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Shoshána Abigail 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

Cybertruck putting out 120V through its body and wheels while charging 🤦🏻‍♀️

What an insanely poorly made vehicle

168 comments
Christian Gudrian

@LilahTovMoon That's why it's not gonna make it here in Germany. We're running on 230V.

RipNatenom #motorisierteGewalt

@cgudrian @LilahTovMoon don't mix up static electricity / direct current (like in the video, 120V) with alternating current (230V in Germany and many other countries).

Matt Seymour

@das_menschy @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon not sure what you mean, the video appears to show 120Vac on the exposed metal of the vehicle.

RipNatenom #motorisierteGewalt

@Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon Ok, so I was wrong. I thought it's static electricity. My fault.

Momo

@das_menschy
I'd LOVE to see the guy from the Straßenverkehrsamt's face when Tesla comes to them and ask for a License to put that... ... THING out on the road.
@Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon

Habrok

@momo @das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon "No idea if we got the license or not. The inspector ran screaming towards the horizon and disappeared there. 🤷‍♂️" ;-)

Comrade Weez

@Habrok42 @momo @das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon It's most likely the charger is miswired- they are using AC charging and line and neutral are reversed. Neutral should be at ground potential, so if there's LN reversed, the chassis of the device (appliance, Cyberturkey, wotever) will have line voltage present. However, there's no excuse for the vehicle not detecting this wiring fault and warning the user and disconnecting the AC charger- that part is on Tesla

christian mock

@weezmgk @Habrok42 @momo @das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon I agree it's most easily explained by a charger issue, but how should the car detect that, given that it's not grounded itself? I think the charger would have to have not only L and N reversed, but also PE connected to L, plus probably no RCD.

Comrade Weez

@cm N & earth should be at at the same potential (or mV close to it). If it isn't, the car should disconnect and go into a fault mode and put an alarm notice somewhere (dash cluster? Display screen?) This is what they pay the EEs big bucks for. @Habrok42 @momo @das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon

christian mock

@weezmgk @Habrok42 @momo @das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon What the car sees on L, N and PE might not be the same as the outside world does, assuming sufficiently malicious wiring in the EVSE. And without a stake in the ground you can't really determine whether the wire labeled "PE" is at that potential.

Comrade Weez replied to christian

@cm There's an earth reference in the charge connector, which should be sufficient to determine if L&N are correct or reversed. Most device design simply trusts that the sparky who wired the residence didn't cock it up. But it is possible to detect such a fault and protect the user from it. At the price of an EV, I would rather expect that feature would be there, it's not a toaster. @Habrok42 @momo @das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon

Comrade Weez

@JeffGrigg most drivers of any type of car experience static shocks. Caused by rubbing clothing fabrics on car upholstery. If the driver wears rubber soled shoes, there will be a charge potential difference from ground until the driver touches a grounded object. This can be a problem when pumping petrol into a vehicle. @das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon

Javier

@das_menschy @Wifiwits @cgudrian @LilahTovMoon

DC is way more like AC than static.

120v DC is almost as dangerous as 120v AC, while 120v of static is nothing compared to rubbing feet on a carpet. (typically into the thousands)

Blaidd Drwg

@LilahTovMoon

Uh, it's in a super secret extended Beta, ah no Alpha testing phase. That's it. That's the answer.

Tucker's Balz 4 Harris/Walz

@blaidddrwg @LilahTovMoon
🥥 Eye, for one, look back fondly to the days when the buying public were used as beta testers now that we are in the era of using the buying public as alpha testers.
Eye actually lived part of my life at a time when products weren't released until they were reliable enough for widespread use.
The surprise electric-shock Tesla Cybertruck is just another example of our billionaire overlords finding another way to offload their costs to us expendables, Blaidd. 🥥

James Scholes

@jstatepost @blaidddrwg @LilahTovMoon I'm curious, why do you wrap all your text inside 🥥 symbols?

Tucker's Balz 4 Harris/Walz

@jscholes @blaidddrwg @LilahTovMoon
🥥 To answer your question, James, before Eye changed my screen name in support of the Harris/Walz campaign, Eye was Tucker's Nuts -- hence the coconuts.
Bracketing one's posts with emojis, Eye found, helped me locate my posts in long threads, because my eyesight isn't as great as it used to be.
Hope that's not TMI. 🥥

MylesRyden

@catsalad @LilahTovMoon

As Adam Something put it in his video:

1. Step one: go to Mars.

2. Step two: die.

Erebus

@catsalad @LilahTovMoon And put neural implants in sentient beings.

