4 thoughts on “Sandy Munro and Autoline Team Release 1.5 Hour Cybertruck Episode”
Very interesting, as usual 🙂
We already heard about large savings from not needing a paint shop for the main body… Though I wasn’t aware just quite how much of a difference it makes!
Also didn’t expect such a large difference for the bending/welding vs. stamping/welding of a “traditional” unibody design. The comparison with the exoskeleton airplane being 20 times cheaper than the unibody one is truly amazing…
Another important remark is that he doesn’t expect any issues with crash safety from the exoskeleton design! While that’s not really surprising (Tesla surely wouldn’t pursue it if there was a problem), it’s good to hear confirmation from an expert.
Also interesting that Sandy himself advocated for cars using an exoskeleton design in the past, but people at established car makers refused to even discuss it as a possibility…
One thing I noticed — again — is that for all his expertise in other areas, Sandy really doesn’t know much about batteries… He should be more careful talking about things he doesn’t really understand, as it undermines his insight in other areas.
Since he brought up lithium-sulphur batteries, it would probably be good to provide some context. Sulphur cathodes are indeed seeing a lot of attention, as the next possible major step in lithium battery evolution after lithium metal anodes. Sulphur cathodes are way out though: much further than lithium metal anodes, which in turn are likely still years away from real commercialisation… And it’s still entirely unclear whether the challenges can ever be solved.
Also, since it’s such a common misunderstanding: solid state batteries are not a distinct battery type. Replacing liquid electrolytes with solid ones is just one particular design aspect, that can be applied to various kinds of batteries. It’s currently regarded as the most promising path to achieve lithium metal cathodes — but by far not the only possible one. Same goes for lithium-sulphur batteries: they could employ solid state electrolyte; but other approaches for solving the issues facing sulphur cathodes are also being researched: such as special membranes (distinct from the electrolyte) for example.
Very interesting, as usual 🙂
We already heard about large savings from not needing a paint shop for the main body… Though I wasn’t aware just quite how much of a difference it makes!
Also didn’t expect such a large difference for the bending/welding vs. stamping/welding of a “traditional” unibody design. The comparison with the exoskeleton airplane being 20 times cheaper than the unibody one is truly amazing…
Another important remark is that he doesn’t expect any issues with crash safety from the exoskeleton design! While that’s not really surprising (Tesla surely wouldn’t pursue it if there was a problem), it’s good to hear confirmation from an expert.
Also interesting that Sandy himself advocated for cars using an exoskeleton design in the past, but people at established car makers refused to even discuss it as a possibility…
One thing I noticed — again — is that for all his expertise in other areas, Sandy really doesn’t know much about batteries… He should be more careful talking about things he doesn’t really understand, as it undermines his insight in other areas.
Since he brought up lithium-sulphur batteries, it would probably be good to provide some context. Sulphur cathodes are indeed seeing a lot of attention, as the next possible major step in lithium battery evolution after lithium metal anodes. Sulphur cathodes are way out though: much further than lithium metal anodes, which in turn are likely still years away from real commercialisation… And it’s still entirely unclear whether the challenges can ever be solved.
Also, since it’s such a common misunderstanding: solid state batteries are not a distinct battery type. Replacing liquid electrolytes with solid ones is just one particular design aspect, that can be applied to various kinds of batteries. It’s currently regarded as the most promising path to achieve lithium metal cathodes — but by far not the only possible one. Same goes for lithium-sulphur batteries: they could employ solid state electrolyte; but other approaches for solving the issues facing sulphur cathodes are also being researched: such as special membranes (distinct from the electrolyte) for example.