Tesla (VP Vehicle Engineering) says Cybertruck likely to not make it to Europe

27 points by BtM909 1 year ago | 86 comments
  • ogig 1 year ago
    Good, after seen Marques' review on youtube last thing I would want is to be involved in a crash with a cybertruck. Those angles and steel plates will cause gruesome consequences for everyone involved in such an accident. Happy to see our regulation working.
    • renegade-otter 1 year ago
      This one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxOh12Uhg08

      "I just can't see the front of the car".

      Oh yeah, this will work out great.

      Elon designed it himself, didn't he?

      • theturtletalks 1 year ago
        The whole video is a gold mine for "asshole design."

        - No door handles, press a button and pull the metal railing to open the door

        - No rear-view mirror, use the console to see what's behind you

        - Your driving speed is no longer in front of the steering wheel, it's in the console

        - Your glove box doesn't have a manual latch, dig into settings to open the glove box

        - The gear shifter is in the console or above you

        Seems like Elon went full contrarian when designing the car.

        • rsynnott 1 year ago
          > No door handles, press a button and pull the metal railing to open the door

          Certain Fiats in the 1980s had an arrangement where, rather than a door handle, you'd push a button and the door would pop open. It is... not a car feature I would necessarily have expected to reappear in 2023.

          • dzhiurgis 1 year ago
            “$500 phone with no appeal to business users, pffft”
            • dgrin91 1 year ago
              Half this stuff has been standard tesla design for a while and are typically liked by Tesla drivers -

              - no door handles

              - driving speed on center console

              - glove box controlled by console

              - gear shift not in-between driver/passenger

              Contrarian I guess.... but not bad

              Also "no rear view mirror" - it was clearly stated in the video that is only for the production test model and real production models will have rear and side view mirrors.

            • geekifier 1 year ago
              > "I just can't see the front of the car".

              > Oh yeah, this will work out great.

              It seems to me that the Cybertruck has less of a blind spot in front of the hood than F-150. The "not seeing the front" is actually hinting at this, it's below the field of vision. The hood angles down agressively vs. huge

              Large trucks/SUVs are infamous for poor pedestrian visibility right in front.

              Edit: this graphic (https://cdn.carbuzz.com/gallery-images/1600/1140000/800/1140...) comes to mind.

              • SirFredman 1 year ago
                He also designed the windshield wiper of doom. Which is ridiculous as well.
                • falcolas 1 year ago
                  I'm picturing that trying to move with a few inches of wet snow. It's a great visual.

                  Also, can you imagine the cost of that as a consumable that should usually be replaced every month or three?

                • panick21_ 1 year ago
                  [dead]
              • pavlov 1 year ago
                At the Cybertruck launch event, Musk suggested that it’s designed to destroy the other vehicle in a crash situation.

                A car like that probably would have a hard time getting certified in Europe.

                • jillesvangurp 1 year ago
                  In general, the market for trucks in Europe is pretty much non existent. Just not a thing here. Blue collar workers use normal cars and vans here with a cheap trailer if they need to move lots of stuff/garbage/sand etc. Anything with a high fuel consumption is a non starter for commercial usage given the fuel cost. Besides, big vehicles just aren't very practical on narrow roads, in dense cities, etc.

                  Getting this thing approved for safety reasons might also be a challenge. I'd say a lot of people don't really want these things anywhere near pedestrians, children, or cyclists; all of which are very common in European traffic.

                  • piva00 1 year ago
                    There's a market, it's tiny compared to the USA but I've seen bigger trucks like the Dodge RAM, Ford F-250, and similar peppered around Stockholm's area more affluent neighbourhoods/municipalities.

                    When I lived in Huddinge (a higher income municipality with lots of villas/detached houses) it seemed like 1 every 5 houses had at least one of those trucks parked in their garage, some had 2 or more. Same around the Danderyd area...

                    I've noticed the uptick in larger trucks, and bigger SUVs around the streets here for the past 4-5 years.

                    I really hope this trend doesn't continue, it sucks.

                    • theshrike79 1 year ago
                      Yeah, we have those in Finland too. They're all for pavement princesses. They're always immaculately detailed, not a scratch, dent or dirt stain on them.

                      If people need a "truck" for actual work, they'll get a Toyota Hilux. And even those tend to have a hard shell over the bed essentially making it a van with huge ground clearance.

                      • rsynnott 1 year ago
                        Throughout Europe, total sale of _all_ pickup trucks is about 100k/year. US annual sales are in the region of 2 to 3 million.
                        • panick21_ 1 year ago
                          It will continue unless we legislate against it. There are many things that can be done.
                      • toomuchtodo 1 year ago
                        It is not important for it to make it to Europe. It is for American's who want to play cowboy. Europe pickup TAM is tiny.

