Tesla truck, sharp edges and aero

[AnthonyG]

It's polarizing.
It got over 146k orders already, the Model 3 got 325k in the first week.
Though the reservation price is now just $100 and was $1000 with the Model 3.

and fully refundable afaik.

Idd fully refundable.

[strad]

Correct Henry, the trucks have taken over.. Even I have a Colorado.
BTW trucks are not noted for great aerodynamic numbers.

[bill shoe]

Motor Trend article says stainless steel panels are 3 mm thick. That's quite thick and stout by modern automotive standards, apparently required by the flat surfaces that are terrible for structural weight/stiffness/NVH/etc. It's unibody instead of body-on-frame. Interesting to see a company go this direction.

I'm skeptical that there's no stamping tooling. Design exercises in this direction usually end up stamping subtle curves into the metal out of practical structural necessity and because it amortizes very cheap if you sell a reasonable number. Anyway, the unibody means it will be much less effective for interior NVH isolation from road inputs such as coarse asphalt pavement (compared to body-on-frame isolation).

American full-size pickups and SUV's get their top dollar because (among other reasons) they are the only remaining bastion of body-on-frame architecture and the excellent Ride/NVH isolation that comes with it. So the Tesla is cheaper and unibody compared to traditional full-size pickups. I think the Tesla is best thought of as an alt-style Tesla-3 rather than a consumer truck entry to compete against Silverados, Tahoes, F-150's, Rams, etc. Tesla seems to agree by their design choices.

The styling? I think Tesla could put dog turds on wheels and sell many copies to the emotional faithful. Tesla has utterly succeeded at brand image. Traditional automotive companies seem to have lost the scent there. This is the real lesson from Tesla.

[Holm86]

Design is nothing new, this is from the 80's

[Just_a_fan]

American full-size pickups and SUV's get their top dollar because (among other reasons) they are the only remaining bastion of body-on-frame architecture and the excellent Ride/NVH isolation that comes with it.

Aren't they classed as trucks and thus not required to meet the safety and emissions rules applying to cars? Hence they can be cheaper to make and thus can be sold at an attractive price. Of course the big pickups are very macho which appeals to many.

You can get excellent ride/NVH from a unibody too - the mechanicals are mounted via bushed subframes after all so there is no difference in the path from road to occupant in either type. As shown by the likes of Jaguar etc.

[WillGuna]

Also from the 80's

[LVDH]

I actually wondered how long it would take me to make a 3D model of the vehicle (15min) and run it through a CFD simulation. Here are the first rough results:



Based on this, some first thoughts:
There is a big separation at the front upper edge. I think, they probably use the "light-bar" to have a more rounded edge than I do in my model.
Other than that, the long slant at the rear seems to help reduce drag, esp. when you close of bed as it seems to be possible. By doing that they recover a lot of pressure, which will then later act on the tail gate and more pressure at the rear equals to less drag.
Having the bed closed off like that will create lift, but I guess at the speeds it will be driving and the total mass it will have it will be fine.
On conventional trucks you can slightly reduce drag by closing the bed. The box design means that there is a seperation behind the cabin anyways,s o it does not do much. On the Tesla design, it will work much better (I still have to test), which shows they put more thought into this, as some people might want to believe.

[strad]

On conventional trucks you can slightly reduce drag by closing the bed.

are you referring to having a Tonneau cover or just tailgate up or down?
Counter to most thinking having the tailgate up is actually better from a drag/mileage point of view.

What gives a pickup truck better mileage? Driving with the tailgate down or the tailgate up? Most people believe driving a pickup truck with the tailgate closed (or up) creates a wall the air hits and increases drag. Aerodynamic drag makes your truck (or any vehicle) get less mileage per gallon of gas. Others believe driving a pickup truck with the tailgate down lets the air flow more efficiently therefore lessening the drag. Less drag means better gas mileage. The correct answer to this much debated issue is: Driving with your pickup truck with the tailgate up is more fuel efficient that with the tailgate down.
How can leaving the tailgate up be more fuel efficient?
When the tailgate on your pickup truck is closed or “up”, it actually increases fuel efficiency. This is because there is a type of air pocket created that is called a “separated bubble effect” within the bed of the truck. Wind that is flowing over your moving pickup truck bed is deflected by the bubble of slow moving air. This bubble of air pushes and guides the air over your tailgate making it more aerodynamically efficient. The effect of the vortex creates less drag which increases fuel efficiency.

