Something I learned on TikTok today: Cybertrucks have aluminum frames.
This matters because there's a thing called the "fatigue limit". Some metals have it, some don't. If a metal has a fatigue limit, that means that any amount of force less than the fatigue limit can be applied to that metal an infinite number of times without causing any structural damage or degradation.
Steel and titanium have a fatigue limit. Aluminum doesn't.
This means that, every time you use a Cybertruck to tow something heavy, you're weakening its frame by a small but irreversible amount. Eventually, it's going to fail catastrophically. These trucks have a finite lifespan from the moment they're built.
This is why Ford, to reduce weight, replaced the F-150's steel body panels with aluminum while keeping the steel frame.
Tesla did the exact opposite and increased the weight of the body with heavy thick stainless while going with a cast aluminum frame. Well, not exactly a frame, it's really more of a unibody design.
This will go down as one of the great automotive marketing failures. I don't mean advertising, but rather the broader sense of the word. Marketing is about understanding the market, what motivates consumers. Musk assumed toughness for trucks was all about appearance, absurdities such as bullet resistant "exoskeletons." I've seen similar mistakes on this forum, assuming pickups are all about looking manly while only being used as grocery haulers. For sure, this is true for a part of the market, but there are trucks that address this segment.
The traditional Body on Frame (BoF) truck doesn't exist because designers are lazy or afraid to try something different. It exists because it's the best most reliable way to tow and haul stuff. A contractor can tow a 10,000 lb utility trailer daily without worrying about damaging the vehicle. The guy driving to an office job in a pickup is, very often, towing a boat or travel trailer on the weekend.
The BoF design is also better for off-roading. Not only is it more durable than unibody, but it also flexes. Flex in a frame is bad for street driving, but it allows for greater articulation off-road. This means the wheels are more likely to remain on the ground, which is what you want. From what I can see, part of the reason the Cybertruck performs so poorly off-road is its large and super stiff body.
It's sad to think what Tesla could have accomplished if they had instead focused on building a low-cost utility pickup instead of Musk's vanity project.
