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Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

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Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#351

Post by calinet6 »

Kranar wrote: post #269
calinet6 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those who know anything about manufacturing are seeing very clearly that this is unlikely, or if achieved will be done at great cost and waste. https://twitter.com/skabooshka/status/1012000014376230913

Those in the know said electric cars in general were an unpractical waste of money. I also remember three years ago hearing those in the know saying a self landing rocket would not be possible, and if it ever were made it would also be done at great cost and waste. Heck, those in the know said even a couple of months ago that Tesla would not be able to achieve 5000 Model 3s by today. The truth is, there aren't really…

Musk's "new, innovative approaches to manufacturing" are the status-quo from around 40 years ago. Maybe he doesn't know that...

And are they really "trying something no one else has bothered to try before"? Altogether, an electric car is simply not that much more new or different from a conventional one, these days. In fact it's much simpler. A lot of the learnings of the last 40 years would absolutely apply.

We'll see!

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#352

Post by selimthegrim »

jjeaff wrote: post #164
austenallred wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, sure, but call it 4850 of 5000 when everyone says there wasn't a prayer of making it is pretty remarkable. Call it 97% of the way. The fact that they built out a tent and hustled 24/7 to hit the goal is impressive to me. Overall it's pretty classic Tesla/Musk. Predict the absolutely impossible, get 97% of the way there, and regardless of how you slice it the only thing that's not impressive is the facxt that they…

>I see Teslas everywhere now. Meaning you live in one of 4 coastal cities. Teslas are exceedingly rare everywhere but the wealthiest cities.

I’ve seen a couple in New Orleans, and we are by no means wealthy.

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#353

Post by calinet6 »

Latteland wrote: post #290
calinet6 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those who know anything about manufacturing are seeing very clearly that this is unlikely, or if achieved will be done at great cost and waste. https://twitter.com/skabooshka/status/1012000014376230913

that particular poster seems to be an anti-tesla troll. Certainly there is reason to wonder if Tesla can do what they are trying to do, they've had trouble so far. But it's not an impossible task, there are lots of companies in the world doing mass production of cars, tractors, etc, it's not some impossible task.

> there are lots of companies in the world doing mass production of cars, tractors, etc, it's not some impossible task

Exactly the point. Yet the struggle is real with Tesla, for some reason.

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#354

Post by qaq »

bicubic wrote: post #302
slg wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am surprised to see this type of argument on HN of all places. One of the primary goals of any start up is to either create a new market or to serve a market that an incumbent is failing to properly serve. You can't just assume that because a company like Toyota hasn't done any of these things yet that there is no potential to gain from them. There are countless reasons why traditional powers fail to innovate and a…

GM/Toyota have the resources to start operating in the same markets that Tesla has ambitions for. And they are certainly keeping an eye on Tesla's actions. After watching what Tesla is doing, they have chosen not to invest those resources even though if they did, they would beat Tesla at its own game quite easily because they eclipse it both in capital and experience. Either their analysts are wrong and failing to se…

You have very skewed perception of how a company like GM operates. The incentives for managers are pretty short term they have 0 incentive to do a project that might pay off 5 years from now. In deciding on how to allocate capital there is 0 chance they will allocate it to doing high risk long term project vs doing a bigger truck now that they will sell next month at some ungodly margin.

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#355

Post by jexah »

calinet6 wrote: post #74
setquk wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. He delivers. People are too obsessed about when. Shits’s complicated.

Not so worried about when, there's no rush. It's just a shame to see the chaos where there doesn't have to be, that's all.

That's just the thing, Tesla isn't creating the chaos, everybody else is. Tesla setting huge goals and trying their best to reach them, no doubt exceeding Musk's true expectations. Companies fail to meet goals all the time, most of the time because the goals have been set intentionally unreachable.

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#356

Post by freerobby »

williamscales wrote: post #21

"It was not clear if Tesla could maintain that level of production for a longer period of time." I think this is the million dollar question—was this just a sprint effort to hit a milestone for PR sake or will they produce 5000 next week too?

