Truck Buyer: So, you’re telling me I can dodge bullets?
Elon Musk: No, I’m saying that when the Cybertruck is ready, you won’t have to.
(apologies to the Wachowskis, and maybe Elon, too)
In a recent interview with Inside EVs, automotive industry expert Sandy Munro says one of the reasons he’ll be buying a Cybertruck is that it could protect him from stray rounds when hunting. That isn’t the most likely way a Cybertruck might take a bullet (more on that below), but let’s look at that claim real quick.
“I used to go hunting a lot (before the pandemic), and all hunters are worried about stray bullets.” Mr. Munro said to Inside EVs. “I heard through the grapevine that the stainless steel that they got will deflect the bullet. If something like that happened, I wouldn’t want to find a hole in my car.”
It’s apparently true that the Cybertruck’s “ultra-hard cold-rolled stainless steel alloy” will stop 9mm rounds. Elon Musk couldn’t test it live (being in Hawthorne, California at the time), but he showed high-speed footage of the truck’s skin stopping multiple parabellum rounds fired from 10 meters away. The truck won’t come away unblemished, but it stopped the projectile.
I already hear that one guy in the back saying, “But those were 9mm rounds, that thing wont stop .30-06!” Yes, dear hypothetical, but likely reader, you are correct. From 30-ish feet away, the truck’s stainless steel that is dented by 9mm won’t stop a typical hunting round. But then again, if a hunter hits your truck from 33 feet away with a rifle, it probably wasn’t really a “stray bullet.”
Let’s see at what distances the Cybertruck would stop a .30-06 round. First, let’s figure out a typical energy at 10 yards with a typical 9mm round:
According to the GunData.org ballistic calculator, an Aguila 9mm FMJ would have 379 lb-ft of energy at 10 yards.
A .30-06 round with a 168 gr A-MAX bullet would have the same energy as a 115gr 9mm round at between 1300 and 1400 yards. So an actual stray round, if fired from over 1400 yards, probably wouldn’t penetrate the Cybertruck. This is, of course, assuming that it doesn’t hit the truck’s “armor glass.”
Truth be told, though, you’re pretty unlikely to get hit by a stray round during hunting season. While stray rounds do happen, hunters typically use accurate rifles, aiming at something fairly large, and there’s usually lots of forest between the hunter and anyone or anything that could be hurt. And, that’s all assuming the hilly terrain doesn’t stop the round itself.
The Cybertruck is more likely to protect you in places like Baltimore, Minneapolis or the south side of Chicago. You know, locales with tough gun control laws where you’re theoretically safe. Places where the morons who are shooting at each other are far more likely to be using handguns.
I wouldn’t want to test this, but the Cybertruck seems like it might be the go-to production pickup truck for driving around in some of the nation’s most dangerous cities with commonsense gun safety laws.
Then again, the criminal element is the the only thing motorists have to worry about. Have you seen the state of police marksmanship and use of force in some jurisdictions?
The Tesla Cybertruck, set to be produced in the company’s new Austin Gigafactory, just might be the best production vehicle for those who want to ensure their safety from ballistic threats. Just be sure to duck behind one of those metal panels if you ever see police trying to use yours for cover, and hope the bad guys aren’t using a rifle.
I wish we could get bullet proof glass in our ambulances, handgun proof door skins would be great as well.
I remember we had a lot of discussions for security/riot film for the windows of emergency service vehicles that could in theory stop a 22lr. With the cost of what we could go with it was not researched further but neat that there was some crossover (even if at a woefully insufficient level). As it turns out the vehicles we lost to arson last year (molitov and similar) may have lasted a bit longer before the windows were eventually smashed in as they were unoccupied to begin with.
Actually, that’s pretty interesting.
It’s a weird as hell design, but the overall concept is starting to grow on me.
I’m still waiting for the flying cars we were promised when I was a young fella…
Oh, I just noticed the click to edit & delete option,,,I do like that,,, not so much the new look to the format though.
There are wait, there’s options to edit posts? I don’t see that anywhere. Is that only on, like, a mobile version or something?
@Dog of War
I’ve had those options for years on my desktop and mobile e-mail.
My TTAG feed arrives via my WordPress account…possibly that’s one of the factors.
EDIT: the edit option is only active for 5 minutes after posting. Unfortunately, you can’t go back hours or days later to correct an ooops.
Hmm. I do remember that being a thing on this site in the past. But it seemed to stopped working a while again. I think it must be something with my browser, as I’ve tired just disabling any extensions I use. I use WaterFox, both the mobile and desktop version.
test
The more I see these, the more I want one. 500 mile range, up to 16″ clearance and adjustable suspension.
