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The stainless steel body of Tesla's Cybertruck is reportedly leading to issues with gaps in between the panels
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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Point 2 in particular is huge. Depending on the exact alloy steel can vary wildly in characteristics. One alloy might bend almost as easily as aluminum, while another might be nearly as hard as tungsten. Adding to that proper heat treatment and the difference in the mechanical characteristics of the finished product can be absolutely massive.
Yes but that can be adjusted. The factory can provide what you need. The design is the limiting factor here. Flat panels are simply bad design.
Flat panels cause problems but they're not insurmountable, they just need to be taken into consideration. It's going to be more expensive to make them flat because you'll have to include more material behind the panels. In a sense they cease to be structural and instead are more decorative.
From an engineering perspective it's a horrendous choice, but a perfectly valid one from an aesthetics perspective and it's far from the first time some designer has made a decision that the engineering department has cursed them for.
I imagine the real issue here is that Musk or the upper management at Tesla is trying to penny pinch and is unwilling to make either design concessions or to pay for the engineering time and materials necessary to fix this right.