> Tesla expects to increase production to 6,000 Model 3s per week by late next month.

http://ir.tesla.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tesla...

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#357

Post by gameswithgo »

RaceWon wrote: post #239
aphextron wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that half of those 5000 are being produced in a tent in the parking lot with summer heat and no AC, I can only imagine.

My question is who R&D's these cars at the limits of adhesion? Every single auto maker track tests their cars using real racing drivers who understand vehicle dynamics and can comfortably drive street cars on the limit, and over it. Track testing ensures a car is safe for the average driver, who has no idea that the throttle steers the back of the car-to give just one example. How will these cars behave when little J…

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-professional-driver-...

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#358

Post by falcolas »

minhazm wrote: post #305
aphextron wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that half of those 5000 are being produced in a tent in the parking lot with summer heat and no AC, I can only imagine.

I think the estimates I saw were a few hundred are being produced in the tents. In any case, the customers are who will deal with any quality issues. If there are issues, Tesla has a track record of making things right for the customer.

If you can afford to wait the 5-7 months during which you may not have your Tesla. You can't even get it repaired on your own dime; the computer inside won't let you.

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#359

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #315
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They currently build a luxury SUV, yes. Tell me when they make one people can actually afford.

As the price of oil continues to climb, EVs become more affordable than internal combustion vehicles. Seems like a poor time to drop your sedan production in favor of SUVs with oil prices climbing, considering Americans are already changing their behavior due to existing price momentum at the pump.

As it continues to? Please look at oil prices over the last 20 years. You will see a lot of fluctuation.

> Seems like a poor time to drop your sedan production in favor of SUVs with oil prices climbing,

GM can do this. They can change production so quickly that when oil is cheap and people want SUVs (aka now) they can do that. And when it is not, they can change production back to sedans and EV. Much more flexibility.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/climate/suv-sales-global-...

Re: Tesla meets self-imposed deadline for Model 3, rolls out 5000 cars in a week

#360

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

confiscate wrote: post #322
ntsplnkv2 wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 4. other car makers trail behind Tesla more and more in terms of technology. Remember, all these car makers had DECADES of head start developing EVs before Tesla was even born. Tesla was supposed to trail them in tech, not the other way around. > It's easy to assume that because a company is bigger, and have more resources and manufacturing experience, that they can move fast in developing tech. It's easy to judge…

That's exactly the point I am making. It has nothing to do with Silicon Valley. The geography is meaningless. The only thing that matters is staying ahead of the curve. It's always going to be hard for GM to do that, because it's focus is always going to be on incremental improvements of the same way of doing things. The "years of design and manufacturing experience" you mention. Look at their $1B acquisition in Crui…

> The only thing that matters is staying ahead of the curve. It's always going to be hard for GM to do that, because it's focus is always going to be on incremental improvements of the same way of doing things. The "years of design and manufacturing experience" you mention.

This isn't true. They can continue to make their general automotive improvements while also upskilling in EV - the Bolt is a prime example of that. Frankly, they beat tesla to the punch there.

> Look at their $1B acquisition in Cruise Automation. Like you said, GM is not a power company, its' a car company. Its' business is cars. GM should have developed self-driving tech internally, and not had to buy it. Cars is GM's job. But GM missed that boat entirely, because everyone in GM is focused on incremental improvements on manufacturing.

Hmm, you mean like Tesla bought the solar manufacturer for Solar City? Is that not acceptable to you? You bring up an argument against your point. GM can easily purchase anyone. If they slightly miss something a purchase is all that's needed.

> Even your comment mentions that "most people don't care about EV right now." EV is not a big focus for GM. Sure it has the Chevy Bolt, but that only began development 10 years after Tesla started. GM does not care about EVs right now. It's focus is still on manufacturing traditional cars, and will continue to be this way until someone else forces them to change.

EV is a big deal to GM because they know where the future is heading. They also are not hemorrhaging money and burning runway because they also have a sustainable business now. So they can do both.

Meanwhile Tesla can't even scale a 35K car. They're a luxury brand. period.

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