LEAKED Tesla Cybertruck Image Suggests Structural Changes 

Spent 30 years in a GM assembly plant, worked many model changeovers, some of them we gutted the entire body shop and started over. Here is my take on the exoskeleton debate. A lot of people appear to have a misconceptions of what is even possible as far as putting an exoskeleton on the CT. First, Elon has mentioned several times how hard it is to work with the SS they are using. Having to notch the inside of the workpiece just to be able to bend a straight line crease without breaking the press. That is why you don't see any curved SS panels anywhere on the truck, it's not an option. So, they can't make door jambs or B pillars out of SS. Second, there have to be mounting points for things like hinges, roof rails and casting mounts. How would you attach a drive unit to the outer skin? What you are seeing in the pic is what I call a space frame, I don't know what Tesla calls it, made out of the same super high strength steel that the cars use. I guess you could call it a roll cage, which is what actually is. Then add the structural battery pack, plus the front and rear castings, just like the cars. And what you see here does look just like a new Model Y frame. So what's different about the CT, why do they call it an exoskeleton, and where does the weight savings come from? Well SS is lighter than the high strength steel. Saving weight by the best part being no part like, heavy steel side impact beams in the doors, or using thinner steel in many areas of the space frame itself. I didn't see any kind of steel reinforcement in the rear casting area, which might have been needed for towing or hauling. I believe the reason they call it an exoskeleton is because the CT would not be structurally sound enough to drive without the added support of the outer skin. If you were to take all the sheet metal off a Model Y, it would still be perfectly driveable and nearly as crash worthy. The CT not so much. IMHO.

What you called side body panels, aren't. You are looking at the body-in-white. All bodies-in-white are structural ekements. They provide stiffness to resist twisting, and so they are load-bearing. Cybertruck, too. Tesla did not backtrack, and there is no significance to calling the body-in-white + body panels 'skins.' Don't overthink this. The use of the word 'exoskeleton' just means *the tough part is on the outside.* With all other consumer vehicles, the body is fragile. Paint is even more fragile. No doubt design changes have been made. But the exoskeleton idea has not been watered down.

I believe you are right that it is the combination of the body panels and the frame that will provide the overall structural strength. I think this was always the intention. You definitely need the frame to provide strength as well, especially the B-pillar in the middle of the vehicle where the doors are. The doors would immediately jam in case of a roll-over accident if the underlaying frame didn't provide enough structural reinforcement.

I am sure Tesla's design for the cybertruck has changed considerably from what was envisaged at the start of the design

In my opinion, building Cybertruck with removable SS panels, whether structural or not, will make it less difficult to repair collision damage. Based on the leaked photos, it appears that much of the vehicle's structure is internal as evidenced by the upper extensions of the rear casting.

It would have been overly complex for a pure exoskeleton to have crush zones. The hybrid approach makes more sense.

Yes Tesla’s exoskeleton is just another name for unibody construction. Versus other traditional trucks which are body on frame design.

It’s not ladder frame. That’s still most impressive. Yes, door jamb pillars separate from (front &) rear sail. To be expected. Still using triangulation of tray sails up to roofline to take that 3,500 lb load, not banana chassis like Hilux of old. It won’t flex like a F-150 ladder, separate tub. It’s function, performance that counts, not sticking to aesthetic hypothetical design. Does it still save weight, allow lower bed, stiff, superior "sports car" handling? Is it still cheaper to produce, more robust / long lasting?

Hold those thoughts until we see the "structure of the stainless steel body parts". It will be the combination of structures for sure. Collision safety engineering has changed with the castings and it all must work together. I have experienced 60 years of Budd Company stainless steel rail passenger cars unpainted and still in daily service looking good in the USA.

Roughly £120k in my portfolio are in tech/TSLA stocks, can I get an advice on any other stocks that I can acquire to diversify my reserve across multiple markets while creating a comprehensive portfolio allocation that balances my concerns of risk aversion and returns that meet yearly inflation.

Your conjecture makes perfect sense in light of Tesla's experience with the Model Y and their track record of promising a vision and delivering a pragmatic solution. It should be a great product, either way.

Very thought-provoking. Thanks

John, I continue to find your videos so very insightful and informative. This was another excellent video!

I doubt the cyber truck exoskeleton design has changed at all from its original conception. If you look at the body image that was on the original order page, you can see the stamped members around the door openings. Clearly 3 mm thick exoskeleton steel could not be completely self supporting. The folded steel and stamped frame just beneath it together give the body the rigidity it needs.

The design hasn't changes a little bit , it has completely changed .

