Source: Aifaner

Companies that can achieve the same level of controversy and sales of their own products are not common; Tesla is counted as a regular customer among them.

The Cybertruck, which has just begun delivery, is bound to cause huge controversy from the day it was released in 2019. This handsome and ugly mass-produced concept car is the most powerful pickup truck, and it is also a monster full of manufacturing difficulties. After 4 years of waiting, even many people don't think that it will finally produce energy.

This question comes not only from its amazing appearance, but also because of how difficult it is to manufacture, even Tesla itself has stopped manufacturing on a few occasions.

One important reason is because this big guy is covered in hard bones — super hard 30X cold rolled stainless steel.

It's not the first one, but the most aggressive

At the delivery ceremony, Tesla showed a video of a race where a Cybertruck dragged a 911 and defeated another 911. Musk quipped slightly ironically:

Even if you drag 911, it's faster than 911.

Choosing 911 as an opponent not only shows that Cybertruck can also have excellent performance as a pickup truck, it actually has another level of purpose.

In 1967, Porsche created a Porsche 911S model with a stainless steel body. It was later kept in the museum but did not successfully enter the mass market. Because the new materials increased the weight of the Porsche by 20% to 80%, this is a big taboo in the production of performance sports cars.

The exploration of stainless steel as a body material dates back to the 1930s.

In order to increase sales of stainless steel in that era, Allegheny Technology teamed up with Ford to launch six bright Model 68 Deluxe models.

Model 68 Deluxe. Photo from: souhu.com

In decades of use, these custom cars can maintain such a reflective appearance without maintenance. Stainless steel generally does not rust, nor does it need to be fully covered with car paint. Furthermore, the body strength of stainless steel is higher than that of ordinary sheet metal, and it will not be easily deformed in the event of a collision, so safety is more guaranteed.

This was the fundamental reason why many companies wanted to introduce stainless steel into car body materials at the time, but its excellent characteristics made the press more likely to be damaged during processing, and the disadvantage that it was difficult to weld was not suitable for this material to be widely used in design concepts at the time. The greatest advantage of stainless steel also became its biggest obstacle to the public.

Although it failed to reach the market, such a unique appearance made it onto the screen. “Back to the Future” was screened in 1985. The DMC-12, a sports car that has traveled through time and space, officially adopted a stainless steel body, and is still the “dream car” of many people until now.

DMC-12 Photo from: oarington.com

Using classic works to put an end to the experiments of stainless steel in automotive materials in the last century is also a relatively successful ending. And the next time the two collide again, it's for Cybertruck 35 years later.

The stainless steel used in Cybertruck has a very popular name — ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel. It sounds just like it looks; it doesn't belong to this era.

Musk introduced this alloy variant developed from 300 series stainless steel. In fact, we have all seen and even own this material for a long time. Open the thermos cup you have at hand, and it should have the following words on the inside:

It turns out that we are so close to future technology, but on the basis of the 300 series, Tesla used a “cold rolling” process to increase martensitic in the material to increase the yield strength of stainless steel to a level similar to the tensile strength.

In layman's terms, this process can increase the hardness of metals. Compared to other metals, cold-rolled stainless steel will significantly increase in strength, which means that not only does Cybertruck look strong, it actually is.

There have been many voices in the industry about interpreting “30X”. Some experts believe that this represents that the new material studied by Tesla is 30 times stronger than the average 300 series stainless steel, while others think that it is the 300 series in Masca's mouth, but it has just changed its name to a more cool one.

When it comes to scientific research results and industry secrets, it is difficult for us to prove exactly which kind of statement is reliable, but there are three things that can be determined:

This is a new material developed independently by Tesla and has applied for a patent

30X stainless steel is harder than previous similar materials

The surface of SpaceX's starship also uses the same metal

Starship. Photo from: souhu.com

When a civilian car can use the same aerospace-grade materials in a short period of time, and these two products are from the same boss, some people even have a big brain, saying that Cybertruck may be helping SpaceX clean up “scraps from inventory,” there is a feeling that LV uses small leather materials to make lipstick bags and keychains.

Hard bones that are hard to chew, and crazy people who dare to operate

Of course, this kind of “inventory theory” is just a passage that raises questions about Tesla's material decisions.

Although the stainless steel exploration path in the last century showed the advantages of stainless steel, the shortcomings unearthed along with it have long proved that this is an impassable path, or a path that cannot lead to mass production.

To understand Tesla's insistence on stainless steel, we need to go back to the name of this new car and find the answer — Truck.

Photo from: cars.tvbs.com

Civilian pickups are not common in the country, and even if you see one once in a while, it is difficult for car owners to perform all of their functions. However, pickups on the other side of the ocean have a long history. Let's not go into this history. Trucks with obvious tool attributes must be effective assistants for farmers and orchardists. Their ability to carry goods alone is not comparable to that of an ordinary family car.

Most traditional pickups use a non-carrying body. The advantage of this structure is that the chassis can absorb most of the bumps and shocks. The shock sensation of the car body will be greatly weakened because of the separate design, and the body will not be deformed due to rough terrain, and the chassis can withstand all suffering.

However, the handling and riding experience were also very poor because of this design, and the interior space of the car also became very crowded due to its split style.

However, the driving conditions of civilian cars are relatively stable, and comfort is placed first among the reasons for buying a car. The carrier-carrying body can fully meet the driver's driving control needs, but the insufficient strength of the body structure also makes it difficult for it to become an excellent tool vehicle.

Load-bearing body. Photo from: Toyota.com

So are there any civilian cars that balance comfort and functionality? This is what Cybertruck did.

If the “model” is simply designed as a pickup truck but uses a carrier-carrying body, it still cannot handle the bumpy road section. So the ultra-hard stainless steel body is solving this problem.

