11/30 Update - Cybertruck Delivery Event (Link)
- Thread starter Phenomenally Frantastic
- Start date
No; I understand how surface corrosion works.
The SS surfaces on those trucks are going to continuously look shitty unless they are regularly cleaned and polished out. Which will be a more intensive operation than just "waxing your car".
There is a reason that auto companies have used paints and waxes for over a century.
I get the interest, but is that crowd any different than a normal slow day at the Bellagio?
Google "tea staining" and stainless steels.
Musk's trucks are going to have shitty-looking exteriors over time w/o some serious cleaning work.
Also, the protective chromium layer that prevents rusting is easily damaged by - you guessed it - mechanical surface scratches/scuffs. And what happens to ANY vehicle when driving on a highway or freeway at 55-75 mph? Constant exposure to dust/dirt and even insects smashing against it.
Your buddy Musk may post "pics" of surfaces that he just "set out somewhere" for marketing purposes, but unless he road-tested those surfaces for exposure to those mechanical 'scuffs', uric acid from bird poop and insect guts, he hasn't really evaluated his truck's "bulletproof" exterior, at all. Email him, and have him post those experiments, and I'll believe him. Otherwise, I know exactly what 'tea staining' is on surface metals, and how it requires those spots to be buffed out to make them look shiny and new.
I don’t know. Maybe?
Crowds probably do the same for concept cars/Lambos and the like pulling up there.
Let me guess, the hub caps/“aero wheels” aren’t really damaging the tires either. Just causing surface contamination that looks like cuts/abrasions?
This Is Why Tesla’s Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting
This Is Why Tesla’s Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting
Who knew stainless steel might not be such a good idea for the exterior of an electric SUV? The entire automotive industry, that’s who.
This Is Why Tesla’s Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting
This Is Why Tesla’s Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting
Who knew stainless steel might not be such a good idea for the exterior of an electric SUV? The entire automotive industry, that’s who.www.wired.com
Stainless steel discoloration usually takes the form of small, dark brown pits on the steel's surface. Exposure to sea salt and high temperatures can be one cause of such pitting. Some parts of California, a hot state with a 1,264-mile coastline, might, therefore, be worse than others for causing the orange flecks reported by Raxar and others.
Once the chromium oxide barrier is breached, corrosion takes hold. And caveat emptor, because Tesla's owner's manual advises promptly removing corrosive substances, emphasizing not to wait until the Cybertruck is scheduled for a "complete wash," whatever that is.
The documentation says: “To prevent damage to the exterior, immediately remove corrosive substances (such as grease, oil, bird droppings, tree resin, dead insects, tar spots, road salt, industrial fallout, etc.). Do not wait until Cybertruck is due for a complete wash. If necessary use denatured alcohol to remove tar spots and stubborn grease stains, then immediately wash the area with water and a mild, non-detergent soap to remove the alcohol.”
Pigeon poo is a well-known corrosive agent—guano is no friend to the fastidious car owner—but tree sap and bugs? Maybe that $5,000 Cybertruck wrap should ship as standard.
This Is Why Tesla’s Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting
This Is Why Tesla’s Stainless Steel Cybertrucks May Be Rusting
Who knew stainless steel might not be such a good idea for the exterior of an electric SUV? The entire automotive industry, that’s who.
Fake. Debunked immediately. Makes for excellent clickbait for morons to fall for and generate ad dollars for wired.com.
There were about 100 “cybertruck rust” news articles that probably generated $10 million of ad sales though. So good job keep those media outlets in business. Their lies are big business.
And posting photos of 20 yr old paint vs. "new" stainless steel isn't exactly an honest comparison
Family friend picked up his in Jacksonville two days ago. Only one in Tallahassee right now. He brought it by the work place and gave us some rides in it. It is way bigger than I thought, including the bed. It is still fugly but also I have to admit pretty cool. And it was pretty amazing driving around 20 minutes in it watching everyone stop and mouth breath as you rolled by. People would pull over so we would pass them so they could take a picture.
Ever heard of rail dust, Joe? I’m thinking no. You might look into it. It can stick to any surface and appear as rust. Even plastic or rubber. It’s easily removed.
Have you ever heard of insect guts and bird poop?
They don't play well with untreated metal surfaces.
I am.
Stainless steels do tarnish and rust; they don't "rust away", but you get shitty surface finish w/o regularly cleaning off the stuff that tarnishes them.
Two weeks after Rivian Automotive Inc. announced a disappointing production forecast and another round of job cuts, the company's CEO revealed that the construction of a $5 billion factory in Georgia would be put on hold to reduce costs.
CEO RJ Scaringe unveiled a crossover EV called the R3. The new model will be priced lower than the R2 to increase affordability and boost sales.
Scaringe also surprised investors by announcing its new factory at the Georgia site east of Atlanta would be shelved.
