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Executive Summary: The Tesla Cybertruck has been plagued with seven recalls in just its first year due to design defects. Another one just may have been accidentally revealed in a massive explosion from fuel stored in the truck bed with cover closed. Unpainted flat steel body panels at sharp angles, combined with the dry and cold winter air, and the unsafe storage of metal fuel cans allowing vapor collection around fireworks, may have generated the kind of high charge static electricity tinder that made a sudden combustion inevitable.
High Risk Factors
This Cybertruck combination presents a highly elevated static electricity risk:
- Low humidity (20% typical desert morning)
- Cold temperatures (-5°C)
- Large metallic surface area with sharp angles causing charge concentration points
- Known defects in Cybertruck electrical grounding
- High-speed long distance travel
Environmental Conditions
- Air Temperature: -5°C (cold morning)
- Relative Humidity: 20% (typical desert morning)
- Vehicle Speed: 75 mph (33.528 m/s)
- Distance: 1,300,000 m (Colorado Springs to Las Vegas)
- Cross-sectional Area: 5.7 m²
- Air Breakdown Field Strength: 3 × 10⁶ V/m (at sea level)
Material Properties
- Steel Permittivity: 8.85 × 10⁻¹² F/m
- Air Permittivity: 8.86 × 10⁻¹² F/m
- Steel Resistivity: 6.9 × 10⁻⁷ Ω⋅m
Results
Charge Accumulation Rate: 1.20e-1 C/s
Maximum Realistic Voltage: 3.00e+4 V
Discharge Probability: 80.0%
Charge Ratio (Cybertruck/Normal Truck): 1.67x
Risk Assessment
- The Cybertruck’s angular metallic design creates 1.67x more charge accumulation than standard trucks
- Cold desert morning conditions (-5°C, 20% humidity) significantly increase static risk
- Voltage buildup is limited by air breakdown at 3.0 MV/m
- Discharge probability is 80.0% under these conditions
Circumstances
- It’s illegal to transport fireworks and gas cans together in a truck bed (or trunk, or inside a car). The victim was active duty military with knowledge in flammable/explosive material handling such as fuel cans so this doesn’t seem accidental.
- The truck bed cover being closed means vapor likely accumulated for a while on a long drive, creating a dangerously combustible moment, also probably not accidental.
- The Cybertruck has known electrical design flaws related to improper grounding and potential fire hazards, such as potential arcs when being shifted into park or during mechanical transitions. It is unlikely this was factored by the victim.
- Metal fuel cans in a metal truck have been a known danger of sudden vapor combustion for many years, quickly destroying cars, begging the question whether Tesla ignored known safety practices.
…the Petroleum Equipment Institute, a trade group, found that there were at least 170 static electricity fires at gas stations from 1992 to 2006. …the problem probably isn’t a big one. Unless, of course, it’s your car that has burst into flames. Since Mrs. Shager’s pickup was destroyed in November, at least two other serious fires at gas stations have been attributed to static electricity, including one that severely burned a woman.
Some of this math may help explain the mystery surrounding 15 seconds after the Cybertruck parked itself neatly and quietly in front of the Trump Hotel (instead of crashing into the lobby) and began to emit smoke from the bed.
…military ID, passport and credit cards were found in the vehicle, along with several firearms, and that the driver had shot himself in the head before the vehicle detonated. “I’m comfortable calling it a suicide,” [Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff] McMahill said at the briefing. […] …gasoline canisters, camp fuel canisters and large firework mortars were found in the back of the vehicle after the explosion, which occurred about 15 seconds after the vehicle pulled in front of the building. It’s still unclear how the explosives were ignited, McMahill said.
If suicide of a US Army soldier with explosives expertise — self-immolation as protest — is officially suspected then a lot of the analysis shifts.
It’s possible firing a gun intentionally ignited the bed full of explosive fuel vapor. Or it’s possible the Cybertruck itself sparked in an electrical or mechanical event causing an ignition, after his suicide and unintentionally. There are many possibilities still, as details are being released, but static electricity risk might be considered another design defect of the Cybertruck worth investigating.
Thank you for this prompt analysis. The wait time of 17 seconds could indeed be connected to mechanical or electrical processes (like lowering the suspension or park mode activation) that triggered a spark, which then ignited the fuel vapors in the truck bed. This scenario does seem plausible, especially considering known grounding issues mixed with flammable materials. The gunshot still may be the main contributing factor, but we need to know whether the truck’s design flaws also played some intentional role in ignition.