. That helps increase EV sales while also causing Tesla to amp up their incentives to sell other models in its production lineup.

So in the final analysis it's a consumer win-win.

[tinrobot]

59. The fact that we're all talking about it is the explanation.

It's an attention-seeking device, nothing more. So, far it seems to be successful in that role.

In the role of a truck, however, not so much. Personally, if I ever bought a truck it would be a Rivian.

[XorXor]

61. I just view it as a goofy "status" signaling thing.

Just a more expensive version of needing to have a $1200 pair of sneakers. There are more practical footwear and transportation choices, but it's not about practicality and solving a problem.

[quakerboy]

62. An out of touch rich dude made the car he would have wanted

when he was younger.

Its no more complex than that.

[Bucky]

64. They look stupid

I like the idea of an alt-fuel truck, but why not design it to look like, you know, a truck?