Few automobiles encourage stronger opinions than the Tesla Cybertruck. Drivers and passersby both love or hate the shiny, sharp-angled vehicles, a lot of which have been vandalized and even shot with paintball guns as a response towards Tesla CEO and former Trump administration staffer Elon Musk.
So this one’s for you, Cybertruck haters: The Air Pressure lately had 33 automobiles, together with two Cybertrucks, delivered to the White Sands Missile Vary in New Mexico, with plans to shoot them up.
Paperwork first noticed by TWZ present that the Air Pressure is seeking to take a look at the sturdiness of the Cybertruck, given its distinctive make-up and options, for target-vehicle coaching take a look at occasions.
Representatives for the Air Pressure and Tesla didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Learn extra: Every Tesla Cybertruck Recall Since the Vehicle Was Released
Ever for the reason that Cybertruck was introduced, Tesla has touted it as tough to wreck. Musk referred to as the car “bulletproof,” and stated it might survive an apocalypse. In an infamous 2019 launch event, Musk challenged a colleague to throw metal balls on the truck’s home windows, saying they would not break. They did.
The Cybertruck carried out higher in later exams. In 2024, Tesla posted a YouTube video the place the truck held as much as gunfire from a Tommy gun, pistol and shotgun.
Due to the Cybertruck’s robust outer construction, manufactured from a proprietary chrome steel alloy, there’s an expectation that the automobiles may very well be utilized by an enemy. Air Pressure paperwork word that the truck “doesn’t obtain the conventional extent of injury anticipated upon main impression.”
And that expectation is backed up by some proof. In 2024, Ramzan Kadyrov, chief of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, posted a video of a Cybertruck with a machine gun mounted on it, saying it had been despatched to the entrance traces of Russia’s struggle in Ukraine.
The deliberate army exams will mirror these potential real-world conditions in a live-fire take a look at. We do not know precisely what weapons the Air Pressure plans to activate the Cybertrucks, however most likely all the things they have that may make a dent in them.
Learn extra: Cybertruck Recall Hits 46K Vehicles Thanks to a Glue Failure
The opposite automobiles chosen for testing embody pickup vehicles, SUVs and sedans. However solely the Cybertrucks had been referred to as out particularly by mannequin and maker title.