Matt Seymour

@LilahTovMoon oh my god…. Find myself wondering: Is this a design, erm, feature or a defect of that particular vehicle?

Local Agency

@Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon It's probably a defect; but the fact that that defect can happen and not be found and rejected during manufacturing... is the design flaw.

Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸

@laprice @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon The whole system should immediately cut power if there current where it doesn't belong, ESPECIALLY with such obvious parts like the chassis. The fact there is no security feature that prevents stuff like this… hard to find any word describing it better than "third-world design / engineering". It's a garbage product you'd only expect off of AliExpress, simply garbage.

Local Agency

@Natanox @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon
I have wondered if he's trying to pull some sort of "innovators dilemma" start crappy and toylike abd then create a new category thing.

It is tempting to think that he's managing to get all of the worst people to pay for his R&D so he can get the process refined to the point where it's a plausible chassis for replacing the HMMV.

But given it's complexity and the number of untested technologies stuffed into it (the whole drive by wire schtick) I'm leaning more towards the theory that he gets high before meeting the design team and wants to see shiny cool shit added to it.

@Natanox @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon
I have wondered if he's trying to pull some sort of "innovators dilemma" start crappy and toylike abd then create a new category thing.

It is tempting to think that he's managing to get all of the worst people to pay for his R&D so he can get the process refined to the point where it's a plausible chassis for replacing the HMMV.

Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸

@laprice @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon Given all the things I heard about Musk I believe there simply ain't enough people that prevent him from doing nonsense at Tesla, like there are at SpaceX. "Drive-by-wire" also sounds like he saw some documentary about how Fly-by-wire made fighting jets more cool and suddenly wanted that for cars.
I don't think there's some bigger plan aside from what his strategists and lawyers come up with after the fact. After all we all know he's the opposite of a genius.

rhempel

@Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon Don't believe everything you see - there are many ways a vehicle can be modified to produce this unsafe condition.

There are actual engineers on staff at Tesla designing and building these cars, and engineers (real engineers, not tech-bros) have an unwavering code of ethics leaning towards safety.

Whatever you think of Musk, or Teslas, or people that buy Cybertrucks, please don't lump the engineers and workers at Tesla with them.

rhempel

@Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon That being said, if this is actually happening it's pretty serious.

Jeff Grigg

@rhempel @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon

If it were common, I'd expect to be able to find more examples of it by searching.

I found this, that seems similar:
teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thread

But I'm still not sure.

rhempel

@JeffGrigg @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon That post has plenty of comments pointing to the wall connection possibly being wired incorrectly - and that makes some sense in the installer mixed something up.

There is a GF interrupter in the wall connector that should trip well below the hazard level - that's why you don't die when your kitchen or bathroom appliance cord fails and you touch it.

All that's out the window with an incorrect install.

vampirdaddy

@rhempel @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon
Well, pedestrian safety obviously is not on the list of ethics - though it is a requirement in the EU.

e.g. Volkswagen/VW cars won’t start charging if ground is not connected properly - so while you can’t charge them from a power bank, you won’t be able to electrocute yourself either.

rhempel

@vampirdaddy @Wifiwits @LilahTovMoon Yeah I totally get it about Cybertrucks and pedestrians - they really are killers. One of the reasons cars ended up with soft corners years ago was to bounce humans instead of slicing them.

I suspect Elon did have a ham-handed approach to Cybertrucks.

івась тарасик

@rhempel «I suspect Elon did have a ham-handed approach to Cybertrucks» — wait, so it's elon now, not those engineers you mentioned before? ;-)

rhempel

@tivasyk I realize I'm speaking out both sides of my mouth :-)

Watch James May's review of Cybertruck - he clearly points out how the side body panel protrudes where it meets the hood - it's a pedestrian killer for sure.

I will bet Cybertruck had a lot of engineers quit - and that vehicle was an Elon pet project - and he got his way over objections by bullying.

I'm sensitive to this because I'm an engineer - and I've been put in tight design binds, but I've never compromised public safety.

DELETED

@rhempel "Engineers...have an unwavering code of ethics leaning towards safety."

Eh. There are awful, unethical engineers. There are good ones, too. This far into Musk showing the world exactly who he is, I'm inclined to believe a not insignificant number of the engineers willing to work in his cos aren't the best or most ethical.

