I think I heard Elon say his plans to begin shipping the Model 3 were for July 1st 2017, during an earnings conference call last year. That was the date he was asking all suppliers to use in their scheduling plans.
It has sounded like nothing has gone wrong with this plan and Tesla can actually start shipping on July 1st. (a Saturday)
The July 4th vacation day surely plays into the schedule... here are some thoughts on how it might play out.
1) It would be nice for Tesla employees to be able to drive their cars home in time for the July 4th day off, which is a Tuesday. Consequently the reveal/shipping day would be Monday July 3rd. Invites would be sent out a week before, which is Tesla's usual behaviour - June 26th.
But - a lot of employees take the day off on the day before or after July 4th if it is adjacent to a weekend. Thus a lot of employees wouldn't be around for July 3rd. The July 4th weekend is usually a bad time to get anything done. Would this make the July 3rd idea a bad one?
2) If Elon decides to wait until everyone has rested, the reveal event could be on Wednesday July 5th when everyone comes back to work. (This would mean that the initial shipment of cars would be under lock and key somewhere for the entire July 4th/weekend period.)
3) Or, they could push the reveal event one day to Thursday July 6th, since Thursdays lead to excellent TV coverage on Friday morning and throughout the weekend.
These guesses imply that production of the final cars is about to begin, given that the time taken to produce a car ranges from 2 to 7 days depending on how things go on the assembly line - especially during startup of a new model. Surely, some final parts have already been produced - e.g. wheels, window glass, seats and so on - and perhaps final body stamping are beginning, just to stack up somewhere at the factory.
4) Finally, the last thing to consider is that perhaps Elon was referring to a "production start" on July 1st. This would mean that the time taken to produce the cars would push the reveal date to the second week of July, given the disruption of the July 4th weekend. We could be talking about Thursday July 13th for the reveal/shipping event, and invites going out on Thursday July 6th.
Thoughts?
It has sounded like nothing has gone wrong with this plan and Tesla can actually start shipping on July 1st. (a Saturday)
The July 4th vacation day surely plays into the schedule... here are some thoughts on how it might play out.
1) It would be nice for Tesla employees to be able to drive their cars home in time for the July 4th day off, which is a Tuesday. Consequently the reveal/shipping day would be Monday July 3rd. Invites would be sent out a week before, which is Tesla's usual behaviour - June 26th.
But - a lot of employees take the day off on the day before or after July 4th if it is adjacent to a weekend. Thus a lot of employees wouldn't be around for July 3rd. The July 4th weekend is usually a bad time to get anything done. Would this make the July 3rd idea a bad one?
2) If Elon decides to wait until everyone has rested, the reveal event could be on Wednesday July 5th when everyone comes back to work. (This would mean that the initial shipment of cars would be under lock and key somewhere for the entire July 4th/weekend period.)
3) Or, they could push the reveal event one day to Thursday July 6th, since Thursdays lead to excellent TV coverage on Friday morning and throughout the weekend.
These guesses imply that production of the final cars is about to begin, given that the time taken to produce a car ranges from 2 to 7 days depending on how things go on the assembly line - especially during startup of a new model. Surely, some final parts have already been produced - e.g. wheels, window glass, seats and so on - and perhaps final body stamping are beginning, just to stack up somewhere at the factory.
4) Finally, the last thing to consider is that perhaps Elon was referring to a "production start" on July 1st. This would mean that the time taken to produce the cars would push the reveal date to the second week of July, given the disruption of the July 4th weekend. We could be talking about Thursday July 13th for the reveal/shipping event, and invites going out on Thursday July 6th.
Thoughts?