When we first saw a Cybertruck skeleton last December, we knew that would not be the final structure that would enter production. At the time, Teardown veteran Sandy Munro explained that the structure in the leaked pictures featured several (at least five) cast pieces welded (or bonded) together. Tesla had to do it that way for the first prototypes because there was no Giga Press to make them in one step.
The rear Cybertruck structure was probably built from components cast using a prototyping technique called "Lost Foam." This means the components are replicated from Styrofoam and then covered in sand to form a makeshift mold. When molten aluminum is poured, the foam vaporizes and leaves the aluminum component with the desired shape. Still, once development advances past the prototyping phase, Tesla aims to produce the entire rear structure in one step, using the 9,000-ton IDRA Giga Presses.
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