Electric carmaker Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has blamed the order in which a recent demo of its cybertruck took place for its very public mishap during the unveiling on 21 November in Los Angeles.
Elon Musk has revealed why the windows of a Tesla Cybertruck smashed during a demonstration of the electric truck's armoured glass.
At the launch event of the futuristic vehicle which Musk described as “a really futuristic-like cyberpunk, Blade Runner pickup”, the Tesla boss touted the truck's body as "literally bulletproof" and invited the company’s head of design Franz von Holzhausen to hit the door panels with a sledgehammer.
Franz throws steel ball at Cybertruck window right before launch. Guess we have some improvements to make before production haha. pic.twitter.com/eB0o4tlPoz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2019
As anticipated, the ultra-hard steel, which is made out of the same alloys found on spacecraft, resisted the strikes.
Von Holzhausen was then asked to throw a small metal ball at the driver's-side window, the glass cracked at the base.
"Oh my f****** god. Well, maybe that was a little too hard," Musk responded.
Online audiences were predictably bemused, and offered up a prompt reaction to the demo video, which garnered millions of views and was widely mocked.
Musk blamed the order in which the demo took place for the disaster, tweeting:
"Sledgehammer impact on door cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn't bounce off. Should have done steel ball on window, *then* sledgehammer the door. Next time," Musk tweeted.Yup. Sledgehammer impact on door cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn’t bounce off. Should have done steel ball on window, *then* sledgehammer the door. Next time …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2019
Musk also explained the reason for the unusual angular design of the Cybertruck, claiming that current auto manufacturing technology is not capable of bending the ultra-hard material.
Reason Cybertruck is so planar is that you can’t stamp ultra-hard 30X steel, because it breaks the stamping press
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2019
"New manufacturing methods are certainly needed, but then I'm confident it will actually cost less, because of its simplicity and lower part count," he tweeted.
Haha true! New manufacturing methods are certainly needed, but then I’m confident it will actually cost less, because of its simplicity & lower part count.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2019
Despite the apparent mishap, Tesla has already received more than 200,000 orders for its Cybertruck since it was unveiled.
The Tesla CEO said on Saturday that preorders for the Tesla Cybertruck have reached 146,000 without advertising or paid endorsements.
Cybertruck pulls F-150 uphill pic.twitter.com/OfaqUkrDI3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2019
According to a tweet by Elon Musk, 42 percent of orders are for the dual-motor version of the electric vehicle, whereas 41 percent are for the tri-motor truck.
A reported 17 per cent preordered the single-motor model, the least expensive of the three models.
The company has said the cybertruck will be in production in 2021, starting at $39,900, or £30,700.
