Tesla Announces the Cybertruck’s Stainless Steel Exoskeleton Will Not Be Used in Any Future Tesla Vehicles, Adds It’s Now Producing Enough 4680 Cells to Build 130,000 Cybertrucks Per Year

Tesla has confirmed that the Cybertruck’s stainless steel exoskeleton and unique production method will not be used on any future Tesla vehicles.

The announcement was quietly tucked away inside Tesla’s 2024 earnings result and the accompanying Investor Deck.

Interestingly, Tesla included a highly technical and surprisingly long list of Cybertruck technological advancements in the investor-targeted document.

Tesla shared that future vehicles will use several of the Cybertuck’s new features, including the steer-by-wire system, rear-wheel steering, 48-volt low-voltage architecture, 800-volt high-voltage architecture, bi-directional charging, integrated audio with body structure, ethernet loop communication, and more.

However, surprisingly, Tesla specifically stated that the cold-rolled stainless steel architecture and the accompanying production process will not be used in future Tesla vehicles.

Tesla made this announcement under the section titled “Cybertruck – Advancements in Vehicle Technology and Architecture.”

Tesla highlighted two advancements regarding the Cybertruck: the stainless steel exoskeleton and the air-bending manufacturing process, and said both will be retired with the Cybertruck.

For the stainless steel exoskeleton, Tesla says…

• “Cold-rolled full hard stainless steel exoskeleton carries crash loads and increases torsional stiffness of the body.
• Iconic visual design; high dent and corrosion resistance reduce concerns over daily wear and tear”

For the air-bending manufacturing process, Tesla writes…

• “First-of-its-kind automated tooling developed by Tesla that can bend full hard stainless steel without touching it
•  Enables the use of full hard stainless steel as an A-surface without getting scratched by tooling

By “air-bending manufacturing process,” Tesla is refering to how the Cybertruck’s hard stainless steel is bent into various shapes. Tesla passes high-pressure air between the machine and the stainless steel surface, allowing the steel to bend without directly touching the manufacturing equipment. 

As Tesla states, this machine and process prevent the stainless steel from being scuffed during manufacturing.

However, despite highlighting the advantages of using both the stainless steel exoskeleton and the air-bending manufacturing processes, Tesla says it will not use either in future vehicles.

This is a surprising statement from Tesla. When the Cybertruck was first announced, the Tesla community expected that perhaps all future vehicles would adopt the truck’s revolutionary stainless steel exoskeleton approach.

However, after developing and producing the Cybertruck, Tesla appears to have decided that conventional construction materials would be better for future vehicles.

That said, if you’re disappointed that the Cybertruck will be a once-in-a-generation vehicle, fear not. Tesla says the company is now producing enough 4680 cells to power 130,000 Cybertrucks annually.

This means Tesla now has enough 4680 batteries to max out the production capacity of the Cybertruck manufacturing line. According to Tesla, the current factory line can produce 125,000 Cybertrucks per year.

For a long time, Tesla had said that vehicle production was rate-limited by battery availability, but that should no longer be an issue for the Cybertruck.

Having said that, something interesting here is that in Q4 2024, Tesla only sold 23,640 “other model” vehicles. These include the Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck.

Tesla says the Model S and Model X lines at the Fremont, California plant can produce 100,000 vehicles, and the Cybertruck line at Giga Texas has an installed capacity for 125,000 trucks per year.

These three vehicles together should sell 225,000 units per year; however, the Q4 23,640 delivery means less than 100,000 units of Tesla Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck deliveries annually.

Even more concerning, the “other model” category generated almost the same 23,000 sales in Q4 2023. This was before Tesla barely started delivering Cybertrucks. Fast-forward a year, and Tesla is selling the same number of “other model” vehicles despite ramping up Cybertruck production.

Based on this data, the Cybertruck does not appear to be creating a new market for Tesla; instead, it seems to be cannibalizing Model S and Model X sales.

This will be an interesting trend to follow into next year. Please let me know what you think in the comments. Share your ideas by clicking the “Add new comment” button below. Also, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

Image: Courtesy of Tesla, inc.

For more information, check out: My Tesla Cybertruck has been Stuck in a Shipping Container for the Past Three Months. I Shipped it From the US to Europe, and Now The Battery is Slowly Dying Out at Sea

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.