I'm sure what you are seeing is the structure necessary for the side panels to function. Center beam for hinges for the rear. doors, door latches, seals, etc. These are necessary structural items for doors to function. It can still be exoskeleton with functional doors.

Good post, ty!

If the skin is strongly attached to the underbody, it should provide shear strength, stiffness and integrity to the package, similar to how it would work if more "integrated." In any case, the stainless skin is a big plus.

I think whatever design they are using now will be the one they use going forward. Having the panels detachable make more sense for repairs.

ST Structure was always designed to be “box” like for each side (design not changed), with the stainless being one or one & half sides of the box, strong stainless panels allow inner stamped structures to be thinner lighter

Doubtful that this is a half step. They simply overplayed the idea of the exoskeleton. The skin will offer structural support, but not without the castings. Fantastic either way!

i just like the idea of non rustig steel instead of expensive to fix after scratch colored parts.

What if it's still true exoskeleton and the mid section shown in those photos is strictly for attaching other components-but can be much thinner and lighter since the stainless actually does the structural “heavy lifting”?

This comes as no surprise to me, I was expecting exactly this kind of structural design for the CT. Huge Elon fan, but a lot of you should already know that he is no stranger to hyperbole. In this case, the word was "exoskeleton".

Exoskeleton design like an aircraft doesn't mean that there are no internal structural supports. Rather, it means that the SS skin attached to the internal framing yields more structural strength than with standard internal structural supports alone. We can only speculate until Munroe tears one down for detailed analysis.

John, I hope you’ll start posting your videos over on Twitter, were you on musk has promised monetization that’s 10% better than what RU-vid offers. The Twitter player may not be as good as RU-vid presently but it’s only going to get better.

Regular stainless steel is tough and more difficult to machine/drill, etc. Likely the alloy being used is even stronger -( future mars vehicle 🙃) … so yes, the panels will contribute to the vehicle’s strength in no small way

Can’t wait until Munro and associates do a tear down of the CT! I think it will be quite interesting…

I have a feeling that they couldn't get the 'Exo-skeleton' as we all think of, to work for production at a reasonable cost. Thus, its probably just a conventional pressing to keep cost reasonable.

For real production line of a mostly unibody truck. Wondering if Tesla will use thinner steel for the body...no need to haul around 3mm of expensive stainless if it isn't structural. 1.5mm aught to do the job while keeping the weight and cost down.

If there is no underlying chassis holding the "cabin" to the "bed", you've got an exoskeleton or monocoque, as all modern cars have. The structural walls are made of diferent layers in all cars. On the Cybertruck the outer skin happens to be stainless steel, but the inside "skin" is stampable steel, so you can achieve the complex shapes needed for the door frames. I believe the design remains the same as when it was first presented.

I wonder if the frunk ended up causing exoskeleton limitations

Tesla really does have the most efficient factories out there. As for the new CT - I'ms user early on the reservation list but man am I in a tough spot. Do I get an early example knowing that it is going to get way better in a year or so... and is it possible to delay my order. I just get the quad and sell it in 6 months and pickup an updated one later down the road....

For my sanity may I humbly request that you (and all other content creators) refrain from using the cybertruck "crash test" b-roll? It's so frustrating. Many thanks.

Exoskeleton used structures skins. Mystery solved. The difference between conventional and tesla truck structures is if the kin bearing any loads. Tesla’s does, the other doesn’t.

They may have had to pivot for safety. Perhaps the true exoskeleton was too rigid to absorb energy in a crash.

some aftermarket company should start making a bolt on kit with 2 chrome stacks and a halloween fluid tank sprayer apparatus that blows smoke from the stacks while driving down the road,hurry so its ready right away🤣

I have a delima! I am a reservation holder. I drive a Rivian R1T now and just love it. I would have to trade it in to get my Cyber Truck. What would you do? Keep my wonderful Rivian or trade it in on the Cybertruck?

This has to be the most controversial auto on the planet.

I get the feeling some folks are going to apply a thick coat of rubber over it.

They have to make door shuts and surrounds somehow.

I expect this to be an incredibly rugged truck and so I think the 375,000 target is low if this truck is marketed in Africa and SE Asia where it could replace Toyota truck for utility, assuming the charging infra structure is available, and costs can be contained.

Laser cutting and folding is really really slow compared to stamping, so if it's ever going to be produced at scale they will need many many laser tables and press breaks so probably many more machines and much more floor space for similar production volumes with traditional stamping. Think 5 second cycle time for stamping and 5 minute cycle time best case for laser cut and fold. That's a 60x time cost unless you have 60 laser machines and 60 press breaks feeding into the production line. That's why I doubt the will achieve close to 25000 in 2024 and that's being optimistic

I don't recommend whacking the production truck with a sledge - caveat emptor!

