The Hacksmith: Half Scale Cyber Truck

By The Hacksmith

Back in November, Tesla made a splash on the internet (most notably on Reddit) with the announcement of the new Cybertruck. Within just 3 days of its announcement, the Cybertruck, which includes a unique angular design, already had 200,000 preorders. Hacksmith Industries, being fans of Tesla and Elon Musk themselves, were not about to wait in line for that. So the team embarked on another journey to recreate one of Elon Musks’ projects. The first Muskian recreation was the Boring Flame Thrower, made by the “Hacksmithing Company.”

This version of the Cybertruck is exactly one half the size of the real Cybertruck. After some reverse engineering of the dimensions provided by Elon Musk, Hacksmith Industries rounded up over 300 square feet of stainless steel sheet metal, scavenged some parts from old golf carts, ordered a small ATV, and got started. See how the Half-Scale Cybertruck was made in the video below!

How Does it Work?

The Half-Scale Cybertruck is powered by 8 LiPo batteries, which are 22Ah 44.4V. These are much smaller than the Lead-Acid batteries most cars use but are actually twice as powerful. The catch to these batteries is that they are quite pricey and have more power than you need for gas-powered vehicles.

These batteries power 3 motors that are all connected to the same ignition and brake switches, as well as throttle control. The motor system has a motor for each front wheel and a motor in the back on the rear axel differential. Programming a motor control system that synchronizes 8 batteries and 3 motors is not an easy task, but Hacksmith Industries was fortunate to get some help from ASI, the motors’ manufacturer. With ASI’s help, the team was able to get all of the wheels turning at the same speed and everything working with one set of controls.

Schematic and BOM

More Hacksmith Vehicle Designs and Modifications

Hacksmith Industries has done several projects with vehicles designed by scratch and extreme modifications to working vehicles. Check out these other vehicle systems on Maker.io!

Spy Car

The Bat-Baja

Misc