Connect with us

News

The Tesla Cybertruck’s steel exterior doesn’t need wraps to look stunning

Credit: TheCyberCamper/Twitter

Published

on

The Tesla Cybertruck is a stainless steel beast of a pickup truck, and this is highlighted by the fact that it’s not even going to be painted. Elon Musk has mentioned that owners of the Cybertruck would be able to wrap their all-electric pickups with any color or pattern as they see fit. Yet considering that the Cybertruck is built with cold-rolled stainless steel, the vehicle may actually not need customized wraps to make it unique. 

All it would take is some heat. Or a lot of it, for that matter.

When tempered, cold-rolled steel changes colors. These colors span a pretty decent range of shades from bright silver to yellow to purple to blue and grayish-green. Elon Musk has responded positively to the idea of the Cybertruck’s exterior being tempered, with the CEO even joking that he would choose a “Blue Steel” option for his personal truck, a reference to the comedy film Zoolander

Tesla enthusiast @TheCyberCamper recently gave a shot at simulating how the different shades of tempered steel would look on the hulking steel vehicle, and the results are actually really good. Based on the Tesla enthusiast’s simulated shades, it appears that tempered steel could give the Cybertruck a subtle, unique range of colors. 

https://twitter.com/TheCyberCamper/status/1334462751716986881?s=20

The range of colors that result from the Cybertruck’s tempered steel actually seems to have more personality than the current paint options available for the Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y, which, for now, could be summed up as white, black, blue, gray, and red. Granted, the chances of Tesla actually offering tempered steel color options for the Cybertruck may seem slim, but there’s no denying that such shades do make the vehicle even more eye-catching. 

Advertisement

The Cybertruck is arguably Tesla’s boldest vehicle to date. With an extremely angular, origami-like design and a stainless steel exoskeleton, the Cybertruck is extremely durable. It’s also priced very aggressively, with the base variant starting below $40,000 and the top-tier tri-motor version being priced below $70,000 before options. The vehicle is expected to enter production sometime next year at Gigafactory Texas, which is currently undergoing construction.  

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla Semi factory receives giant production equipment

The massive machine was transported to the Semi factory using two diesel trucks and a triple trailer.

Published

on

Credit: @HinrichsZane/X

Tesla seems determined to kick off the production of the Tesla Semi sometime this year at its Nevada factory.

This was hinted at by the arrival of massive production equipment to the Semi’s manufacturing site near Giga Nevada.

New equipment

What appeared to be a massive stamping machine has been transported to the Giga Texas complex. Spotted by longtime drone operator and Tesla Semi advocate @HinrichsZane, the massive contraption is so large and heavy that a single semi truck and trailer were not enough to move it. Instead, the massive machine was shipped to the Semi factory using two diesel trucks and a triple trailer.

The machine was fully covered in the videos from Nevada, but based on its shape and size, it appears that it is a stamping press for the Class 8 all-electric truck. Tesla is a pioneer in the use of Megacasts in the automotive industry, so it makes sense for the company to use a Giga Press for the Semi’s production as well.

Ambitious goals

The Tesla Semi factory is expected to produce a whopping 50,000 units of the Class 8 all-electric truck annually when it is fully ramped. At that output, the facility would be one of the country’s highest-volume plants for semi trailers, electric or otherwise. In a video posted earlier this year, Dan Priestley, who leads the Semi program at Tesla, stated that the company is looking to achieve volume production over the coming quarters.

Advertisement

This should allow the Tesla Semi factory to mass produce the vehicle by 2026. Tesla CEO Elon Musk reiterated this timeframe recently, when he responded to a post on social media platform X about Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates being bearish about battery electric semi trucks.  “Tesla Semi will be in volume production next year,” Musk said in his post, which also included a laughing emoji. 

Check out the drone operator’s recent footage of the Tesla Semi factory in the video below.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk argues lidar and radar make self driving cars more dangerous

The CEO is not just stating that using sensors like lidar is unnecessary to achieve self-driving.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla/YouTube

Elon Musk is taking a firmer stance in the vision vs lidar debate for autonomous driving. In his more recent comments, the CEO is not just stating that using sensors like lidar is unnecessary to achieve self-driving. 

Musk is stating that using lidar actually makes self-driving cars more dangerous. 

Uber CEO’s comments

During a recent interview, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared his thoughts on the autonomy race. As per the CEO, he is still inclined to believe that Waymo’s approach, which requires outfitting cars with equipment such as lidar and radar, is necessary to achieve superhuman levels of safety for self-driving cars. 

“Solid state LiDAR is $500. Why not include lidar as well in order to achieve super human safety. All of our partners are using a combination of camera, radar and LiDAR, and I personally think that’s the right solution, but I could be proven wrong,” the Uber CEO noted.

Elon Musk’s rebuttal

In response to the Uber CEO’s comments, Elon Musk stated that lidar and radar, at least based on Tesla’s experience, actually reduce safety instead of improving it. As per the Tesla CEO, there are times when sensors such as lidar and radar disagree with cameras. This creates sensor ambiguity, which, in turn, creates more risk. Musk then noted that Tesla has seen an improvement in safety once the company focused on a vision only approach. 

Advertisement

“Lidar and radar reduce safety due to sensor contention. If lidars/radars disagree with cameras, which one wins? This sensor ambiguity causes increased, not decreased, risk. That’s why Waymos can’t drive on highways. We turned off the radars in Teslas to increase safety. Cameras ftw,’ Musk wrote.

Musk’s comments are quite notable as Tesla was able to launch a dedicated Robotaxi pilot in Austin and the Bay Area using its vision-based autonomous systems. The same is true for FSD, which is quickly becoming notably better than humans in driving. 

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Model Y L sold out for September 2025

This was hinted at in Tesla China’s configurator for the all-electric crossover.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla China

It appears that the Tesla Model Y L has been sold out in China for September 2025. This was hinted at in Tesla China’s configurator for the all-electric crossover.

Model Y L deliveries

Since the Model Y L’s official launch earlier this month, Tesla has been pretty consistent in the idea that the extended wheelbase variant of its best-selling vehicle will see its first deliveries sometime in September. This was quite an impressive timeframe for Tesla, considering that the Model Y L has only been launched this August. 

Nevertheless, both Tesla China’s Model Y configurator and comments from company executives have noted that the vehicle will see its first customer deliveries in September. “Tesla cars are fun to drive alone, whether you have children or how many children, this car can meet all your needs. We will deliver in September and wait for you to get in the car,” Tesla China VP Grace Tao wrote on Weibo.

Credit: Tesla China

October 2025 deliveries

A look at Tesla China’s order page as of writing shows that the earliest deliveries for the Model Y L, if ordered today, would be October 2025 instead. This suggests that the six-seat Model Y variant has effectively been sold out for September. This bodes well for the vehicle, and it suggests that it is a variant that may be able to raise Tesla’s sales numbers in China, as well as territories where the Model Y L could be exported.

Rumors of the Model Y L’s strong sales have been abounding. After the vehicle’s launch, industry watchers estimated that Tesla China has received over 35,000 orders for the Model Y L in just one day. Later estimates suggested that the Model Y L’s orders have breached the 50,000 mark.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending