Jay Leno has long been a fan of Tesla’s vehicles, and with the exciting new Cybertruck having just hit the market, he had the opportunity to take it for a spin with the company’s head of design and its VP of vehicle engineering.
Rather than take it to the drag strip, as others have done, Leno decided to treat the Cybertruck as what it is: a truck. So, in addition to taking for a spin around his normal driving route, he also did a little light off-roading in the vehicle, taking it for a splash and a scrape.
While Tesla likes to brag that the Cybertruck’s stainless steel body panels are tougher than other trucks’ painted panels, Leno reminds us that plastic is still plastic, by turning the truck into a rock, and apparently scraping the plastic-covered rocker panel. Whether the error simply down to visibility, or as a result of the variable turning rate of the steering system is not made clear.
Read: The Tesla Cybertruck Has A Wade Mode For Driving Through Water
Despite the small mistake, the damage is negligible, and the truck performs well on the short section of dirt, even managing to ford a creek. That’s made easier, and safer, thanks to its Wade mode. This, Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy reveals in the garage, raises the Cybertruck up, and also uses the air suspension’s compressor to pressurize the battery. He claims that’s enough to prevent any water from slipping in through potential leak points (even though the battery is sealed in to begin with).
About that massive wiper
Speaking of managing water, Moravy reveals that the truck’s big windshield wiper posed some issues for his team. Although they considered more conventional wiper arrangements, the design made a single wiper the most elegant solution. However, the need to store it upright means it can’t act as a dam, holding water off the windshield when it finishes its sweep. That meant carefully timing the motion to keep water off the glass when it has finished its arc. It also means that the windshield cleaner jets only shoot out behind the wiper, so that it can sweep it all away.
The size of the windshield wiper arm could have also been a challenge for other automakers, though Moravy claims that the Cybertruck’s 48V electrical system generates enough power to operate it. However, its length does mean that the designers had to add a spoiler to the wiper to keep it from lifting off the window.
While they made the engineering team’s life a little harder, these clever solutions, as well as the truck’s radical design, are what attract Leno to it. He calls it the first new pickup since the Chevrolet Corvair of the ’60s, which had an air cooled engine under the bed. He also blames the failure of that vehicle on how conservative American car design became after it. Whether the high volume of pre-orders turns into sales or not may determine whether or not this truck has a similar impact on the industry today.