                        https://web.archive.org/web/20231203153448/https://i.ibb.co/...

                        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38491312 (f150 sales citations)

                        https://www.autonews.com/sales/pickups-europeans-say-thanks-...

                        • FirmwareBurner 1 year ago
                          *)Rich Americans
                          • toomuchtodo 1 year ago
                            Everyone can be rich with easy credit and the repo/used car cycle. Americans overextend themselves for $50k-$100k pickups just fine. You can dislike the reality, but don't operate for how you wish the world was, operate for how it is today.
                        • james_pm 1 year ago
                          Makes me wonder if NHTSA tests not only the performance of a vehicle in terms of protecting its occupants, but also the performance of the vehicle in terms of what it does to any other vehicles it might come into contact with.

                          I assume they do some testing for vehicle vs. pedestrian or vehicle vs. cyclist, but would they run a Cybertruck into a Toyota Camry to see how the outcome compares for both vehicles compared to running an F-150 into the same Camry?

                          • panick21_ 1 year ago
                            > I assume they do some testing for vehicle vs. pedestrian

                            No they don't.

                            I don't think testing against other cars exists either.

                          • oxfordmale 1 year ago
                            This higher mass would mean that any collision with a lighter vehicle could be very serious. European regulators would just need one look at the cars specs, and would dismiss it outright.
                            • fsh 1 year ago
                              Due to the apparent lack of crumple zones, it will probably also destroy its passengers on impact.
                              • yurishimo 1 year ago
                                That’s not how crash tests work. To be able to get the vehicle certified, they drive the car into concrete barriers at a variety of angles and evaluate dummies for injuries. If the injuries are too severe, then the car will fail. In addition, there must be mitigations in place for what happens to wheels/engines in a crash scenario. If the engine immediately gets flung out of the engine bay, it will fail. Yes, I understand this is an electric vehicle.

                                In reality, modern cars are extremely safe (as much as a 2 ton hunk of metal can be).

                                Now, this calculation may be different for other vehicles involved in an accident with a cybertruck, but in reality, a concrete barrier is much harder than even this ugly slab of steel. The other cars are also engineered to absorb the same impacts.

                                Arguably the most vulnerable party in a cybertruck accident is a civilian located outside of a vehicle.

                                • fabian2k 1 year ago
                                  So where are the test results for the Cybertruck? Most modern cars are built in somewhat similar ways, Cybertruck is a huge outlier in construction. So I think it is very reasonable to ask whether that affects the safety of the vehicle.
                                • fabian2k 1 year ago
                                  I'm really curious how the results of crash tests will turn out here. Crumple zones are a really important safety feature, and I can't imagine the Cybertruck will fare well without them.
                                  • me_me_me 1 year ago
                                    people dont realize that crumpled/bended material absorbs crash energy. Its a good thing as that energy is not transferred into a passengers, well apparently musk is one of those people
                                • nativeit 1 year ago
                                  Which, a car whose specs were written in crayon and largely made up?
                                  • loceng 1 year ago
                                    Did he say designed to destroy or would destroy the other vehicle?

                                    Saying designed to destroy denotes intent.

                                    • littlethoughts 1 year ago
                                      He said that it's expressly designed to turn minivans into scrap metal and hamburger meat on the turnpike, then laughed maniacally.
                                      • peteradio 1 year ago
                                        You are taking it out of context. Following that he said Eff the police 420 blaze it and took a bite out of a baby.
                                        • loceng 1 year ago
                                          Do you have the video source link for that? Thanks
                                          • 1 year ago
                                            • renegade-otter 1 year ago
                                              I mean, that's all you need to know about this guy's maturity level.
                                              • furyofantares 1 year ago
                                                Sarcasm often doesn't do well here (for good reason, there's a signal:noise expectation) but it's still surprising that sibling comments are taking this seriously.
                                              • josefresco 1 year ago
                                                Source: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/11/the-tesla-cybertruck-fi...

                                                According to the article he "implied".

                                                Another source and direct quote:

                                                "If you’re ever in an argument with another car, you will win,” Musk told his fans at the delivery event in its Texas factory in Austin. “Here at Tesla we have the finest in apocalypse technology."

                                                *https://fortune.com/2023/12/01/cybertruck-elon-musk-tesla-de...