And if you get the 3-motor package, the towing capacity is pretty impressive.
We’re probably going to replace my old pickup in 3-4 years, looking at something we can use to tow a trailer … by that time, this might be a contender.
An upside is, with a solar panel, you can slowly recharge it at home.
I’ve also seen ideas where when you plug the car in at home, the car can act as a whole-house UPS while it is connected to the home….
Now that is cool if you have a temporary outage.
Solar panel? I’ve got a natural gas backup generator. Solar panels are piss poor energy backups where I live.
I wonder what the 3-motor version, up-armored with Kevlar inner panels, reactive plates on the outside and ballistic laminate polycarb / glass would cost?*
Maybe if Mamma and I pool our next “Stimulus” checks…
*I remember reading in the late ’70’s about conversions in South Africa that added short-range flamethrowers around the perimeter of a vehicle to “discourage” close contact by assailants / rioters .
‘Is the Tesla Cybertruck the Ultimate Hunting and Personal Protection Vehicle?’
IDK… but maybe ask Tesla owners in Texas and see how much ‘fun’ they’re having getting their expensive rides charged. Hell, I’ll save you the trouble… according to an article on Zero Hedge the cost of recharging a Tesla in Texas has skyrocketed from about $18 per charge to about $900 per charge.
Believe it or not I do kind of like the idea of getting away from conventional straight gas or diesel internal combustion engines. But I’m just not sold on all electric vehicles. I’d really like to see someone start making hybrid-electric vehicles that don’t suck. Preferable with multi-fuel capability.
After a google visit the link (https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/texas-electricity-auction-price-spike) said EQUIVILENT to $900 per charge but no indications people are paying that.
In fact, this link (https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2021/02/texas-energy-costs-enter-orbit-but-no-you-wont-pay-900-to-charge-your-tesla/) points out the $900 isn’t likely. Its not fair to say that people are currently paying $900/ full-charge as your comment indicates.
“That would work out to as little as $2 to recharge a fully drained Tesla Model S long-range, though the figure would still be around $13 at conventional rates, a long way from the scary $900 figure. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, never one to shy away from offering up an opinion, took to Twitter, offering “@ERCOT_ISO is not earning that R.””
Teslas are overpriced and don’t bring the value I’d want. For the purpose of this post, no – they are not the ultimate hunting vehicle.
Wrong. Multiple outsets are now reporting that people are getting spanked with outrageous power bills. Newsweek just dropped a story about a man that got spanked with an $8K power bill when he usually only gets charged about $350. Here’s the link. https://www.newsweek.com/one-texas-resident-still-has-power-his-bill-now-over-8000-1570343
Now, that said I’m sure that some power companies have different contract terms for your power bill. And I’m also sure that other commercial charter points will themselves have different terms for recharging an EV. But you can’t deny that that if energy is scarce the cost of charging your car is going to increase. And ANYONE that says different is just probably BSing you. So how about you stop doing that, okay?
The model that the crazy rates is apparently not the model most Texans use. Griddy provides a subscription that offers wholesale rates in the cheap. For most non crisis times this means cheap electricity. During times like this it means a whole lot of pain as the wholesale costs increase. For people on traditional models of power distribution they’re with companies that have locked in rates and they’re not experiencing power bills that incur hundreds to thousands of dollars a day of power use charges. The model works most of the time and these once in a lifetime incidents aren’t really able to be planned for. Who else has money squirreled away for a bill of $2000 for a few days of power? Not many people do. It sucks and it isn’t right.
All that said my issue with your post was in the assumption you were making. I don’t disagree with the premise that if energy is scarce then it will cost more. But by the time the article and example you were making was posted that wasn’t true for most Texans, still doesn’t seem to be the case. The gamble of cheap power didn’t play out too well in this weather crisis. Not blaming the customers but it also was a risk that they took when Griddy was chosen.
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/article249324240.html
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-antonio/news/2021/02/18/griddy-customers-paying-as-high-as–1-000-a-day-for-energy-
Tru dat…Musk is the 21stcentury PT Barnum. I know several people with Tesla’s. All are “friends” as in good business associates. Yeah one gal had a “stoppage”. She lives in Illinois(not Texazz). Buy a truck to protect from boo-lit’s. Oh girlie Chiraq’s gun law’s ain’t particularly “strict”-for now!
I’ve always had the best success hunting by driving to the woods and sitting in my truck for six hours then driving home.
When the beer and sandwiches run out .
One inch of hardened steel plate set at a 30 degree inclination to an oncoming projectile will effectively double its armor rating. This has been a well-known fact since WW2.