Exoskeleton was always just hype

I think Tesla changed the wording because Corey Stubbin said it was not an exoskeleton. He kind of half recanted but the damage was done. The haters had a talking point. If one looks at a turtle it is a good match for the cybertruck. Exoskeleton with all kinds of attachment points. Top and bottom. The body in white is a good way to create the attachment points and shells for door openings and interior parts. However the real problem that nobody is talking about is that with all the holes for doors, glass in the roof and the box it was never going to be a great exoskeleton. None of it matters as it will be a great truck.

Like this because, no better way.

What the hell does it really matter if the Cybertruck is really an exoskeleton design r not? Didn’t everyone see Franz wack the door hard with a sledgehammer? Do you think any other truck on the market would not suffer significantly more damage from such a blow? Exoskeleton or not, Cybertruck promises to be significantly more durable in this regard.

Will the CyberTruck ramp as slowly as the Semi has?

I would love to see a car made in one single cast. Mount the windows and doors and everything else from the underside. I guess Model 2 will be made this way.

It can't be an exoskeleton; stainless is very expensive, 2X - 3X the cost of mild steel. With an exo you would need to use much thicker, and heavier material. You can actually see how thin the stainless is: around the fender areas you can see warble in the surface. I'd bet anyone here it is under .030, because .040 will stay flat in my experience. My guess is when they saw the cost and thought about repairabliity they dropped the exo idea.

The casting is aluminum alloy. The exoskeleton is a steel alloy. How did anyone think that the exterior would be of and part of the cast? My gawd.

👍🏻🙏🏻❤️

Hi Jon Noone have any doubt to not believe Teslas claim of a structural skin..? These new pictures i think shows all the stamped pieces nedded for door openings, fender, sail and door attachment Tesla always innovate so in the future more and more parts will be replaced with castings

cant wait to watch all the duramax and LS swap videos on the cybertrucks when the batteries go bad...just got this 2004 chevy 2500 duramax all rusted out and this cybertruck with bad batteries at the auction and we thought we would do something different, so we are going to duramax swap it and call it the cyberMAX🤣

Weld the doors shut and you can do skin only.

I feel like you know what really happened. They are realizing how stupid the idea is.

👋👍

Do you actually know what a exosleleton is? The frame of the cybertuck could never be called an exosleleton.

Exoskeleton? I don’t give a flying F**k, TAKE MY MONEY!

I’ve seen RU-vidrs build their own in a few months. The amount of hype this had so many years ago it should already be boring. Now when you do finally get one you will look foolish.

I hate the wipers why couldn’t they tuck it under the hood really!!!

I think most people will purchase a Cybertruck just because it is novelty. Lets all try to remember...this is an all electric truck. Imagine taking this "tank" Cybertruck out to the desert somewhere and running out of power. ......now what? Sure, this could also happen with a gas truck but batteries are not going to fair well as well as a gas combustion engine. ( Basically, deal with heat well ) Plus, it is going to cost soooo much to purchase one that it will not even make any sense that it is electric. Only the rich will buy them for only the reason to look cool. They will not be worth what you end up paying for one.

U need to grow a mustache 😢

Jon did you know Cybertruck will mine dogecoin??

I still wonder how they can destroy energy in case of an accident. Normally this is done through forming the steel. If the form will stay in case of an accident, where does the energy go. They could pout airbags to the outside. More realistic, they have to allow that the steel plates get destroyed in an accident but take energy.

This is old news dude.

Does he shave his mustache? 🤦‍♂️

It's NOT an exoskelton.

Elon who?

One thing bugging me is that it will be impossible for most people to reach over the side of the bed and get stuff out. In a 'normal' truck or a ute you can approach the tray from any side and get stuff out, but with CT you would need to get in the back to get anything that was up near the cab.

Do you know I’ve seen how trucks are built traditionally and this thing looks like it’s built literally like a tank already how much better can you really get? One thing is for certain it is Wayover built compared to anything else that’s out there in the world already!!😂🎉. As an ad Traditional trucks are built on a ladder frame, and they always twist. I repeat, always twist, and the cyber truck will not twist. That’s almost an absolute guarantee.😂

CT isn’t going to really be an exoskeleton. So what? No one cares.

Skin.? Wth

There is no special alloy. it's just a standard stainless steel. i bet it's the same as the DeLorean used.