In deep w/ Tesla CEO Elon Musk: Financials, Falcon doors & finding faults in Model S

[Todd Burch]

Lidar?

Here's a company I work with that is heavily involved in automotive laser scanning:

http://www.perceptron.com/

And this page has a video of some of the gap and flush scanning projects my company's involved in:

http://www.perceptron.com/index.php/en/gap-and-flush.html

 

[brianman]

Lasers!
The R8: The Slowest Car Audi Ever Built - YouTube
49s+

 

[Arnold Panz]

As you guys talk about lasers this is all I can think about:

Or this:

 

[vfx]

Here's a company I work with ....

Have them check their sales dept.

Space X?
Tesla?

 

[TEG]

As you guys talk about lasers this is all I can think about...

Been there, done that...
Elon Musk - Page 32

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I found this part interesting:

...There was the potential to get an investment from another car company - not Toyota - but I don't know if they would have actually followed through or not, but they did express interest. I think Daimler was maybe aware of that. Either way, they put $50 million into Tesla at a time when they themselves were cash strapped. Dieter Zetsche had to go to Abu Dhabi and raise emergency cash for Daimler and then reserve $50 million for Tesla. When someone is hungry themselves and they give you a bit of food, you've got to be grateful for that...

 

[AnOutsider]

Let's take a breath guys. Cars are being delivered and the world is still spinning!

 

[dsm363]

 

[CyberDutchie]

After I just read the interview, and drove to pick up dinner, started looking at some cars I passed. Both Audi A7 and Mercedes E Class (I believe) seem to have one piece bright moulding, so wonder what he was comparing against...

 

[dsm363]

Mod note: Some of the posts aggressively discussing the gap tolerances were moved here
snippiness - Page 5

I know everyone is anxious to see Tesla succeed and wants their car yesterday but it helps discussion to keep the tone civil if possible.

 

[ElSupreme]

Uhhh ... I have an NDA with Coca-Cola! I can't talk about it!

I really do.

 

[Norbert]

3 millimeters is a lot

I'm pretty sure when Elon mentioned 3 millimeters, he was talking about the positioning of the headlights, not any gaps.

 

[artsci]

I'm pretty sure when Elon mentioned 3 millimeters, he was talking about the positioning of the headlights, not any gaps.

Precisely. He was not talking about body panel gaps, so that whole debate was completely out of the context of what Elon was saying. To quote from the story:

"For example, yesterday I found that the installation of the headlamp was not quite correct and there was a slight asymmetry between the right and the left. I think most people wouldn't see it, but it seemed pretty obvious to me. So I was like, this doesn't seem right, this is off by like three millimeters. So I literally walked over to the lead tech on that portion of the line to find out why is this three millimeters wrong and it turned out he was still operating with the part dimensions of the old part."

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Can anyone explain why Elon said the supercharger is an option on the 60 kWh? I thought in the configurator it was now showing supercharger hardware as included for the 60 kWh. Too many late nights? Maybe he didn't get the memo they decided to include it standard on the 60 kWh?

"The Supercharger will be available to both the 60-kWh and the 85-kWh packs. The 40-kWh pack is really designed for people who never expect to do long-distance journeys. And on the 60-kWh pack, it's offered as an option and on the 85-kWh pack it's offered as a default because, presumably, someone is buying it for potential long-distance trips."

 

[dsm363]

Can anyone explain why Elon said the supercharger is an option on the 60 kWh? I thought in the configurator it was now showing supercharger hardware as included for the 60 kWh. Too many late nights? Maybe he didn't get the memo they decided to include it standard on the 60 kWh?

"The Supercharger will be available to both the 60-kWh and the 85-kWh packs. The 40-kWh pack is really designed for people who never expect to do long-distance journeys. And on the 60-kWh pack, it's offered as an option and on the 85-kWh pack it's offered as a default because, presumably, someone is buying it for potential long-distance trips."

It's possible that he is referring to the cost for Supercharger access. It looks like the hardware will be standard on the 60 kWH as well as the 85 kWh cars but they haven't announced pricing yet. From what he said, maybe it will be included in the 85 kWh car but a paid option (the service) in the 60 kWH car.

 

[jerry33]

Can anyone explain why Elon said the supercharger is an option on the 60 kWh? I thought in the configurator it was now showing supercharger hardware as included for the 60 kWh. Too many late nights? Maybe he didn't get the memo they decided to include it standard on the 60 kWh?

"The Supercharger will be available to both the 60-kWh and the 85-kWh packs. The 40-kWh pack is really designed for people who never expect to do long-distance journeys. And on the 60-kWh pack, it's offered as an option and on the 85-kWh pack it's offered as a default because, presumably, someone is buying it for potential long-distance trips."

The Design Studio shows Supercharger hardware included.

1. Elon misspoke.

2. There is optional Supercharger software.

3. Elon was referring to usage charges for the Supercharger network.

4. The Design Studio is wrong.

5. The article quoted Elon incorrectly.

Given how ragged Elon has been running lately, I'd suggest the most likely is #1 with a saver on #5. Charge and no-charge went back and forth for a long time and the Design Studio used to say TBD for the 60 kWh pack.

 

[ckessel]

I think the wording of "hardware included" is a very intentional choice and the 60kwh will require some sort of paid access to activate/use the hardware (think of enabling a software setting), while 85kwh will get it automatically for free.

 

[smorgasbord]

...
5. The article quoted Elon incorrectly.

6. The interview was conducted before the change from optional to included was made public.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

jerry33, ckessel,

We can take the notion of optional software off the table (unless the Design Studio is wrong, which I think is highly unlikely). From the current 60 kWh Design Studio:

6. The interview was conducted before the change from optional to included was made public.

Yeah, this is what I had thought most likely.

 

[jerry33]

I read that, but it didn't stick. And I never thought it was a strong possibility anyway. The interview being from some time ago makes a lot of sense.

 

[domenick]

I read that, but it didn't stick. And I never thought it was a strong possibility anyway. The interview being from some time ago makes a lot of sense.

The interview was done the last week of August, if I remember correctly. I think Elon just misspoke.