Thread by @bradgarcia

I'm seeing posts where people think that the design of the #Tesla #Cybertruck is not in keeping with Tesla's mission to create beautiful, fast vehicles. And some who think that a tweak to the design to make it less "triangular" would help. Let me explain why that's wrong. /1

Tesla's goal is to make electric cars as capable and desirable as the best combustion cars. No doubt. But the part that's being overlooked is Tesla's goal of driving down cost. They want to be a mass-market manufacturer. They want to be the next Chevy - not the next Porsche. /2

The #Cybertruck design is entirely driven by cost. If you try to make a regular-looking truck that's as capable, you end up with a $70k Rivian, not a $40k Cybertruck.

Musk is a huge fan of going back to first principals. They did this to the extreme for this vehicle. /3

To keep weight down, they went with NO FRAME. But as everybody knows, unibodies are notoriously weak. Real trucks don't use them. But this isn't a unibody in the normal sense. It's designed like a bridge, using triangles.
undergroundmathematics.org/thinking-about… /4

To keep cost down, they GOT RID OF PRESSED BODY PANELS!!! When was the last time you saw a car that didn't have a pressed body panel? The machines to make body panels are *the* most expensive machines in the production process. Removing those makes a huge difference. /5

To keep cost down, they GOT RID OF PAINT. When was the last time you saw a car that didn't have paint? (yes, DeLorean). That removes another huge, expensive, time-consuming step in production. Making it of stainless steel solves the oxidation issues that result from no paint. /6

The #Tesla #Cybertruck is Tesla's ultimate first-principles design. And it was done with the main goal of minimizing production costs. This is the only way a truck with all of these capabilities can be sold profitably at $40k USD. /7

@threadreaderapp unroll please and thank you.