Look at the angles on this piece of sh*t Musk has designed. The resistance to projectiles was purely coincidental in my opinion, and it wouldn’t surprise me that this abomination of a truck would be of little utility outside of being expensive target practice.
That said, watch Uncle Same buy an assload of EV trucks for evaluation and make Musk and Nancy Pelosi a bundle of money at taxpayer expense.
And, toss a small Honda generator in the back and you have a DIY hybrid / range extender!
@No one of Consequence
Ya made me look!
Interesting article on the generatorgrid site under blog/tesla. Lots of caveats…the one that caught my eye was this sentence…”With the Generac iQ2000, you should be able to get 12-18 miles worth of power per gallon of gasoline, as demonstrated by KmanAuto in the video below.”
It appears that a portable generator is not a good option for DIY extending your Tesla’s range….but, it could work to charge the vehicle enough to get to the next Super Charge station (given enough time and gasoline for the generator).
My thought was, it’s a possible way to charge up overnight (say) when you’re on the road and not near a charging station…
Yeah I’m out 7-9 days in cold weather and no place to plug in except a generator so this pipe dream does me no good.
Electric vehicles are still tethered to population centers. While the ranges are getting better over time, the infrastructure is not quite there for the freedom a gasser gives you currently.
“I used to go hunting a lot (before the pandemic), and all hunters are worried about stray bullets.” Mr. Munro said.
Doubtless, Elmer Munro was hunting wabbits.
Something tells me this Munro guy, if he is a hunter at all, is the kind of “hunter” that everybody else wants to stay away from. Stray bullets…smh…
@ Ralph
..duck season…🦆
This would be a nice car for bank robbers.
” Can you give us a description?” ,,Yeah it was the guy from Back to The Future. There he is now!!
” STOP I’ll shoot” *pop ping zing*
Bwahahaa you’ll never get me yah dirty copper.
Thank you possum for the great mental image and belly laugh!
More laughable (Musk) POS
I was consindering an electric truck until I’ve seen “the long way up” on Apple TV.
Spoiler: they used two rivian trucks on a carefully planned route, with EV charging stations installed on the way and they still got stuck as there are just too many variables influencing the range: inside temperature, outside temperature, payload, slope, speed, and so on…
This is not a hunting vehicle unless you do it really close to home.
Is the Tesla Cybertruck the Ultimate Hunting and Personal Protection Vehicle?
No. Next question.
I’m totally down for a vehicle with an all electric drivetrain – I just don’t want to drive a computer.
Needs to be a little smaller so it actually fits in my garage though. Like an electric Ranger/S-10/Hardbody.
Total electric by 2035, isnt that what Prez Biden is shooting for. Sure is a lot of electricity, sure is a lot of cars. Used to be a lot of factories in the U.S. too. Where they going to get all the juice? Nuke plants are a no no, fossil fuels a no go, the great plains beginning to look like a white forest and solar panels are inefficient. We cant keep up with the demand as it is.
While I’m 100% on board with green energy I just dont think it will work until someone makes a better, cheaper solar panel.
Yeah, anyone see any problems with rushing headlong into new “Green Energy” technologies ? Look no further than Texas to see what a fustercluck looks like…. maybe the engineers should spend a year or so up here in Minnesota while designing shit… yesterday was the first day above zero for over a week – no power grid failures or frozen equipment that I know of. My old employer was forced to buy a number of all electric vans, and on the first really cold day they discovered that they were good for under 50 miles on a full charge. No thanks, I’ll keep my dinosaur juice powered Jeep. P. S., solar panels aren’t worth a shit when they are covered with a half foot of ice and snow.
Heard on the radio this AM that Ford is ramping up only electric cars in the EU. Notice a trend?
TPTB are driving this. I hate to sound like a conspiracy nut, but some people/organizations/UN/whoever want the entire world doing the same thing. Similar to the supposed refuge crisis. Every nation just has to accept it. I ask why? Why do we have to accept anyone fleeing from whatever?
The US population will be forced into electric only vehicles in the next 15 years. If you want to keep your IC car you’ll pay elevated sin taxes on it and the gas as well. Again I ask why? Global warming? It was cooling in the 1970s, so what changed?
/rant mode off.
What changed is the country veering steadily to the left… you know, into the lane with the oncoming traffic in it. Be prepared for the inevitable crash.
Hey we’ve just created a job for all the laid off oil workers. Solar panel snow removers.
That, and they need regular dusting / cleaning to maintain efficiency.
Actually, a prime place to locate a solar farm would be just north of the entire US/ Mexico border and a mile or so deep the entire length… the heat from retro reflectivity would ensure no human crawling under that would make it through alive… something about two birds with one stone !
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