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Comment by m3kw9 | Hacker News Reader

This is why Tesla will continue to lead as they are doing the hard stuff that nobody seem to want to do first

Why would anyone want a "stainless steel" pickup truck?

Of all the questionable things Musk has done in the last few years, trying to sell a stainless steel electric truck doesn't even make the top 25.

Exactly, every other manufacturer is going to aluminum bodies. Stainless is a very poor choice for several reasons

The toughness of a pickup truck has been watered down and Musk is trying to build a vehicle that can stand to the definition of tough. That's what I gleam from his talks and publicly available information. For instance - the bulletproof exterior, now I don't know why anyone would want a bullet proof exterior when your windows are not bulletproof. Then I think may be it is to stop some accidental bullets when you are out on a hunting expedition. Just taking a wild ass guess here.

Other than the toughness, I can't find a single reason why he would go with stainless steel.

Sitting here in India and contemplating about the CT, I would buy this vehicle in a heartbeat. It is so menacing, that it would give me peace of mind while driving on Indian roads. The vehicle by itself is an insurance against road rage :).

> Sitting here in India and contemplating about the CT, I would buy this vehicle in a heartbeat. It is so menacing, that it would give me peace of mind while driving on Indian roads. The vehicle by itself is an insurance against road rage :).

Sure, but if you do get hit, good luck finding someone who can repair it and paying their price...

Big steel truck look fun

I think it's ugly but there are plenty of people who want to buy it.

Longevity / resistant to ocean air, strength compared to plastic, and its neat that it's bulletproof?

How is it resistant to ocean air? Salt is the kryptonite of stainless. Salt quickly causes corrosion in stainless steel...

Less so than many other forms of steel previously used in automotive, no? If you want to compare to other materials like composites and plastics then sure, but those will have their own drawbacks as well. No material is perfect but for some cases where you do want an alloy body, stainless is going to have benefits over non-stainless steel.

> Less so than many other forms of steel previously used in automotive, no?

Perhaps, but those aren't the exclusive, or even main, alternatives today.

The stainless steel construction is perfect for the flux dispersal

It gets rusty real quick if you use non-stainless steel.

That is odd, never really seen rust on any of the non-stainless steal cars I encounter in my day to day life. Not unless they are really old and damaged in significantly other ways.

New cars are not in steel, but in aluminum, which does not rust (hence why metallic boat parts are in aluminum).

That was my point. Most cars don't have this issue because they use materials that don't rust as is. Why is Tesla choosing to use something that is hard to work with.

I mean, the obvious alternative would be to use aluminum, which doesn't rust at all and has twice the strength-to-weight ratio.

Yes, I know, it was just a poor joke :/

Stainless is extremely prone to rust when exposed to salt (i.e. near an ocean, or worse, on salted roads in the winter time.)

"Tesla to introduce new Model C made entirely out of grated cheese, a feat never even tried before. Ecstatic fans lauding a 'masterful gambit' from Musk"

like another comeback of yours could be Apple innovates by creating iphone out of water and is like one of those kids toys with little balls in there floating as numbers and apps

There are good challenges and bad challenges

800V charging? Great hard problem, strategic advantages

Stainless Steel body? Bad hard problem. No advantage in inventing expensive new precise manufacturing techniques, specifically to use a more expensive material for this one model. The market doesn't really value bulletproof body panels and stainless brushed appearances could be replicated.

Model 3 and Y are why Tesla is worth anything - solve a market need efficiently and effectively. X and S, Elon's passion projects, were terrible for the business.

I mean if no one wants to do it there may be a valid reason behind it...

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