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2.5 hours to build a Model Y from start to finish. And it's not over yet.
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-giga-shanghai-model-y-assembly-2-5-hrs-first-final-station-report/
The process is further being adapted for each step to be automated. The role of humans will eventually be to supervise robots.
There's an awful lot of human labor going on in that video. Not that it can't be automated, but some aspects are surprisingly hard to automate. I'm also slightly curious whether that 2.5 hours is from when the chassis parts start being welded together, or after the chassis blank hits the final assembly line.
Henry Ford got the build time of the Model T to 93 minutes.
Obligatory maritime reference: the fastest Liberty ship (440' x 57', 14,000 long tons GVW) build was 4 days, 15 hours, and change from keel laying to launch. That was a stunt--most of the ships took around 30-50 days depending on steel supplies.

There's a lot of really interesting tradeoffs in industrial process design between making subassemblies larger and more complex and doing more of that work in final assembly. At least in my industry, it's one of those cases where in theory it's better to do as much as possible in the subassembly stage, but there are sometimes places where the theory isn't the same as practice. One really important example is that the welding has to be completely done before painting begins* or you end up putting yourself further behind with paint touchup. I'm sure that's even more so with automotive paint. I assume from the build time that the panels are all finished beforehand.

* This isn't 100% true but if you're still welding while painting, you have a lot to think about in terms of clearances between good paint and weld and the like.
 
A comparison with recent cars would be interesting.

There's a comparison with Ford's process (and every other car's) in the video I posted yesterday:
There is no reason not to be able to assemble a vehicle in 1/2 hour or less. It all depends on how big your subassemblies are and how much assembly you ask your suppliers to do before shipping the piece to the factory.

Its a business choice or optimization how much value add is done at final assembly. How long does it take Tesla to assemble and test the battery modules? Is that inside or outside the 2.5 hours?
 
2.5 hours to build a Model Y from start to finish. And it's not over yet.

There's an awful lot of human labor going on in that video. Not that it can't be automated, but some aspects are surprisingly hard to automate. I'm also slightly curious whether that 2.5 hours is from when the chassis parts start being welded together, or after the chassis blank hits the final assembly line.
Still lots of human labor today, but what they announced at "Investor Day" last week is they're overhauling the process to allow more automation. For example, people won't have to enter the car anymore to assemble the interior. Instead, the front and rear will be completely assembled before they get connected together as a car. As separate assemblies, they will be easier to complete by people and/or robots. This has never been done by anyone before.

There is no reason not to be able to assemble a vehicle in 1/2 hour or less. It all depends on how big your subassemblies are and how much assembly you ask your suppliers to do before shipping the piece to the factory.
I'm giving you the news as I find it from the experts on the front lines. But FYI, Tesla appears to be making more in-house than any other car manufacturer, i.e. they do their own subassemblies from their own parts. I would assume the 2.5 hour countdown starts with ready-made parts.
 
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Still lots of human labor today, but what they announced at "Investor Day" last week is they're overhauling the process to allow more automation. For example, people won't have to enter the car anymore to assemble the interior. Instead, the front and rear will be completely assembled before they get connected together as a car. As separate assemblies, they will be easier to complete by people and/or robots. This has never been done by anyone before.
It will be interesting long term to see how far they can take the automation process. Another factor in how much value automation has is how often you do the thing and how expensive the machinery is relative to the human techs that do it now.
I'm giving you the news as I find it from the experts on the front lines. But FYI, Tesla appears to be making more in-house than any other car manufacturer, i.e. they do their own subassemblies from their own parts. I would assume the 2.5 hour countdown starts with ready-made parts.
Tesla does seem to make more themselves than anyone else. That does have some implications downstream with repair parts availability. If most of the manufacturing capacity is going to new products, you end up with long lead times on repair parts.

None of this is intended a criticism of Tesla. In the absence of relevant manufacturing experience, it's really a step above navel gazing and thinking about what issues I would consider in making those kinds of decisions.
 
Everything known today about the cybertruck:

 
Everything known today about the cybertruck:
The person who made that cybertruck video just posted a correction on Twitter saying the Cybertruck's frunk will open like most car trunks. The vertical front portion is connected to the top hood to make an "L" shape, so when openned, there is easy access to the compartment.

tesla-cybertruck-frunk-opening.jpeg
 
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I'm glad VW is making quick progress. It's good for the industry in general and for emissions.

After watching Investor Day 2023, it's clear Tesla is putting everything in place to release their own $25k car. VW's announcement and perhaps upcoming release of the ID2 reminds me of Ford's F150 lightning. VW and Ford may be quicker to release their cars, but when Tesla releases their "Model 2" and Cybertruck, I think it could shake the market (rearrange market shares in Tesla's favor). Anticipation for these appear to be very high. Few things are more entertaining to me right now.

But while Tesla will be building their next gigafactory in Mexico, VW will be building a battery plant in Canada, which is also great news:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...-picks-canada-for-battery-factory/ar-AA18CgMF
VW investing $193B? And some are worried about a few $B to enhance power grids? 🤨
 
I wonder it the ID.2 will be available as a 4-door? I have dogs and a 2-door just wouldn't be practical.
If you look closely it seems like there's a rear door. The B-pillar feels a little too far forward to be a 2-door. No handle visible though, not sure if it's in the back corner of the rear window or on a button or something silly. Maybe they forgot to render it. :)
 
If you look closely it seems like there's a rear door. The B-pillar feels a little too far forward to be a 2-door. No handle visible though, not sure if it's in the back corner of the rear window or on a button or something silly. Maybe they forgot to render it. :)
@KC3KNM Here's some more info on the VW ID.2. In one of the shots you can see the outline of a door but no handle.

 
@KC3KNM Here's some more info on the VW ID.2. In one of the shots you can see the outline of a door but no handle.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_ID.2allYeah, I think it's tucked up in the backside of the rear window. I've seen a few manufactures do this, and there's a break in the rear of the window on the ID. 2all. I've seen a few references to it being a "5-door" too! It doesn't seem like it's likely we'll get them in the US, sadly. Maybe that will change.
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Tesla is starting to make their charging network available to other cars. With everyone working together, maybe range anxiety can be eliminated everywhere.

 
One Mackinac Island ferry in northern MI is having end-of-life diesel engines replaced with an electric propulsion system. Total project cost is around $6M, including a 1.5 MW shore power station. This project will be a pathfinder for electric conversion of 28 more vessels in the same fleet.

An unrelated project will add shore power facilities to docks in Sault Ste. Marie, allowing cargo ships to shut down diesel generators while dockside.

https://www.marinelink.com/news/503754
 
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