Yes, like with many disciplines of engineering, starting with the right approach is a large part of designing a good product. Here it is with starting as an electric car with a battery skateboard. The rest then is competent engineering the structural parts around the battery and the crumple zones.

And it is no surprise that the engineering at Tesla is competent. After all, Tesla does have a good contact to SpaceX, where actual rocket scientists work :). In any case, SpaceX is a great source of expert knowledge on material science and structural strength.