Is 2021 a great year? Incorrect! But we did have some posts that got a lot of attention. Take a walk with us in memory, as we think back to 2021, a year that looks much better this time in 2022.
Elon Musk is taking responsibility for Tesla’s production failures. He recently sat down with one of the Tesla guys largest build quality critic, production expert Sandy Munro, founder of benchmarking consulting firm Munro & Associates. Here’s what Musk had to say about the massive dashboard void and poorly designed body structure in what has to be one of the most epic engineering interviews I’ve seen in a while. while.
What happens when you take a manufacturing guru with decades of automotive engineering experience and put him in the room with a science geek like Elon Musk? Magic. What is that.
Munro, a man who made headlines after completely away from the build quality of an early Model 3 by comparing it to a 1990s Kia, finally got to meet Musk in person while the cameras were rolling. It sounds like this could be a controversial situation, but what does Musk say as soon as he exits the gate? “I think your criticism is correct.”
I’m a far cry from a Tesla celebrity or Elon Musk, but I have to appreciate that honesty.
The Tesla CEO then admits to his company’s construction mistakes and learns why they happened. When asked about the dashboard gap, Musk said: “It was [Tesla] some time to … ironing the manufacturing process, “continued to discuss how the company struggled to get the parts right while manufacturing in ‘vertical climbing mode'” Musk said that cars that are actually produced early and those that come out after production slows down are the ones that are likely to have the most finishing and fit.
Munro, met a number of Tesla owners recently road trip, noticed the difference between two vehicles built in the same short amount of time. He asked Musk, confused as to how this could happen. “We actually improved the spacing and paint quality quite a bit late last year,” the California-based engineer and chief executive officer told the Michigan-based engineer and chief executive officer, “” Even in December.”
Musk also mentioned that while ramping up production, his team rushed to manufacture cars in a way that wasn’t enough for the paint to dry, causing quality problems. “Manufacturing is hell,” Musk said bluntly.
What about the rear of the Model 3’s body, which Munro criticized as having too many pieces with too many different fastening methods? (shown below):
The image above shows this issue on an initial Model 3 build, however Munro’s 2021 model year showed some improvement. For example, there are now 17 spot welds on a particular plate instead of 26 on the old car and there is less than one pin. Strangely, though, even the newer Model 3s don’t share Model Y’s more intuitive “super-molded” rear wheel – i.e. a single piece instead of different plates fastened together.
Musk discusses the weakness of this Model 3 design.
“Organizational flaws, they manifest themselves in the product,” he began. “We have probably the best materials science team in the world at Tesla. Engineers will ask what is the best material for this purpose…and they get 50 different answers. And they are all true individually, but not collectively,” he admitted.
“When you try to combine all these different alloys… you get gaps that you have to seal, and you have to join these, and some of them need to be joined with nails. canopy, some need to be joined with spot welds, some of them need to be joined with rosin or rosin and spot welds,” he continued.
“Honestly, it looks like a bit of a Frankenstein situation when you consider it all together.” Musk later talked about sealing the gaps between different pieces in the body as a nightmare. “It can be the hardest job in the factory, getting the sealant on,” he describes, noting how even the slightest mistake can cause leaks and NVH problems.
Munro asked why newer Model 3s still use such a multi-piece rear body design instead of a cast wheel like on the Model Y. “It’s hard to change wheels on a bus when it’s on the highway. 80 mph,” Musk replied. says that the Model 3 represents such a large portion of the automaker’s output that the company “[needs] an opportunity to rework the factory without increasing cash flow. ”
He talks about the importance of one-piece casting to the Model Y: There are no gaps, no sealants, and no risk of galvanic corrosion at the surfaces of various metals. According to Musks, that choice alone has allowed Tesla to reduce the size of its car store by 30%. “We got rid of 300 robots with just casting the rear body,” he told Munro.
Musk then discussed with Munro his plans for Tesla to switch to a structural battery pack that uses individual cells as structural elements that resist shear forces. “The cells in every car these days are carried like a sack of potatoes,” Musk explained. “They really have negative structural value,” goes on to say that these days, cells don’t make the car any stiffer, and that’s especially because there’s the necessary insulation between the cells and the shell. box to help the battery handle the shock load, the battery is only a liability from a mass point of view. Musk wants to change that and get dual use from those batteries.
The rest of the interview is still very confusing. There is discussion about the natural frequency of cars, about how reducing the polar moment of inertia by moving mass towards the center of the car provides better handling. There’s discussion about increasing tolerances and how it leads Tesla to almost always be wrong about the accuracy of Lego-like parts.
Munro mentioned his company Discovered BMW i3, praising the German carmaker’s excellent build quality for the carbon fiber bodywork. Musk replied that one of his big concerns about using carbon fiber is that it has a very different coefficient of thermal expansion than aluminum or steel and this can cause equipment problems when the vehicle is running. subjected to certain thermal environments.
Musk also talked about how Tesla’s casting size on the Model S and X is limited because heat treatment leads to shape distortion when the part reaches a certain size. To facilitate larger castings, Musk said, the company’s materials scientists had to create a custom alloy that didn’t require additional post-casting processing.
Musk also mentioned that he wants to get rid of 12-volt systems on electric vehicles – a maintenance from previous designs and a way to easily integrate components already from well-known automotive suppliers. . Musk and Munro agree that a 48-volt system can have a lot of benefits including reducing wire size and weight. Musk mentioned that the S and X are now getting 12-volt lithium-ion batteries, which add more capacity and longer life than traditional lead-acid batteries.
The discussion ended with a talk about the future of electric vehicles and the speed at which they will enter the market in the coming years. There are also talks about digital shorts because Of course Yes.
Throughout the interview, especially in the beginning, Munro praises Tesla’s great seats, while Musk talks about how important it is to reduce the climax of pressure on the body. Two companies examine the value of buying indoor chairs versus buying from a supplier.
It’s all puzzling and fascinating, and in a way, a truly magical moment between two experts in math and science. I like it. I also like how, when Munro said he was having problems with Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system because of bad road markings in Texas, Musk bluntly said, “Even if the road is painted completely wrong and a UFO landed in the middle of the Road, the car still couldn’t hit and still needed to do the right thing… Can’t depend on precise road markings…. It just has to be ‘no matter what go’ anymore, it won’t crash.’ ”
The whole interview is just gold. I spoke with Cory Steuben, president of Munro & Associates, and he told me how this interview even went. Steuben and Munro are currently in the middle of a trip in a Model 3 that they randomly decided to buy.
The two planned a trip out West to see some EV automakers and hang out in Fremont to see if Musk was there. He is not. By chance, Steuben received an email from an individual saying he could arrange an interview with Musk. Musk’s assistant, at 11 p.m. Monday, scheduled an interview in Boca Chica, Texas for Friday, but at the time, Steuben and Munro were in Eugene, Oregon.
So Steuben and Munro had to prep it for 2,500 miles, 40 hours in a Model 3, plan charging stations, and really put electric induction to the ultimate test in driving from Oregon came to Texas to see first-hand the king of electric cars, Elon Musk.
Fortunately, Steuben and Munro had their meet, with the former billionaire saying he was “one of the most interesting, humble, stoic people … that I have met, who is in such a position.”
Steuben said Musk spent three hours with two engineers from Michigan, and were seen working at 10:30 p.m. Friday.
As if the interview itself wasn’t epic enough.