[Rodak]

American full-size pickups and SUV's get their top dollar because (among other reasons) they are the only remaining bastion of body-on-frame architecture and the excellent Ride/NVH isolation that comes with it.

Aren't they classed as trucks and thus not required to meet the safety and emissions rules applying to cars? Hence they can be cheaper to make and thus can be sold at an attractive price. Of course the big pickups are very macho which appeals to many.

No, a truck has to weigh more that 26,001 pounds to be classed as heavy duty.

Prior to 1999: All pickups were exempt from federal safety regulations, meaning many lacked safety features like airbags and anti-lock brakes.
Heavy-duty trucks: Even after 1999, heavy-duty trucks remain exempt from many federal safety regulations.
Light pickups after 1999: These vehicles are subject to the same federal safety standards as passenger cars, which includes dual airbags and side-impact crash standards.

[subcritical71]

Doesn’t the, ahem, ‘truck’.. have a retractable cover over the bed already. I thought I read that on one of the unvelaing articles(?)

[djos]

Doesn’t the, ahem, ‘truck’.. have a retractable cover over the bed already. I thought I read that on one of the unvelaing articles(?)

Yes, it has a roller cover that retracts into the front of the bed.

[LVDH]

On conventional trucks you can slightly reduce drag by closing the bed.

are you referring to having a Tonneau cover or just tailgate up or down?
Counter to most thinking having the tailgate up is actually better from a drag/mileage point of view.

What gives a pickup truck better mileage? Driving with the tailgate down or the tailgate up? Most people believe driving a pickup truck with the tailgate closed (or up) creates a wall the air hits and increases drag. Aerodynamic drag makes your truck (or any vehicle) get less mileage per gallon of gas. Others believe driving a pickup truck with the tailgate down lets the air flow more efficiently therefore lessening the drag. Less drag means better gas mileage. The correct answer to this much debated issue is: Driving with your pickup truck with the tailgate up is more fuel efficient that with the tailgate down.
How can leaving the tailgate up be more fuel efficient?
When the tailgate on your pickup truck is closed or “up”, it actually increases fuel efficiency. This is because there is a type of air pocket created that is called a “separated bubble effect” within the bed of the truck. Wind that is flowing over your moving pickup truck bed is deflected by the bubble of slow moving air. This bubble of air pushes and guides the air over your tailgate making it more aerodynamically efficient. The effect of the vortex creates less drag which increases fuel efficiency.

Yes, I was talking about the tonneau cover. Without having tested it, I think it will be by far better for drag on the Cybertruck, compared to a conventional truck.

[PlatinumZealot]

My understanding is that sharp edges are never a good thing for slippery aero. Here I guess they’re dictated by the nature of the type of steel used/production logistics. Does this thing have any hope of a low cd?

https://www.tesla.com/cybertruck

Mkbhd video
https://youtu.be/oTZ84U-K_5k

Some fighter Jets have sharp edges..

[Jolle]

My understanding is that sharp edges are never a good thing for slippery aero. Here I guess they’re dictated by the nature of the type of steel used/production logistics. Does this thing have any hope of a low cd?

https://www.tesla.com/cybertruck

Mkbhd video
https://youtu.be/oTZ84U-K_5k

Some fighter Jets have sharp edges..

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _Front.jpg

I don’t think you’ll find a bomber with worse aero then the F117

[PlatinumZealot]

My understanding is that sharp edges are never a good thing for slippery aero. Here I guess they’re dictated by the nature of the type of steel used/production logistics. Does this thing have any hope of a low cd?

https://www.tesla.com/cybertruck

Mkbhd video
https://youtu.be/oTZ84U-K_5k

Some fighter Jets have sharp edges..

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _Front.jpg

I don’t think you’ll find a bomber with worse aero then the F117

It's not not meant for silky smooth aerodynamics being a truck.