Rivian, Cybertruck, and The Cultural Implications of EV Design

A conversation with a former Tesla designer on the two vehicles

Tim Chinenov
5 min readJun 13, 2022

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The electric truck race has been entertaining to watch from a distance. The industry is tackling complex physical and manufacturing problems. However, probably the most attractive element of this race is the polarizing and bizarrely different nature of the two contending vehicles. On one hand, you have the idiosyncratic cyber-punk Cybertruck from Tesla, and on the other hand, you have the utilitarian solar-punk R1T from Rivian.

Not too long ago, I sat down with an old friend who was a design engineer at Tesla. He was (and still is) a big fan of Tesla and what the company stands for. He is also an incredibly passionate and skilled UI/UX engineer. I enjoy pointing to random advertisements, logos, architectures, etc. and asking him what design strategies or techniques he can spot that do not permeate past my subconscious.

I wanted to know his thoughts between the Cybertruck and the R1T. Even as someone who has the design expertise of a toddler attempting to draw within the lines, I could tell the Cybertruck was somewhat odd. So I asked, “who are you rooting for?”

The UI/UX expert drew an analogy for me: the current battle between the two vehicles is reminiscent…

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Tim Chinenov

A SpaceX software engineer. Im an equal opportunity critic that writes about tech and policy. instagram: @classy.tim.writes