Manufacturing – Page 12583 – I wish I had more to offer

EV subscription startup Canoo, co-founder sued for alleged harassment

Just weeks after Canoo took the wraps off of its electric vehicle, the Los Angeles-based startup and co-founder Stefan Krause has been accused of gender and marital discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, and wrongful termination in a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The lawsuit, which was filed by Christina Krause, the company’s former head of communications and Stefan… Continue reading EV subscription startup Canoo, co-founder sued for alleged harassment

Vitesco Technologies Supplies Electric Drive for New Volume-Production Models of Groupe PSA and Hyundai

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Bosch poised for leap in e-mobility technology

Reutlingen and Dresden, Germany – Nowadays, all cars feature semiconductors. There are more than 50 of them in every vehicle that rolls off the production line. The new microchips made of silicon carbide (SiC) that Bosch has developed will now help electromobility make a great leap forward. In the future, the chips made of this… Continue reading Bosch poised for leap in e-mobility technology

Volkswagen ID 3 Electric Hatchback Is EV Forbidden Fruit

Volkswagen has revealed its first in a wave of new electric vehicles to reach the market in the coming years. The Volkswagen ID 3 debuted today at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show, marking the beginning of the brand’s plans to make more than 10 million EVs over the next 10 years. The hatchback is the… Continue reading Volkswagen ID 3 Electric Hatchback Is EV Forbidden Fruit

After several disappointing quarters, Chinese EV maker Nio’s sales surge

Nio delivered 4,799 vehicles in the third quarter, a 35.1% surge in sales and a positive development for the Chinese electric automaker that has been plagued by cost overruns, a voluntary battery recall and macroeconomic conditions such as declining passenger vehicle sales and reduced EV subsidies. The company said Tuesday it also exceeded the middle… Continue reading After several disappointing quarters, Chinese EV maker Nio’s sales surge

Here are the Tesla paint colors that best hold their value

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Tesla Model X beats Mercedes-Benz EQC and Audi e-tron in camper trailer towing test

The Norwegian EV association put a Tesla Model X, a Mercedes-Benz EQC and a Audi e-tron through an interesting towing test with identical camper trailers. Here are the results… Many people still think that you can’t tow a trailer with an electric car, but the Model X became the first one with 2,267 kg/5,000 lb… Continue reading Tesla Model X beats Mercedes-Benz EQC and Audi e-tron in camper trailer towing test

NIO Inc. Provides Third Quarter 2019 Delivery Update

Delivered 4,799 vehicles in the third quarter 2019, consisting of 4,196 ES6s and 603 ES8s Delivered 2,019 vehicles in September 2019, including 1,726 ES6s and 293 ES8s Cumulative deliveries of ES8 and ES6 reached 23,689 SHANGHAI, China, Oct. 08, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NIO Inc. (“NIO” or the “Company”) (NYSE: NIO),… Continue reading NIO Inc. Provides Third Quarter 2019 Delivery Update

UPDATE 6-Nissan pins revival hopes on ‘foreigner with a Japanese face’

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) named the head of its Chinese business as its next CEO on Tuesday, picking an executive known for close ties to top shareholder Renault (RENA.PA) and for a frank, straight-talking manner that has marked him as an outsider. By selecting Senior Vice President Makoto Uchida, Nissan’s board has… Continue reading UPDATE 6-Nissan pins revival hopes on ‘foreigner with a Japanese face’

Tesla Reached 7,000 Cars Per Week In 3rd Quarter & Nobody Noticed

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Published on October 8th, 2019 |

by Maarten Vinkhuyzen

Tesla Reached 7,000 Cars Per Week In 3rd Quarter & Nobody Noticed

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October 8th, 2019 by Maarten Vinkhuyzen

From the start of Tesla Model 3 production until about a year ago, the most important, nearly daily, Tesla news was about the weekly production numbers. We visited the Bloomberg tracker regularly to stay abreast of the news, and the FUD. And then Tesla started producing over 4,000 vehicles per week regularly and the interest disappeared. Tesla finished the marathon many doubted it could endure for more than a mile, two at the most.

Those were fun times. Tesla reaching 100, 200, 500, and even 1,000/week was an exciting progression of events. Elon Musk teased production numbers on Twitter that were one-time events and some claimed that they could “never” be sustained at a steady production level. The monthly sales number guesstimates on InsideEVs and Tesla’s quarterly delivery disclosures were preceded and followed by heated speculation.

As a somewhat more detailed reminder of what happened, Tesla designed a futuristic 5,000 unit/week production line, only to discover that humans were greatly undervalued and that line had to be redesigned while slowly ramping the production numbers. There was the plan to build a second 5,000 unit/week line when more vehicles were needed.

However, when redesigning the line, optimizing and tuning all the steps, Tesla realized that it would be less costly to enhance the line to higher throughput numbers than to build a second line. To be precise, upgrading to 7,000 units/week would be possible with small enhancements and a little capex. Upgrading to 10,000 units/week would require serious investments. The 7,000 unit/week option was really a no-brainer. The 10,000 unit/week option was a possibility that probably never reached the status of plan, let alone stimulating any actual planning.

When building Gigafactory 3 (GF3) in Shanghai became reality, all talks of 10,000 units/week in Fremont were forgotten (except by some foolhardy trolls).

In those days, Musk and some other figures with a grasp of production tried to explain what 41.6 cars/hour or 1,000 cars/day or 7,000 cars/week represents. Many did simple arrhythmic and proclaimed production of 360,000 or even 365,000 per year.

While 24 x 41.67 indeed equals 1,000, there is never a day when there is no slowing down or stopping of the line. To get to 1,000 cars/day, you have to get to a steady 47/hour. There are always bathroom, coffee, breakage, accident, repair, and other interruptions. For the same reason, you need 1,100 to 1,150 cars/day to reach a 7,000 cars/week. Or, at least, something like that. Jerome Guillen, Tesla’s president of automotive, knows the exact number.

That coveted 7,000 cars/week will not result in 91,000 vehicles/quarter. That is 80,000 at the most. A rule of thumb of 11½ weeks per quarter is often used in planning.

In a production environment, there are always production disturbances, accidents, needed repairs, maintenance, upgrades, alterations, etc., besides the holidays and other valid reasons to close the factory for a day or so longer.

Such issues happened a lot in the disastrous first quarter of this year. They happened at a normal rate in the third quarter, and they will happen in each quarter in the future.

But with a total of 79,837 Tesla Model 3 vehicles produced in the last quarter, we now know that the steady 7,000 unit/week total for a whole quarter has been reached. The most remarkable thing about this achievement is that it was not noted by all those people who were so focused on this number a year ago. It was a non-event, as it should be with a normal carmaker.

About the Author

Maarten Vinkhuyzen Grumpy old man. The best thing I did with my life was raising two kids. Only finished primary education, but when you don’t go to school, you have lots of time to read. I switched from accounting to software development and ended my career as system integrator and architect. My 2007 boss got two electric Lotus Elise cars to show policymakers the future direction of energy and transportation. And I have been looking to replace my diesel cars with electric vehicles ever since.

And putting my money where my mouth is, I have bought Tesla shares. Intend to keep them until I can trade them for a Tesla car.

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