The Cybertruck has a single gigantic windshield wiper known as the “Giga Wiper”. The blade, although 50 inches long, recent pictures of a really dirty Cybertruck show that the Giga Wiper can’t reach a significant chuck of the Cybertruck’s windshield.
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Although we’re only 5 days away from the Cybertruck delivery event, Tesla appears to still be going full force with the Cybertruck’s grueling testing campaign.
We’ve seen Cybertruck prototypes, decked out with SpaceX Starlink mobile receivers, endure some of the harshest durability tests including a 1280-mile off-roading journey across the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.
Cybertruck prototypes have also had the entire drum magazine of a Tommy gun unloaded on them and been shot with a hunting bow and arrow from close range.
We’ve seen Cybertrucks endure the freezing conditions in New Zealand and Alaska. The Cybertruck cold weather testing appears to have gone smoothly enough that the all-electric truck was seen utilizing its 4-wheel steering to do a standing 180-degree turn, drift in reverse, and do other cool tricks.
We’ve also seen Cybertrucks hot weather testing in the Mojave desert and going face to face in an off-roading battle against a Rivian R1T and Ford F-150 Lightning.
All the durability tests have proven that the Cybertruck is a capable vehicle that can handle any challenge put in front of it. This is wonderful however, the Cybertruck appears to have one minor but glaring shortcoming.
For aerodynamic reasons, Tesla has designed the Cybertruck in a way that the hood is flush with the windshield. This direct connection between the two parts of the vehicle means there is no recessed area to put a windshield wiper.
To address this issue, Tesla has decided to give the Cybertruck a single gigantic windshield wiper (Giga Wiper). The Giga Wiper is oriented vertically and according to people who were able to take a measuring tape to the freakishly long wiper blade, the Cybertruck’s gigantic windshield wiper measures a whopping 50 inches.
For comparison, the longest windshield wiper blades in the Tesla Model 3 and Y measure 26 inches. This shows you how large the Cybertruck’s Giga Wiper is, however, despite its enormous size, it appears that the wiper blade is not able to reach a good chunk of the Cybrtruck’s equally sizable windshield.
This is annoying for day-to-day driving, however, the issue appears to be even more pronounced in off-roading situations. A recent picture of a dirty Cybertruck by Joe Tegtmeyer and Brad Slon highlights this issue.
As you can see from the picture, the Cybertruck is covered almost completely by mud. The truck appears to have returned from off-road testing. As we’ve mentioned above, with all the durability tests Tesla has thrown at the Cybertruck, there is no doubt the truck will be able to meet any off-roading challenge.
However, what good is having a truck that is able to traverse any terrain, if the vehicle at the same time can be thwarted by mud on the windshield screen? As you can see from the picture, the Giga Wiper is barely able to clean half of the Cybertruck’s windshield.
Since the Giga Wiper starts from the driver's side and cleans to the passenger side, it doesn’t appear that the driver is completely blinded however, there is no doubt a large chunk of the Cybertruck’s visibility has been hindered due to the shortcomings of the single vertical blade.
Going from these pictures, the Giga Wiper is shaping up to be the Cybertruck’s Achilles heel. Having said that, online commentators have pointed out that the issue with the Cybertruck’s wipers might not be as bad as it seems.
Their reasoning goes something along the lines of, the Cybertruck has an unusually tall windshield for its size, which means even though a large chunk of the front glass appears to not be reached by the Giga Wiper, the Cybertruck’s wiper blade is still able to clean more surface area than in a normal vehicle.
This in turn means, the visibility through a dirty Cybertruck windshield, although partially occluded, is still comparable to any vehicle with a pair of windshield wipers. This is certainly an interesting way of looking at things and as a Cybertrcuk fan, I hope they are correct.
Beyond speculation, we’ve to wait until the first independent Cybertruck reviews to say for sure how much of an issue the Giga Wiper will be. And we’ll be sure to keep you posted once we learn more about the truck.
Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.
So what do you think? Disappointed by the Cybertruck’s single vertical windshield wiper design? Do you think the Giga Wiper will be an issue? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Image: Courtesy of Joe Tegtmeyer on X
For more information check out: Tesla’s Decision to Not Paint the Cybertruck Has been Validated After 13 Cybertrucks Were Seen Next to a Helipad
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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