Maya

@LilahTovMoon That multimeter measurement is terrifying, especially if you can pull a decent amount of current through the chassis like that. (Though I would have expected reports of people being shocked/electrocuted making the news already.)

The first part looks a bit sus, like they might have the red wire stuck in the charging socket while it's charging.

When the bulb arcs, you can see the charge port status indicator goes from charge complete to fault, and the tail of the red wire appears to have been pulled out from between the charger plug and socket as the person on the left backs away.

@LilahTovMoon That multimeter measurement is terrifying, especially if you can pull a decent amount of current through the chassis like that. (Though I would have expected reports of people being shocked/electrocuted making the news already.)

The first part looks a bit sus, like they might have the red wire stuck in the charging socket while it's charging.

Andy Fletcher

@LilahTovMoon He should use his meter to verify that he has ground continuity from the earth pin on the charging cable.

The earth pin of the socket on the vehicle should be bonded to the chassis - easy to verify with the meter.

This means the vehicle body should be connected to the local earth when charging - if it isn't then there is a wiring fault in the charger or less probably the bond wire has fallen off in the vehicle.

My money is on a charger wiring fault.

Stinson_108

@X31Andy @LilahTovMoon
Pff. The charger should detect continuity on all lines before delivering 300-900 VDC.

Andy Fletcher

@Stinson_108 @LilahTovMoon Tesla home chargers are AC - that is why you can AC charge Teslas on other vendor chargers - lookup the specification for J1772 (they send a 1KHz PWM signal to select charge speed).

Fast chargers are DC but cost a fortune and are not used at home unless you have a seriously oversized supply and stupid amounts of cash.

In any case the vehicle should be connected to the local earth via the connection - this is a basic safety requirement.

Montgomery Gator

@X31Andy @LilahTovMoon I agree with this. It's pretty standard for automobile wiring to connect the negative side of battery systems to chassis. Something is energizing the chassis, and I'd bet it's something wrong with the charger.

Neia

@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt Exactly what you'd expect from someone whose family motto is "Safety third."

yoshinoya

@LilahTovMoon metal objects did this to me but because there was a grounding fault in my apartment

Galactic Stone 🇺🇦

@LilahTovMoon Cybertrucks electrocuting their owners is peak Darwinism.

Jayne

@LilahTovMoon Spontaneous battery fires, "autopilot" crashes, doors that won't open when the vehicle gets submerged, and now the entire car body turning into a 120 volt AC live wire when charging...

I have never seen a car company so committed to killing its users than Tesla.

Joanna :prami_pride_rainbow:

@LilahTovMoon This would not surprise me at all but I’m a bit skeptical in the video’s authenticity.

fops (plushie arc) (Chaotic Stupid)

@ret @LilahTovMoon honestly thought about it some more and it might be bad grounding either on the car's side or at the people's places. the former would usually be rather unlikely but it's the cybertruck

Ret the Folf

@chfour @LilahTovMoon should really be detected by the EVSE before it starts supplying power if I recall. pretty scary if not!

nepi

@chfour @ret @LilahTovMoon I had this happen once to some computer cases. We were in high school running a lan party in a basement using those lightbulb-socket to 2-prong adapters with some 3-prong to 2-prong death-dapters and got a nice little tingle from the metal on our computer cases.

NeiNeon :v_trans: :v_lesbian:

@LilahTovMoon my wife and I were talking about this but like my old dog would get so exited for car rides he'd race to my car and put his paws on it, like imagine you forget to unplug after charging overnight? or like just your kid touching it

Bryan

@Neineon77 @LilahTovMoon this is the real danger right? a amall child or pet on a humid or wet day (assuming the child is barefoot).

NeiNeon :v_trans: :v_lesbian:

@BryanLastRedDrop @LilahTovMoon I mean the guy gets shocked in the video and I assume he's not barefoot, it's probably powerful enough that it doesn't matter, I wouldn't be surprised if it was equivalent to or worse than sticking a fork in a socket if it's charging overnight in a garage, DC charging could be deadly

Bryan

@Neineon77 @LilahTovMoon I guess my point a 160 pound man can take it and laugh. a 50 lb child would get knocked unconscious (or worse)

NeiNeon :v_trans: :v_lesbian:

@BryanLastRedDrop @LilahTovMoon yeah and it seems like a faulty ground disconnecting somewhere so you won't know until someone gets shocked

Josh :everything_bagel:

@LilahTovMoon I can’t even think of a way to do this intentionally…

Stuart Longland (VK4MSL)

@LilahTovMoon Anti-theft device. ;-)

(Still… glad those things aren't on Brisbane streets yet… pretty sure that wouldn't meet AS/NZS:3000 requirements.)

🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)

@LilahTovMoon I can't imagine this is real, but at the same time, it's a CyberTruck, so 🤷🏼‍♀️

Maybe they'll do a, what is it now, 5th recall?

Dianora (Diane Bruce)

@alice @LilahTovMoon Sounds like they mis-wired their 220vac for the charger. Reversing neutral and one 220vac end will put 110vac on neutral (ground) and result in exactly this dangerous condition.
I was looking for a simple explanation this seems ok.

electricalclassroom.com/neutra

(edit) egads realised my error later. It's 110vac from each 220vac line to Neutral but across the two 110vac lines is our usual 220 vac

@alice @LilahTovMoon Sounds like they mis-wired their 220vac for the charger. Reversing neutral and one 220vac end will put 110vac on neutral (ground) and result in exactly this dangerous condition.
I was looking for a simple explanation this seems ok.

electricalclassroom.com/neutra

SuperMoosie

@LilahTovMoon

I see you paid extra for the high security, anti theft version

J. "Henry" Waugh

@LilahTovMoon reminds me of an old news story about KBR's shoddy contract work causing 120V to appear on the faucets at US bases and electrocute soldiers

Comrade Weez

@LilahTovMoon Probably line & neutral reversed on the charger. But there's no excuse for a hot chassis, easy enough to detect LN reverse in the car and make it warn the user and pop the circuit breaker

Dragonfly

@LilahTovMoon

Hopefully no decides to take a piss on it while it's charging

xator

@LilahTovMoon
Is this feature standard on all Teslas?

spiderMedic

@LilahTovMoon Not sure how this wouldn’t result in a mandatory recall.

That_Damn_Frank

@LilahTovMoon

I keep asking if they are magnetic, but I get no answers.

It might be one way to keep them off of the road.

youtu.be/7KpMLuWeRh4?t=54

ideaPDish

@LilahTovMoon

Okok... but how many amps go to ground?
And
Is that a Volts Vagen?

Potato ENTHUSIAST

@LilahTovMoon is that the mains voltage where you live?

Cos a 240V version of that here... you don't wanna touch that.

Back Alley InfoSec

@LilahTovMoon
This is just the cyber trucks defense mechanism while charging to deter thrives

Glen Turner (VK5TU)

@LilahTovMoon There are two failures here. I would be very interested in seeing the charger because it is responsible for the second (it should ground the chassis if there is a fault like this).

PiTau

@LilahTovMoon
Probably a defective unit, since we did not see any headlines of people getting shocked by Cybertrucks. However this is telling how lackluster quality control is, that no one checks if the appliance class I requirements are met, once you plug in the charger.

The more I learn about Cybertruck and Tesla, the more I fear seeing Teslas on the road and the more I appreciate that this 7yo's take on futuristic truck is not allowed to ride on public roads in Europe.

Karl Voit :emacs: :orgmode:

#Cybertruck having 120V of voltage when charged?

If this is an issue for more than just a few cars, #Tesla quality management is even worse than I thought.

#wankpanzer

abortretryfail

@LilahTovMoon

Lots of household appliances will do that if plugged in to a miswired outlet. I've been on a job to fix that where I measured ~200VAC between a doorknob and the metal chassis of a refrigerator next to it. 🙁

Sterling

@LilahTovMoon
I'd love to believe this, but it is highly unlikely. By now there would be lawsuits.

I'm not a fanboi, but come on.

Got to be the charger leaking to the ground somehow.
Probably a Temu charger

et tu @briankrebs ?

Mx. Luna Corbden

@LilahTovMoon @DemocracyMattersALot

Edison: I will electrocute animals to prove Tesla is wrong about AC being safe!

Musk: Hold my beer.

zl2tod

@LilahTovMoon
I would look very carefully at the charging cable and whatever it is plugged into at the other end before I blamed the appliance.

zem

@LilahTovMoon
Uhm I think this might in fact be a problem of the grid not the car.
@radundtat

Anarcho Doggo

@LilahTovMoon the dumpster fire that is this vehicle never ceases to amaze

LAUREN

@LilahTovMoon I again question neurolink and how he is allowed to put something in someone's brain.

