Comment by rozap
1 day ago
Lotus did this on their chassis not because it was cheap, but because it allowed them to use lighter, thinner aluminum which would have been ruined by welding. It was almost certainly not cheaper than welding, they had to add little protrusions that kept all the pieces 0.2mm apart, which is what made for the best bonding. They went to a lot of trouble to make this process work, and it resulted in one of the best sports cars of all time in terms of pure driving experience.
Tesla has very different reasons for doing what they did on the cybertruck. It's very much a form over function. Lotus has always been function over form (to a fault, in terms of their financial position).
> kept all the pieces 0.2mm apart
You can add glass microspheres to adhesives to guarantee bondline thickness. It's often done nowadays whenever you have different metals meeting with a glue bond because it keeps them electrically isolated, preventing galvanic corrosion.
So? My Silverado had wheel flairs attached with adhesive. This is extremely common.
My point is that there's nothing wrong with glue, but comparing the pile of shit that is the cybertruck to one of the GOATs and saying "look they both use glue" is a little disingenuous. They are completely different processes, do it in different places for different reasons. The only similarity is that there is glue involved, somewhere.
Wait, your point is that the Cybertruck is a pile of shit? That’s nuts. Many don’t like the styling (me included) but it’s genuinely a technological marvel, particularly at this price point. Four wheel steering, stainless exterior, breathtaking acceleration, FSD — everyone I know who owns one loves it.