Internal documents from Tesla that leaked last month reveal significant difficulties the electric car manufacturer is facing in the production of the Cybertruck. The unique structure of the truck, which was supposed to go into production four years ago, presents exceptional challenges.
Read more:
According to the documents, the difficulties stem from the need to allow the Cybertruck a payload capacity of approximately 1.6 tons, which requires a vehicle with resistance to deformation.
Tesla planned to build the vehicle using stainless steel, which was expected to be strong, non-corrosive, and relatively inexpensive for production. However, it does not provide the necessary flexibility to withstand the loads. The report also highlights abnormal issues with noise, vibrations, handling, roll angles, low-speed maneuverability and more.
Special attention was also given to the braking system, which does not function as expected. This is without mentioning the vehicle's ability to protect passengers and pedestrians in the event of an accident. Even in the context of safety systems, significant issues are noticeable.
Despite the difficulties, Elon Musk recently tweeted that the Cybertruck is expected to be marketed by the end of the current year, which seems like an unrealistic estimation given the challenges.
According to experts in automotive engineering who have reviewed the published information, the manufacturer is far from solving the problems, which apparently do not have a reasonable solution.
The leaked documents also reveal flawed processes within the company. The documents provide internal documentation, including thousands of customer complaints, which highlight significant failures in the development of systems, such as emergency braking at high speeds without reason or sudden acceleration, which in many cases led to accidents.
On the other hand, the documents also mention instances of service personnel withholding information from customers, so there is no official and accountable documentation.
The company's concern is understandable. For quite some time, the autonomous driving system "Autopilot" has been under investigation by federal authorities in the United States.
Seventeen fatalities and 736 accidents (as of 2019) have been clearly attributed to the system's usage. During the same period, there were 807 accidents in the United States related to advanced safety systems, with Subaru being the second manufacturer with only 23 incidents.