                                                • nolongerthere 1 year ago
                                                  yea, unfortunately ars doesn't have the best track record with musk related news
                                                  • redserk 1 year ago
                                                    It is worth calling out that Jonathan Gitlin has a history of regularly injecting editorial bias against Tesla/Musk in his reporting and might not be neutral.
                                                • vwkd 1 year ago
                                                  [dead]
                                                • janfoeh 1 year ago
                                                  That is good news. Additionally, I would appreciate any kind of steps taken to make it unviable to drive any other US-style truck here as well.
                                                  • invalidusernam3 1 year ago
                                                    I absolutely agree. I live in Prague and a guy on my street owns a Dodge Ram (I think that's what it is, I'm not a car guy). It sticks out far into the street or occupies a large amount of the pavement when it's parked. It struggles to make turns on the narrower roads. I really wish we would ban the import of cars above a certain size, they're dangerous and inconvenient for everyone else in the city.
                                                    • malermeister 1 year ago
                                                      If it sticks out onto the street or the pavement, can you call the non-emergency police number to get that guy a ticket?
                                                  • BtM909 1 year ago
                                                    Quote: Lars Moravy boils it down to two other things: “One, the truck market in the US is huge and two, European regulations call for a 3.2mm external radius on external projections. Unfortunately, it's impossible to make a 3.2mm radius on a 1.4mm sheet of stainless steel.”
                                                    • vincnetas 1 year ago
                                                      "3.2mm external radius on external projections" does this translates to "you have to have rounded corners" in plain language?
                                                      • FirmwareBurner 1 year ago
                                                        Exactly. You don't want pedestrians and cyclists being impaled or decapitated on the sharp and pointy edges of your car in case of accidents.

                                                        This isn't Mad Max or a zombie apocalypse to warrant such design choices on the road.

                                                        I'm surprised that it's legal in the US.

                                                        • BizarreByte 1 year ago
                                                          > I'm surprised that it's legal in the US.

                                                          It's okay, the Cybertruck is for the wealthy and as we all know they are more important. The poors who it will kill can barely be considered people so who cares?

                                                          Even better, the truck may on its on volition decide to take some of the poors out without the driver's input.

                                                          • ModernMech 1 year ago
                                                            It seems to me like someone is designing these for the war zone in their head.

                                                            This all started with the bio-attack mode on the ModelX. Now we have bullet proof windows, armor plating, and sharp edges. What’s next a retractable Gatling gun? Will people bat an eye?

                                                          • benmoose 1 year ago
                                                            Yep
                                                            • croes 1 year ago
                                                              So Lars Moravy's second quote is wrong?
                                                          • josefresco 1 year ago
                                                            Not only is it a danger to pedestrians "brushing" up against its sharp edges:

                                                            "Musk implied that in a crash with another vehicle, the Cybertruck—which weighs 6,603–6,843 lbs (2,995–3,104 kg)—will destroy the other vehicle."

                                                            *https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/11/the-tesla-cybertruck-fi...

                                                            • LeifCarrotson 1 year ago
                                                              That's not that different from my Toyota Sequoia at ~5950 lbs curb weight (I was over 6800 lbs loaded with family, dog, luggage, and tools last time I went over a scale to weigh my 7400 lbs travel trailer).

                                                              I drive extremely carefully while using that stupidly large vehicle. Please don't honk at me when I don't jump out into small gaps at an intersection, cut me off when I'm leaving a large gap in front of me, or dart around me when I'm not accelerating like it's a drag race - I'm just trying not to hurt anyone.

                                                              My Dad was driving his 6800 lbs Super Duty a few years ago, pulling a trailer with a friend's antique car (a Buick about as long and as heavy as a barge) when a little 2500 lbs Honda Fit pulled out of a driveway to turn left without looking. The truck needed the bumper, radiator, and some trim replaced, the Honda was totaled. He applied the brakes fully on all 8 wheels but basically stayed in the lane unperturbed, the Honda was spun into the ditch and the whole left rear was crushed. If someone had been sitting in the back left seat they'd have been dead. Miraculously, no one was killed.

                                                              That arms race is why my wife refuses to downsize. We could get a smaller, lighter, newer travel trailer, and pull it with a Honda Odyssey. But she wants to be as tall as the pickups and as heavy as anything else so she doesn't get killed by some idiot.

                                                              • Ekaros 1 year ago
                                                                It is fun to think that it is very much closing to gross weight where your normal driving license is not enough. As that limit is 3500kg. Meaning that if you have 6 people in it you would be over the limit. And this does not include any cargo...
                                                                • gregshap 1 year ago
                                                                  Sure but thats a feature of all large trucks he's just marketing more aggressively.
                                                                  • cactusplant7374 1 year ago
                                                                    What would happen if two Cybertrucks crashed in a head on collision?
                                                                  • danpalmer 1 year ago
                                                                    > Unfortunately, it's impossible to make a 3.2mm radius on a 1.4mm sheet of stainless steel

                                                                    Cars in Europe are not made from >3.2mm thick steel plating, and yet they manage it. I don't know if this comment was just ignorance or an attempt at gaslighting, but it doesn't stand up to any scrutiny.

