Tesla Cybertruck Development Documents Leaked: Fundamental Flaws and Delays

A year after the promised start of deliveries, technicians were still working on the alpha prototype, which had absolutely fundamental flaws.

The Tesla Cybertruck electric pick-up was ceremonially presented in November 2019, and it was without a doubt one of the most anticipated and interesting novelties. Elon Musk announced a distinctive design long in advance, which was also confirmed. However, the promised technology or the promise of deliveries in 2021 was also interesting.

As we know today, the car company was unable to meet the initial deadline. In the case of Tesla, however, it was actually nothing so unusual. But the background of the development, which was recently reported by leaked documents, is interesting. According to colleagues from Handelsblatt and Wiredwho pointed them out, the technicians and designers really had a lot of fun with the Cybertruck.

Cybertruck development documents leaked

The documents, which should have been presented to the car company’s employees, draw attention to the problems of the alpha prototype from 2022. That is, a year after the originally promised date for the start of the first deliveries. However, at that time the car was supposed to have absolutely major problems with the chassis, body sealing, noise, handling and brakes.

The documents should have included, for example, a comparison of the design in computer simulation (CAD) with the internal requirements for the tested prototypes. At the same time, the results should have been quite alarming. In normal practice, the tests come very close to what the simulation showed. However, this was not the case for Cybertruck.

Prototype problems

The problem with the prototype, assembled by hand by workers and not by robots, was for example with the sealing of the body. There were places and components on the body where it was difficult to ensure a reliable seal against the penetration of water or noise into the cabin.

However, problems with sealing also meant problems with ventilation, or rather its effectiveness. Warm air would escape from the cabin on cold days, while it would be difficult to cool the cabin on hot days. In both cases, this would mean higher energy consumption and lower comfort.

In addition, the technicians managed to identify a total of 21 places where there was a risk of noise entering the cabin. Tesla’s designers had already had problems with sealing against noise in the past, but the design of the Cybertruck’s alpha prototype was supposed to bring completely new challenges.

Cybertruck construction

One of the reasons may be the specific type of construction, which is still being speculated about. Someone talks about a classic body on a frame, someone about a self-supporting body. The so-called stressed-skin bodywork, which is partly a combination of both approaches, should also be in the game. We will probably learn details about the construction only after the delivery of the first pieces.

In addition to problems with body sealing, however, the technicians also had to deal with problems with handling, chassis and brakes, which could also be caused by the body itself and its too high or, conversely, low stiffness. The documents did not specify the details, but in short the stiffness was supposed to be far outside the set targets.

Solving stiffness problems

Experts who were approached by foreign colleagues for consultation on the leaked materials added that solving the stiffness problems is a lengthy and expensive problem. The stiffness of the bodywork should be solved at the very beginning, which is what the aforementioned simulations are for. If the stiffness is low, the body will twist, if it is high, the car will not turn very well.

The prototype also had a problem with the brakes. The engineers were hoping to achieve a 7 on the SAE scale in their test, which would be satisfactory. But the result was 3 points worse. The car was supposed to be unstable under braking and have problems braking in corners.

Poor handling and other negatives

However, there were supposed to be problems with handling as well – the body was leaning too much and there were allegedly various knocks, jerks, etc. The technicians also struggled with tuning the chassis, especially the front suspension. Additionally, there were issues with excessive tire wear depending on the ground clearance of the Cybertruck’s air suspension.

The Tesla Cybertruck was obviously plagued by really serious problems. Experts contacted by foreign journalists were also surprised that in 2022 technicians were still solving serious problems with the alpha prototype, when the first deliveries were already promised in 2021. However, according to the latest information, we should actually see the production Tesla Cybertruck already this year, i.e. sometime before the end of the year.