CYBRTRCK - Design Takeaways From Musk’s Latest Innovation
By Ashini K Ekanayake
Most people’s initial reaction to the Tesla’s new Cybertruck was a smorgasbord of shock, horror and incredulity. The announcement came out of the blue, with designers referring to the design of the truck as an extreme approach, where it breaks every rule design students are taught.
Tesla’s Cybertruck at night. Image: u/Kruzat via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
From the design of the Cybertruck, it is evident that the former was not built for truck designers. For instance, while looking at the design one can instantly note the thin nature of the roof of the truck which will lead one to assume that the top of the truck is very weak. However, based on the triangular nature of the structure, this is actually much stronger than it seems. The lessons taught to student automotive designers are that they have to add features to the vehicle in order to make it look more stable and strong, even if adding it results in close to nothing engineering wise. The design choices when making the truck also diverge drastically from other products they have created which consist of more elegant elements, compared to the sharp and angular one this facade possesses. With the CYBRTRCK, as Elon Musk calls it, Tesla plans to reinvent, all that refinement is no longer considered.
Another reason which accounts from the strangeness of the design is that it lacks elements which makes it ready for the road. The model Musk displayed at the event lacked side mirrors, which are a quintessential for safety in countries. In addition, their current means of illumination, which is the strip at the front of truck, is not street legal. Most automotive engineering experts also agree that one key worry is the lack of a visible “crumple zone” in the struck, which is meant to collapse and absorb majority of the force when a car collides into something. When asked questions regarding any potential changes in the design of the truck prior to production in 2021, Tesla declined to comment. Hence, most are suspecting that the vehicle is more of a concept, but this supposition is in conflict with the fact that you can reserve your own Tesla CYBRTRCK for $100 USD.
However, on comparison to the pricing of the vehicle, the design now makes more sense. The pricing structure is as follows: $39,900 for the base and $49,999 for the dual-motor all-wheel-drive. The aesthetic of the truck could be an effort to streamline the manufacturing process. By allowing the design to be purely functional, Tesla is able to cut down on the traditional means of automotive assembly. By keeping the shape of the car straight and flat, rather than the usual curves and smooth nature, the company cuts down on more expensive tool and die costs.