Relying on its own stiffness, it greatly compensates for the shortcomings of the load body's insufficient torsion resistance. It's like putting up an exoskeleton on the body of a car to meet the challenges of the road surface with a white body. Musk used “Exoskeleton” to name such a disruptive body structure.

Exactly how hard is the ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless steel, in fact, the following insane screenshot already explains everything.

It's bulletproof. According to Musk's tests, not a single bullet penetrates the car door. Ommy Gun, MP5, and 9mm pistols have no way of handling this large steel shell.

This kind of “stiffness” greatly enhances the ability of the car body to resist deformation and collision, and can also disperse excessive impulses in the event of a collision, protecting everyone inside the vehicle.

The three previously contradictory conditions of sufficient space, high strength, and driving comfort have been integrated together because “stainless steel” has been added.

Furthermore, relying on the 18% chromium element added by Tesla to the stainless steel, it can form a layer of chromium oxide film on the surface of the vehicle to block direct contact between oxygen and water. Therefore, Cybertruck is inherently able to stop the metal from oxidizing and rusting. The car paint problem was finally solved by Tesla at the source.

In order to control this stainless steel that is as stubborn as Tesla, Tesla and Musk have suffered quite a bit.

In a conference call, Musk said building a Cybertruck was a “dig your own grave” choice. Now it seems like this statement isn't an exaggeration; it's even a bit tactful.

It only took 3 years for SpaceX to build the first pilot, and it's also the largest rocket in the world.

Cybertruck was released in 2019 to mass production in 2023, but it took 4 full years.

This is not to say that building a car is more difficult than a spacecraft, but putting stainless steel on a pickup truck according to Tesla's requirements is really difficult.

High-strength materials are difficult to deform, so there is no way to start with 30X stainless steel in traditional stamping machines. Even if it hardens the scalp, it is “injuring 800 enemies and causing 10,000 self-damage” for the machine. The cost of consumables for processing machines alone is impossible for Cybertruck to support the mass production stage.

Tesla used two relatively ingenious methods, which did not solve this problem perfectly.

1. “Using violence to suppress violence”: Defeating a strong opponent requires more power. Tesla customized the world's first 8000 ton die-casting machine for Cybertruck.

2. “Model reorganization”: even if the largest tonnage machine is used, but after all, the strength of 30X stainless steel lies there, so it is unlikely that a traditional vehicle curve will appear on this stainless steel body. Tesla uses an origami airplane to first cut it with a laser and then bend it.

Looking at it this way, Cybertruck's alternative look is not meant to be unique, but is a product of compromising on materials.

However, despite this square design, the wind resistance coefficient of the Cybertruck was still controlled at 0.335Cd. Before that, the average wind resistance level of pickups was 0.5Cd. Even the extreme Dodge RAM and Toyota Tacoma were greater than 0.35 Cd. The low wind resistance also made it possible for the Beast version to accelerate to 2.7s at 100 kilometers.

The vehicle itself is difficult to manufacture, and it is not easy to adapt to traffic regulations in various countries. The front part of mainstream models is generally made relatively “soft” because it is necessary to ensure that in the event of an extreme traffic accident, there is a chance for passers-by who have been hit to survive.

Although the rebellious Cybertruck can guarantee safety inside the car, if a pedestrian or even another car seriously collides with it, the damage caused must be fatal, just like a tank running over a toy car.

At present, it is still unclear whether Tesla will optimize the front compartment materials on this point, but judging from the published data, this will be a major obstacle for Cybertruck to enter the global market.

Cybertruck Photo from: CNBC

The technical details about “Super Hard 30X Cold-Rolled Stainless Steel” are similar. The superior characteristics of the material itself can indeed be used as a reason for Tesla to choose it, but they are not sufficient, because for an electric pickup truck, “aluminum” with high torsional rigidity, strength, light weight, and power saving may be a better choice.

New materials need to be supported by sales volume to enter the mass market. Otherwise, there will only be a short time like 911 and DMC-12. Stainless steel will end up the same as carbon fiber and become exclusive to very few cars.

Leaving aside material reasons, what other reasons can support Musk's choice?

Engineering intersectional methodologies

Musk often emphasizes one of his work philosophies — engineering intersectional methodologies, and describes a five-step engineering agreement in this regard:

Question and challenge existing requirements to make them more reasonable

Remove unnecessary processes

Simplify or optimize designs to avoid excessive complexity

Acceleration cycle time

Automate processes to improve efficiency and productivity

As early as 2017, he opened up the core technical departments of Tesla and Space X to exchange and use the technical knowledge of “aerospace” and “automobile manufacturing.” At the time, with the help of Space X scientists, Tesla engineers reduced the manufacturing time of the Model 3 by 8 hours.

The current Cybertruck is just another product of this methodological theory. Because of SpaceX, Tesla decided to use space materials; because of Starship's material advantages, the truck is cloaked in the coat of Cyber.

It can be said that this is an improved version of the “Ford system” in the 21st century. Extremely high production efficiency and extreme cost reduction have integrated all possible methods of cost reduction and efficiency into all businesses managed by Musk.

Tesla and Musk are themselves riddled with contradictions.

On the one hand, it often causes disgust from many people, such as removing the radar, removing the instrument panel, and removing the handle and the paddle; on the other hand, you have to admire its persistence in becoming the car company with the highest market capitalization in the world and creating the world's largest rocket

However, it seems that only this kind of confidence and stubbornness that “the whole world is intoxicated by me” can make such a sci-fi Cybertruck actually hit the road, even though it still doesn't seem like it belongs on this planet.

If one day humans actually land on Mars, the Cybertruck should be the first civilian electric vehicle most likely to travel on it.

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