"Rivian's Georgia plant remains an extremely important part of its strategy to scale production of R2 and R3. The timing for resuming construction is expected to be later to focus its teams on the capital-efficient launch of R2 in Normal, Illinois," the filing said.
The filing noted that the decision reduced capital expenditures for the automaker by $2.25 billion and "improved cash visibility."
"Our Georgia site remains really important to us," Scaringe said, adding, "It's core to the scaling across all these vehicles, between R2, R3 and R3X. And we're so appreciative of all the partnerships we've had there."
No timetable was provided to investors about restarting work on the Georgia plant. Local governments have offered Rivian $1.5 billion in incentives to create thousands of jobs at the new plant.
Rivian's shares jumped more than 13% on Thursday. In premarket trading in New York on Friday, shares are flat. Year-to-date performance has been awful, down 47%.
Short interest has surged in Rivian over the past year. Current data from Bloomberg shows 112.4 million shares short, or about 14.5% of the float is short.
Tom Narayan, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, warned in a note this week that Rivian's financial implications of a lower-priced EV remain uncertain.
"Currently, R1 is losing money," Narayan said, adding, "The critical question is how will Rivian be able to produce R2 profitably at the $45,000 price point?"
Last month, analyst Adam Jonas at Morgan Stanley penned a note titled "Can EV Slowdown Trigger Auto M&A Wave?"
"EV sentiment is extremely negative... and will eventually deteriorate further, in our view. Legacy OEMs must find a way to balance EV relevancy with capital discipline. Full OEM mergers are complex, politically sensitive and tough to execute. Could 'merging' EV projects be more reasonable?" Jonas said.
Can’t say I love the front end of their vehicles…can’t say I hate them either. Hits a weird spot for me. With the R2, the area between the B and C pillars seems off to my eye (aspect ratio and roof line). May have something to do the ability of the windows being able to fully retract, or their emphasis on giving the second row as much room as possible. May just be the angles I am seeing the vehicle at. Interesting features though, as well as motor configurations for both the 2 and the 3/3X. Fairly impressive build/functionality from a product that’s at least 2 years away.
February 9, 2023
Ford Motor Company has sold a majority of its Rivian shares, according to regulatory filings. Ford’s stake in the electric vehicle maker, which has been dropping steadily since May 2022, is now at 1.15%, or 10.5 million shares.
The sell comes a week after Ford reported a $7.3 billion write-down on its Rivian investment last year. Since February 2022, Rivian’s stock has plummeted almost 70%.
Ford has followed this playbook with Rivian before: Report a write-down, then sell to recuperate some of the losses. Last April, Ford reported a $5.4 billion “mark-to-market loss” on its investment in Rivian. The following month, Ford sold 15 million shares in two separate transactions, bringing its stake in the EV maker below 10%.
Ford’s relationship with Rivian began with a $500 million investment in the precocious EV startup back in 2019. At the time, Ford also said it would build a vehicle on Rivian’s “skateboard” platform. The legacy automaker canceled those plans in November 2021, citing a shift in direction toward building its own lineup of EVs. Four months later, Ford increased its in-house electrification investment to $50 billion through 2026, up from the previous $30 billion by 2025. The automaker also said it would run its EV unit as a separate business from its combustion engine business.
Other companies, like Amazon, have reported several losses from their investment in Rivian. Last week, Amazon reported a $2.3 billion valuation loss in its Rivian stock, which caused a hit to its income.
Why are companies paying the price for investing in the promising, if not troubled, EV company? Recall that Rivian’s stock hit a high of $179.47 per share before falling to the $19.62 it is at today.
This is now an electric truck/SUV thread.
Do you think the R2 will come out in 2026 for $45k?
If the last few years have taught us anything about electric vehicles, it's that they're easy to design but hard to manufacture at scale — and even harder to do so profitably.
Why it matters: Rivian revealed three additional new vehicles on Thursday, but like many other EV makers before it, the company is still burning cash at a breathtaking pace.
- The R2, a midsize SUV, would be the automaker's most affordable vehicle yet at around $45,000.
- The surprise unveiling of two additional and even more affordable models to come later — the R3 and R3X crossovers — was reminiscent of a Steve Jobs "one more thing" product introduction at Apple, Axios' Joann Muller reports.
- "We think there's a real risk that the R2 may never see the light of day," CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson wrote in a research note, adding that "we see [Rivian's] cash burn accelerating in the coming quarters."
- The company said it will instead make the R2 initially more affordably at its current facility in Illinois.
- "We're tracking towards and focused on both rapidly achieving a scale that ... we're accomplishing, but also doing it in a way that gets us to profitability as fast as possible."
- At this point, only Tesla can plausibly claim that it's figured out a formula for making EVs profitably — and only after a brutal stretch of red ink that nearly tanked the company.
- Others — including established automakers like GM and Ford and startup companies like Fisker and Lordstown — have not yet found a path into the black.
