Revolutionary Design: Tesla Secures Design Patent (USD980147S) for Cybertruck Wheel Covers

The wheel covers for the Cybertruck have been given a Design Patent (USD980147S) by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The patent was approved on March 7, 2023, and it has a 15 years validity period (i.e., Mar 07, 2038)

Basic Details of Tesla’s Design Patent USD980147S:

• Title: Vehicle Wheel
• Inventors: Bilodeau; Julien et al, Franz von Holzhausen, David Imai, and Ivan Lampkin
• Application Number: 29/714,126
• Date of Patent: Mar 07, 2023
• Term: 15 Years (i.e., Mar 07, 2038)
• Claims: The ornamental design for a vehicle wheel, as shown and described

Design Patent appears to protect non-functional appearance thus, USD980147S does not include any technical information on aero covers but does share the diagrams as below.

Interesting Fact: Tesla first debuted the Cybertruck on Nov 21, 2019, the same day the design patent application was first submitted.

The aero covers were created by none other than Tesla's Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen, along with Julien Bilodeau, David Imai, and Ivan Lampkin, according to the patent information published on the USPTO website on Mar 07, 2023.

The first Cybertruck prototype had unusual wheel coverings on the substantial 35-inch tyres when it was initially unveiled. The covers were only on the original prototype, with future prototypes featuring the "bare" wheel exclusively. When the most recent beta version of the Cybertruck was discovered in Palo Alto last month, which CEO Elon Musk claimed was very near to production form, many people began to worry that the covers had been removed.

When Tesla displayed that Cybertruck at Investor Day with the same wheel coverings as the original prototype, those worries were allayed. Another indication that they will enter production is the fact that Tesla on Mar 07, 2023 received a patent for its design.