Elon Musk, appearing on a special Halloween episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, agreed to let Rogan fire an arrow at his personal Tesla cybertruck, and the experiment ended badly for Rogan.
I’ll be the first to admit that we sometimes give Elon Musk a hard time here at DMARGE, whether it’s dishing the dirt on his rumoured ketamine habit or sharing revelations about this so-called “demon mode”. However, Elon got a rare win this week after winning a wager with superstar podcaster Joe Rogan.
Appearing on a special Halloween episode of the show, which saw both men donning costumes and luxuriating in expensive cigars, their discussion was wide-ranging but eventually came around to the topic of Tesla’s much-publicised Cybertruck and, specifically, how much damage the juggernaut vehicle can endure.
WATCH: It was a strong effort from Rogan, but the Cybertruck held its own.
Musk was quick to explain that the vehicle has been meticulously designed to withstand almost unimaginable amounts of damage compared to your usual consumer vehicle or family SUV, referencing one Tesla demonstration in particular:
“There are [a number of] demonstrations… one of which is, you know, emptying a Tommy gun into the side of the car, [as well as a] shotgun, .45 and a .9 mil with no penetrations.”
Elon Musk
Rogan, however, with characteristic confidence was convinced that he would be able to inflict some serious damage on the vehicle by using the right piece of equipment. His weapon of choice? A compound bow with a broad-head arrow:
“I have a 90 lb compound bow that shoots 520-grain arrows at 300 feet per second with, I think, a razor-sharp broad-head.”
Joe Rogan
Musk was equally confident that the truck would ve able to survive the blow and agreed not only to have Rogan test out his theory there and then, but even laid down a small wager for the podcaster:
“I’ll bet you can’t… yeah, I’ll bet your dollar.”
Elon Musk
While it may not represent a life-changing sum of money for either party, it spoke to Musk’s faith in his designers and his product. The pair went out into Rogan’s garage to test out the theory and, despite Rogan putting his not inconsiderable personal strength behind an already very powerful piece of kit, the Cybertruck held up just fine.
Other than a light scratch, no damage was done to the truck. The arrow, on the other hand, suffered enormously, with the head detaching from its body which subsequently shattered on impact. While Rogan was left with egg on his face and a dollar down, it made for a ringing endorsement of one of Musk’s mot controversial creations.
While I can’t deny I find the Cybertruck to be an ugly exercise in total excess and won’t be springing for one anytime soon, at least the vehicle has been publicly proven to live up to its own bold claims of indestructibility after a contentious few years in production.