The stainless steel wedge future space pickup truck is here, sort of. The rapid acceleration and generally poor visibility will probably contribute to these trucks occasionally getting in scrapes with other vehicles on the roadways of America. Because the exterior of the Tesla Cybertruck is “cold rolled stainless steel,” and it allegedly forms a stressed exoskeleton, those fender benders could get quite pricey to repair. While traditional cars have deformable plastic bumpers that can easily be repaired and repainted, bent stainless will never just bend back and look normal again. It’ll need to be replaced, and it’ll be expensive.
Tesla released the Cybertruck parts catalogue to official Tesla repair centres this week, and you can look at it yourself. If you’re not a Tesla repair centre, you can’t see the prices of each of these pieces. Thankfully for us, one of the people who can see the prices took screenshots and shared them to the Cybertruck owners club forum. Oh cool, the big floppy wiper blade insert is $US75 to your local wholesaler, which means you’ll be paying that plus a markup to take it home. Luckily there is only one.
Some of the Tesla faithful are jumping up and down about these prices, as they won’t require any paintwork, and come in final stainless brushed finish, like the rest of the truck. If a traditional car gets hit and needs a panel replacement, it might possibly rack up a more expensive bill than this, but a light tap that causes a dent can be pulled out and skim coated, while any damage to the Cybertruck will require panel replacement. If you jump off the line and smash into the back of a Hummer H2, causing the front trunk, nose panel, and both fenders to wrinkle, you’re paying $US1,910 for the frunk, $US936 for the fascia, and $US550 for each fender. Tack on a shop parts markup and a few hours of install time, and you’re potentially looking at six grand for a small impact.
I’m going to leave you with a few other parts prices, and you can make up your mind as to whether these are pricey or acceptable. The special Goodyear All-Terrain tires wholesale at $US470 each. The big windshield glass is $1900 before installation. That fancy steer-by-wire steering rack is $US3,300. It’s enough to make you think.
Screenshot: Tesla
Want more Aussie car news? Here’s every EV we’ve reviewed in the last two years, all the EVs we can expect down under soon, and our guide to finding EV chargers across the country. Check out our dedicated Cars tab for more.