Shulou(Shulou.com)12/24 Report--

On November 28, Tesla launched an electric pickup truck Cybertruck in an attempt to break the tradition by covering the whole body with ultra-hard stainless steel. This material does not need to be painted and will not be sunken, giving the car a unique appearance.

However, for the world's largest carmaker by market capitalization, it adds complexity to the launch of new models.

Stainless steel is challenging in bending and handling, according to people involved in the design of the electric pickup. Tesla needs to mold this material into a body panel and make sure there is no excessive gap during installation.

In addition, stainless steel is so hard that it is difficult to be flattened. It needs to be made into a roll, just like a huge toilet paper roll, which can bounce back to its previous curved shape even when unfolded.

These difficulties have been manufacturing obstacles that Tesla needs to overcome until they launch their first new passenger model. Tesla plans to start delivering the first Cybertruck on November 30, and plans to celebrate the milestone with an event at a plant near Austin, Texas.

Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, warned on an earnings call in October that there would be huge challenges in increasing Cybertruck production and profitability, saying that the new technologies involved would make production more difficult. However, he did not elaborate on the specific reasons.

"We are digging our own grave by launching CyberTruck," Mr Musk said at the time. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

Stainless steel is rarely used directly in car bodies, in part because it is usually less malleable and more expensive. In addition, the weight of stainless steel is relatively heavy, especially compared with aluminum. In recent years, some automakers have begun to use aluminum to reduce the weight of cars and trucks.

Although the external panels of the Cybertruck do not need to be painted, Tesla plans to give them a surface treatment to make the appearance more uniform, according to people familiar with the matter. Just like making jewelry, metal surfaces usually need to be polished or polished.

The launch of Cybertruck is very important to Tesla. Tesla's sales growth has slowed as it faces fiercer competition in electric vehicles.

Tesla and investors hope the electric pickup will bring new passion to the Tesla brand, especially as many of Tesla's models are aging and prices are slashed to attract buyers.

Cybertruck encountered several delays and cost overruns during its launch. In an earnings call in October, Mr Musk said he expected to eventually produce about 250000 pickups a year. However, he warned that the increase in production would be slow because of design difficulties, and that it would be difficult for Tesla to meet such a production target by 2025.

The Cybertruck, which made its debut in 2019, has a unique angular profile and stainless steel appearance, strong enough to withstand bullets.

Tesla executives stressed the advantages of using stainless steel, saying it makes pickups stronger and more durable. Tesla also omitted the expensive external painting process because of the corrosion resistance of the metal.

However, considering that stainless steel is rarely used on the outside of cars, this decision may be risky. More than 40 years ago, Deloning launched an unpainted car with a stainless steel appearance, but the result was not satisfactory.

One person involved in the Cybertruck design compared Tesla's decision to use stainless steel to Tesla Model X SUV's early design of falcon wing doors. It turns out that this vertical lift door is difficult to make and sometimes cannot be opened.

"although ultra-hard stainless steel cannot be compared with rocket science, it is certainly not easy," Lars Moravy, Tesla's vice president of automotive engineering, told investors in March.

Tesla partnered with Luxembourg-based steelmaker Aperam to develop a custom alloy to meet Tesla's strength and corrosion resistance requirements, according to people familiar with the matter.

Given the bare metal appearance of the Cybertruck, ensuring color consistency has become a focus of the development process. Variables such as chemistry and processing technology will affect the appearance of stainless steel.

Tesla also wants to use thicker metal on the outside of the Cybertruck than is commonly used in the car industry, at least in part because Mr Musk wants trucks to be bulletproof, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

This increases the plastic difficulty of super-hard stainless steel. Executives say the material is too hard for the presses commonly used in the auto industry to produce body panels. Tesla uses a laser to cut these parts and then bends them into the desired shape.

Once Cybertruck goes public, there may be other challenges in addition to material problems.

The hardness and thickness of the metal may make it more resistant to scratches and scratches, but people who have worked in the metal industry say it can be very difficult to repair if the body is really sunken.

Chris Nicholson (Chris Nicholson) started with polished stainless steel and now repairs DeRonin cars around the world.

Dronin owners often ask him to remove dents, repair surfaces, and even remove spots. If the droppings of birds or flies stay on the car for a long time, spots will form, he said. Although stainless steel is resistant to corrosion, it is not completely immune. Nicholson usually solves these spots by removing the metal layer from the top and polishing the remaining metal.

At present, the experience of repairing stainless steel bodies is not common. With the introduction of Cybertruck, "people will have to learn how to deal with it," Nicholson said.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.