Robyn :antifa:

@LilahTovMoon Cybertruck won't pass any TÜV check. 🙈

Seth Galitzer

@LilahTovMoon Absolutely bonkers. Best case scenario here is this is a one-off case of extremely poor quality control. But I doubt it.

feld
@LilahTovMoon @reay MacBooks will do the same if you have a floating neutral 😝
ari 💫

@LilahTovMoon innovative new car that kills you for touching it

Luna Lactea

@LilahTovMoon Is this supposed to be some kind of poorly done anti theft thing?

lachlan but spooky

@LilahTovMoon Yeah, but how else would you announce that you're willing to spend a ridiculous amount of money on the altar of Musk to own the libs?

swope

@LilahTovMoon

If you want to use your CT at a Tesla coil, you're going to need more volts.

martin_fff

@LilahTovMoon guessing it's the ol' "Some rats enjoyed eating the electric cable insulation" problem, writ large...

Jim Rea

@LilahTovMoon I wonder if that plug is connected to 120 or 240?

Cavyherd

@LilahTovMoon

I...don't think that's what they mean by "electric car"...?

AlexanderMars

@LilahTovMoon honestly I often wonder if some disgruntled Tesla employee wanted musk to ship a rolling Darwin Award, there’s just so many flaws. I would feel bad for the owners, but I really can’t think of a more deserving bunch of jackasses.

Dr. Brad Rosenheim

@LilahTovMoon It's a security feature. Duh. You don't recognize true genius.

🤣😉

LordMortis

@LilahTovMoon …. How is this not tripping the ground fault breaker in the charger / evse!?

Radio Resistance

@LilahTovMoon it's crazy more people haven't been killed or injured by these things. they're absolute trash.

dzamie :vOwOfied:

@LilahTovMoon I imagine that this is an individual defect, because otherwise we would've heard about it on day 1, but still, this should not be a way that things can fuck up.

John Mastodone indeed!

@LilahTovMoon Most likely an unshielded cable from the battery touching the body. Easy to fix, for the dealership. That car in particular is a deadly trap, also one more reason to avoid electric cars without a paint layer

Chookbot

@LilahTovMoon Don't believe everything you see about #EVs. The anti-EV lobby is rabid and very active in spreading disinformation.

Listen to people who actually own and drive EVs.

Cher Tailor

@LilahTovMoon

Elon Musk: tries to convince people he's a genius who designs cars

Elon: tries to design one car

Elon: it's shit

Dave Rahardja (he/him)

@LilahTovMoon Ehhh I think the charger is miswired such that its neutral lead is tied to 120V household outlet.

Where is this video from? What does the other end of the charger cable look like?

Alan

@LilahTovMoon I'm no fan of Cybertrucks, but the second clip feels fakey to me - him holding what looks like an ammeter near the charging cable seems. Even not clamped around the cable it could be picking up a reading.

Sam L

@LilahTovMoon I'm kinda dubious of this. When I plug my Model X in to charge, instead of coming on immediately, it takes about 10-15 seconds to start charging after the handshake between the car and the charger. The video shows the truck having voltage immediately.

Noel :neofox_verified:

@LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt Honestly, I don't believe this. Someone could just be touching the metal on the other side with an exposed cable in the right timing.

Of course that would still mean that the metal panels are not grounded during charging, which is unfortunate, but not nearly as big of an oversight.

Daniel Marks

@LilahTovMoon I can not apprehend the confusion that permitted such a flaw to exist. The body of the Tesla should be connected to Earth ground. Hot/neutral should be isolated and equal currents so GFCI detects a fault. If somehow Earth ground was swapped for hot, charging should not occur, but the body could be hot. If Earth ground was swapped for neutral, the body should not be hot, and GFCI would detect a fault. There must be damage in the charger.

Chookbot

@LilahTovMoon The guy's name is Braden Smith. He's a farmer in Idaho. In this local news story he sounds pretty happy with his Cybertruck. Anyone who's on TikTok can check out his account there. He says that he makes videos to amuse his followers and is keen to raise his follower numbers.

eastidahonews.com/2024/08/man-

Chookbot

@LilahTovMoon This news article includes some of Braden Smith's other TikTok videos, showing how he uses the Cybertruck for farm work.

teslarati.com/farmer-proves-te

PixelEcho

@LilahTovMoon that’s terrifying. Imagine brushing up against someone’s car to find it it’s live.

Troed Sångberg

@LilahTovMoon It's a feature to more easily be able to put a better coating on through DIY electrolysis at home.

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