World’s First Tesla Cybertruck Teardown Shows Botched Door Hinge Install
The Tesla Cybertruck was the most awaited new car launch of 2023—maybe even of this decade so far. It polarized car audiences and left engineers scratching their heads over the question, “How the hell did they make this?” Well, the wait to find out what Tesla won’t tell us is over. Folks at automotive benchmarking and engineering firm Caresoft Global have done a Cybertruck teardown.
In a video released by Autoline Network yesterday, Terry Woychowski, the president of Caresoft Global details some of the initial findings from the Cybertruck examination. He highlights how Tesla put the stainless steel truck together, decodes the four-wheel steer-by-wire system, talks about the battery pack, 48-volt system, and the giga castings: products of the high-tech manufacturing technique Tesla and the Chinese automakers are using to simplify carmaking and cut costs.
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The Tesla Cybertruck gets mixed reactions.
Despite the unprecedented million-plus reservations for the Tesla Cybertruck and an estimated five-year waiting period for new orders, not everyone finds it cool. However, Tesla has certainly pushed the boundaries of traditional car manufacturing, leaving enthusiasts awaiting a proper teardown to see what exactly lies behind that shiny steel.
For starters, Woychowski said that the body in white—the basic skeletal frame and the body of a car—has no floor. The battery doubles up as the Cybertruck’s floor, similar to the Model Y. The top of the battery is thickened to make the pack fit for this purpose. But unlike some other complex battery installations out there, removing the pack was relatively straightforward, Woychowski said.
Caresoft’s teardown also gives us a clear look at how the giga castings look from the inside. If you’re new to the “Cybercraze,” giga castings refer to a manufacturing technique first made popular by Tesla to make certain underbody components of the car using large, single-piece castings instead of the traditional assembly method involving various smaller parts.
The goal is to improve manufacturing efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the vehicle’s structural integrity. Tesla also uses giga castings on the Model Y.
Caresoft Global found that the structure under the Cybertruck’s rear seat was also a giga casting, covered in a tan-colored coating, which Woychowski said was for corrosion resistance.
Another interesting bit is that the Cybertruck doesn’t use the 48-volt architecture for every function in the car. Some of the auxiliary functions, like the vanity mirror lights and the dome lights, might be using the traditional 12-volt system, he said in the video. Caresoft didn’t seem to have the exact breakdown of the 12-volt system when the video was shot.
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Details will be shared in the coming days when they delve deeper as the teardown was only partially complete during filming.
A major production gaffe of this early Cybertruck was quality-related. The door seals looked uneven and improperly installed and Caresoft found that one of the rear doors had the wrong hinge. The Cybertruck’s front door has a wide enough opening, but the rear doors apparently open close to 90 degrees wide.
But Caresoft found that only one of the two rear doors opened that wide. The other three doors opened the same—Woycowski said that’s because assembly engineers might have just mistakenly installed the front door hinge at the rear. It’s not what you expect from a car that costs over $100,000.
There’s more in the video about the battery pack, steer-by-wire, and other manufacturing nitty gritties. The video is worth watching in full if you’re a Cybernerd or just a fan of cool engineering.
