Tesla Cybertruck Isn't Nearly as Bulletproof as Elon Musk Wants You to Think

One of the Tesla Cybertruck's headline features is its "bulletproof" windows and stainless steel body. Elon Musk has even gone as far as describing the angular, polarizing electric pickup as an "armored personnel carrier from the future." But if the Cybertruck's protection from Robin Hood is a major selling point for you, you should know that Tesla's proof of its bullet resistance crumples like a hollow point under close scrutiny.

The Cybertruck's repute among fans as an apocalypse-ready survival vehicle stems from the truck's 2019 reveal, where Musk said it would be "literally bulletproof to a nine-millimeter handgun." He likely referred to 9x19mm Parabellum, possibly the most commonly used pistol round in the world. To illustrate its resistance, the stage backdrop showed a slow-mo video of a bullet disintegrating on impact with a metal surface.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlSSZB9IG0k

Of course, that was all a dog and pony show, one which Tesla fans will tell you doesn't represent the final product—especially those windows. The Cybertruck was significantly redesigned on the path to production, so what we saw on the stage that day doesn't necessarily apply to the trucks that'll be delivered later this month. Instead, let's go by the ballistic trial a pre-production Cybertruck was subjected to last month.

On October 20, Musk said on Twitter that Tesla demonstrated the Cybertruck's bulletproofing by firing "the entire drum magazine of a Tommy gun into the driver door Al Capone style." He refers of course to the Thompson submachine gun, an early automatic weapon famed for its use by the U.S. military and organized crime. But the Thompson doesn't fire the 9mm Parabellum round that Tesla said the Cybertruck could withstand. It's chambered in .45 ACP, and the distinction can't be overlooked when evaluating the Cybertruck's protection.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1715409977932656892?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1715409977932656892%7Ctwgr%5E3699bc7d6bdd1188db88004c67ae3755bed9f7d1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_\u0026ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Finsideevs.com%2Fnews%2F692836%2Ftesla-cybertruck-tommy-gun-bulletproof-test%2F

.45 ACP is a larger-caliber bullet with broadly similar performance to 9mm Parabellum, with one exception according to Pew Pew Tactical: Penetration. .45 ACP is a wider bullet that's almost exclusively subsonic, a low-velocity round. The faster, narrower 9mm Parabellum by contrast is more capable of punching through body armor. Or in this case, a three-millimeter sheet of stainless steel.

See where this is going? Musk said the Cybertruck's side would stop a round that's more likely to punch through armor, then had Tesla throw a softball for itself by using one with poorer penetration. Yes, Tesla showed a slow-mo of a round impacting metal, but there are reasons to doubt that .gif's truthfulness.

Whether the bullet and surface depicted were actually a 9mm Parabellum and the side of a Cybertruck is questionable, as Tesla's credibility isn't sterling. This was the company that has already misled the public about the Cybertruck's capabilities, never mind claimed its cars would drive themselves cross-country in 2017, that it would build a hovering supercar by 2020, and has been fined for exaggerating its cars' ranges. What Musk promises on stage can't be taken at face value, and the use of .45 ACP for a Musk-boosted ballistics test instead of 9mm Parabellum should raise the eyebrows of anyone who knows the first thing about firearms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73Eg6lEGDIc