In July, Tesla announced that its first production Cybertruck electric pickup rolled off the assembly line, nearly four years after its initial unveiling and two years behind the original timetable.
As the long-anticipated vehicle approaches its scheduled delivery expected this quarter, reports have emerged of prototypes spotted charging, what the vehicle’s “frunk” and interior look like and how it fared in a ditch rollover crash test.
But a recently surfaced video may cause additional concern among drivers.
Electrek reported that a dashcam video captured a sequence in which a wheel cover from a Cybertruck test vehicle detached, soared into the air and landed on a busy San Francisco freeway. The video showed the wheel cover detaching from the Cybertruck and landing in front of another car that appeared to run over it. The vehicle that captured the incident then attempted to swerve around the cap.
Aerodynamic wheel covers are thought to increase an electric vehicle’s efficiency. This can lead to less requisite power and fewer batteries, making a vehicle lighter and possibly cheaper. According to Tesla’s website, customers can purchase wheel covers for $25 or $35 each.
The Cybertruck reportedly features removable aerodynamic tire covers, and images have shown the vehicle both with and without these caps. Among these images is a picture from August of Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a Cybertruck equipped with wheel covers at the company’s Texas gigafactory.
The cause of the incident remains uncertain, but Electrek suggested that a loose connection might have contributed to the detachment, potentially stemming from a design flaw in the attachment point or a complex attachment process.
