Cybertruck bulletproof claims shattered with .50 cal rifle, smaller rounds also penetrate stainless steel panels

When Elon Musk announced the Tesla Cybertruck, he made a show of the pickup truck's impressively durable stainless steel body panels, even showing off a video testing the Cybertruck's resistance to bullets.

The problem with the demonstration that Tesla conducted, as many have pointed out, including Notebookcheck in our launch coverage, is that the ammunition used was subsonic, meaning there is a good deal less energy being carried by the bullet. Of course, this translates to less penetration.

The question then became "How bulletproof is the Cybertruck really?" and it seems we finally have our answer. Zack Nelson from JerryRigEverything on YouTube, who has a reputation for durability testing phones, has tested the Cybertruck against a range of different weapons and ammunition.

Nelson started the test with the 9 mm Glock 19, which didn't manage to penetrate the stainless steel door panel at all, although repeated hits to the same area left cracks in the surface. Moving on to a .22 cal with a muzzle velocity of 304 m/s, the Cybertruck still performed admirably, effortlessly deflecting the barrage, while a 762 m/s .17 cal bullet saw things change significantly.

The very first shot fired from the .17 cal rifle penetrated the Cybertruck without issue, leaving the surface of the stainless steel door panel marred with a tiny hole that will need to be patched later. That said, the bullet failed surprisingly to penetrate the inner door panel.

Moving up again to an AR-15 equipped with 223 Remington ammunition, which is significantly larger than all the previous rounds and has a claimed muzzle velocity of 975 m/s. The increased speed and size of the 223 pushed the bullet straight through the door, with energy to spare.

Of course, the absolutely immense .50 cal rifle, with a muzzle velocity of 883 m/s, made short work of the Cybertruck's door panels, blasting through both the exterior and interior of the Cybertruck and tearing a sizeable chunk out of the plastic inner door liner.

As it turns out, the Cybertruck is both more and less bulletproof than many online commentators had expected. However, this may be of some comfort to US Cybertruck owners that are concerned about bulletproofing, since the most popular guns in the country seem to be pistols, like the Glock 19.