Tesla's Cybertruck is audaciously austenitic

A proprietary 301-series stainless steel gives Tesla's first pickup truck unique sales attributes while saving tooling cost.

Not since Ford's epic switch to aluminum for its F-Series body structures has an automaker's materials strategy created such a buzz. Tesla's decision to use stainless steel for its upcoming Cybertruck, as part of what CEO Elon Musk calls an “exoskeletal” architecture, aims to give the new electric pickup strength and durability beyond that of its competitors. The vehicle is slated to enter production in late 2021.

Musk described the corrosion-resistant, 3-mm-thick (.118-in) sheet specified for Cybertruck as “ultra-hard 30X cold-rolled stainless-steel,” indicating an alloy variant developed from 300-series stainless steel. This popular class was used by DeLorean (304 alloy) in its roughly 10,000 DMC-12 sports cars, and by heavy-truck maker Autocar (302 alloy) in a small-volume run in the 1960s. During the same period Ford also experimented with a few stainless-bodied Thunderbirds and Lincolns, also in 302 alloy. Today's exhaust pipes typically use ferritic stainless tube.