                                                                    • creshal 1 year ago
                                                                      Cybertruck uses a different construction technique, one that's been around for decades yet was never adopted by any other car maker. This is probably one of the reasons why.
                                                                      • digitalPhonix 1 year ago
                                                                        You have it backwards - you want something significantly thinner than 3.2mm steel to get a bend radius of 3.2mm. That’s why most cars don’t use sheet steel and have exteriors made with materials that are easier to form
                                                                      • oxfordmale 1 year ago
                                                                        It boils down to pedestrian safety, not the external radius. The high bonnet and bumper mean that a pedestrian would likely be hit by the ultra-hard stainless steel structure of the front bumper and bodywork, where the grille would traditionally be.
                                                                        • netsharc 1 year ago
                                                                          I think the whole thing is a kindergartner being rich enough to design his fantasy car, but I wonder if anyone at Tesla is considering a EU version with different materials and more rounded edges.

                                                                          Bugattis have to have added bumpers to make them legal in the US[1], although they're easily removable by the owner (at their own risk of fines).. it'd be funny if European Teslas had ugly padding around the edges/corners.. or maybe not funny, as I live there I'd loathe to see these ugly things.

                                                                          1 https://www.carthrottle.com/news/bugatti-chirons-us-spec-bum...

                                                                        • 34679 1 year ago
                                                                          It's perfectly possible if you bend it.
                                                                          • nativeit 1 year ago
                                                                            It’s trivially possible. Is Lars Moravy dumber than most, or do they just think everyone else is?
                                                                            • rich_sasha 1 year ago
                                                                              That's intriguing - you can't make thin sheet of metal rounded?

                                                                              I know precisely nothing about metal design, but why can't you bend it? Steel pipes can be rounded and be made of thin-ish metal.

                                                                              • digitalPhonix 1 year ago
                                                                                Not by stamping the steel which is what they’re doing
                                                                              • 1 year ago
                                                                              • 303uru 1 year ago
                                                                                It's a failure of US policy that this thing will be on the roads (this coming from a Model 3 owner). This angular, crumple-less, overly fast death machine has no place on public roads.
                                                                                • kubb 1 year ago
                                                                                  Cool, we won’t be seeing these things on the streets.
                                                                                  • LorenDB 1 year ago
                                                                                    Why do articles like this call the Cybertruck a car? It's obviously designed and branded as a truck, albeit a unique-looking one.
                                                                                    • wasmitnetzen 1 year ago
                                                                                      Some trucks are cars, this one included.
                                                                                      • owie829 1 year ago
                                                                                        Possibly due to the unibody vs body-on-frame construction of the vehicle.
                                                                                      • mhh__ 1 year ago
                                                                                        I quite like the way it looks - I hadn't considered the crash & pedestrian safety aspects: I'm not a massive fan of the nanny state but this is important.

                                                                                        I live near some rural-ecomentalist type villages (UK) (aesthetics might be an issue, let's ignore that for now) where these things would actually be pretty popular - completely unnecessary but popular.

                                                                                        • Moldoteck 1 year ago
                                                                                          That's pleasant news
                                                                                          • bryanlarsen 1 year ago
                                                                                            Getting hit by a Cybertruck as a pedestrian is likely considerably safer than being hit by an F-150, a Hummer or any other similarly sized truck or SUV.

                                                                                            Pedestrian impact regulations should make the Cybertruck design illegal, as well any modern truck design. IMO, the laws should be written so that the height of the 1996 F-150 is legal and the 1997 F-150 should be illegal for non-commercial purposes in cities.

                                                                                            1: https://twitter.com/WholeMarsBlog/status/1731918392800510345...

                                                                                            2: https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/vehicles-with-higher-more-v...

                                                                                            • beardyw 1 year ago
                                                                                              Would be limited in where it could go in the UK. In London I drive through narrow width restrictions, keeping large vehicles out, several times a day. You would need special maps.
                                                                                              • akmarinov 1 year ago
                                                                                                Which is why it was really stupid to focus on this if your mission really is to accelerate migrating to green energy
                                                                                                • red-iron-pine 1 year ago
                                                                                                  his mission is "fuck you pay me", and the green energy thing is just a way to raise capital from SV tech bros and rubes. that and maybe dying on Mars.
                                                                                                • Sirikon 1 year ago
                                                                                                  Another win for Europe