Here are my notes from the "Town Hall" conference. . .
Production car number one -- Elon's car -- has been assembled at Hethel. This car does not have the final transmission, and it has a life expectency of only a few thousand miles before the transmission is liable to fail. Elon apparently finds this acceptable, but he acknowledges that that's not going to fly with Tesla's regular customers.
The first and second transmission suppliers couldn't deliver, and now Tesla are on their third and fourth suppliers. That means they have two companies working on the problem in parallel. As Ze'ev explained it, even if one fails the other will come through. If they are both successful then Tesla will be able to accelerate their production plans. Now that Tesla is a recognized name, it's easier to get the bigger and more experienced transmission companies to work with them.
The EV has very unique transmission requirements, and Tesla have learned a great deal about them. "We've seen every possible way a transmission can fail." Transmission companies 3 & 4 are not starting from scratch; they are taking the existing transmission design and improving it. The design itself belongs to Tesla, and could become an important IP asset for the company. White Star will "probably" use the same transmission unit as the Roadster.
A single-speed transmission wouldn't solve the problem. Some of the problems they've experienced are related to shifting, but many are not. Elon expressed frustration with durability problems, because these are things that only show up after driving the car a few thousand miles. That makes the problems time-consuming to diagnose and fix. Tesla will probably ship at least some of the first cars with a less-than-perfect transmission and slightly reduced performance, then upgrade them later. (Ze'ev pointed out how expensive the upgrades could be for Tesla, but insisted they'll do it regardless.)
The car is very nearly 100% approved for sale, from a regulatory standpoint. There is a minor test, a "door vibration" test as I understood, which is all that remains. No mention was made of the airbag exepmtpion, but it would seem to be implied that they have that resolved.
The previously announced EPA range of 245 was the result of an error by the testing lab. The corrected result will more likely be somewhere in the area of 220-230 miles. This does not reflect any change in the car's actual performance, and the "real world" results described on Tesla's website are still as valid as they were before. It is also likely that some changes to the car will require re-testing for range, so it will be some time before there is a truly final, official number that goes on the window sticker.
A question was asked of why they couldn't get a higher top speed from the car. The explanation was, to design the car to be stable and operate correctly at a high speed would have required compromises that would have reduced its energy efficiency. For example, the aerodynamics would have to generate more downforce to keep the car glued to the road at that speed, which would result in increased drag at normal driving speeds. Other parts would have to be over-engineered and their weight increased.
There is no change to Tesla's "Master Plan". They are not planning to sell out to any other company. They are going through another private investment round now. They do eventually want to go public, but they are wary of doing that too early. Fundraising is not a concern for the company's immediate survival. According to Elon, even if all their many other investors got cold feet, he personally would back the company financially to whatever extent necessary.
Future Tesla cars, including White Star, may be "pure EVs" or "pure EVs with range extenders" (apparently all are pure, but some are more pure than others). Tesla's goal is to increase the number of miles people drive on grid power, and they are agnostic about the means used to achieve that.
Elon reiterated several times that they are absolutely committed to delivering a car that buyers will love. Production will be very slow until the transmission problems are fully resolved, which means full-rate production will probably begin about summer, probably late summer. There are some uncertainties about the schedule, and they are trying not to over-promise until they have it figured out better.
Production car number one -- Elon's car -- has been assembled at Hethel. This car does not have the final transmission, and it has a life expectency of only a few thousand miles before the transmission is liable to fail. Elon apparently finds this acceptable, but he acknowledges that that's not going to fly with Tesla's regular customers.
The first and second transmission suppliers couldn't deliver, and now Tesla are on their third and fourth suppliers. That means they have two companies working on the problem in parallel. As Ze'ev explained it, even if one fails the other will come through. If they are both successful then Tesla will be able to accelerate their production plans. Now that Tesla is a recognized name, it's easier to get the bigger and more experienced transmission companies to work with them.
The EV has very unique transmission requirements, and Tesla have learned a great deal about them. "We've seen every possible way a transmission can fail." Transmission companies 3 & 4 are not starting from scratch; they are taking the existing transmission design and improving it. The design itself belongs to Tesla, and could become an important IP asset for the company. White Star will "probably" use the same transmission unit as the Roadster.
A single-speed transmission wouldn't solve the problem. Some of the problems they've experienced are related to shifting, but many are not. Elon expressed frustration with durability problems, because these are things that only show up after driving the car a few thousand miles. That makes the problems time-consuming to diagnose and fix. Tesla will probably ship at least some of the first cars with a less-than-perfect transmission and slightly reduced performance, then upgrade them later. (Ze'ev pointed out how expensive the upgrades could be for Tesla, but insisted they'll do it regardless.)
The car is very nearly 100% approved for sale, from a regulatory standpoint. There is a minor test, a "door vibration" test as I understood, which is all that remains. No mention was made of the airbag exepmtpion, but it would seem to be implied that they have that resolved.
The previously announced EPA range of 245 was the result of an error by the testing lab. The corrected result will more likely be somewhere in the area of 220-230 miles. This does not reflect any change in the car's actual performance, and the "real world" results described on Tesla's website are still as valid as they were before. It is also likely that some changes to the car will require re-testing for range, so it will be some time before there is a truly final, official number that goes on the window sticker.
A question was asked of why they couldn't get a higher top speed from the car. The explanation was, to design the car to be stable and operate correctly at a high speed would have required compromises that would have reduced its energy efficiency. For example, the aerodynamics would have to generate more downforce to keep the car glued to the road at that speed, which would result in increased drag at normal driving speeds. Other parts would have to be over-engineered and their weight increased.
There is no change to Tesla's "Master Plan". They are not planning to sell out to any other company. They are going through another private investment round now. They do eventually want to go public, but they are wary of doing that too early. Fundraising is not a concern for the company's immediate survival. According to Elon, even if all their many other investors got cold feet, he personally would back the company financially to whatever extent necessary.
Future Tesla cars, including White Star, may be "pure EVs" or "pure EVs with range extenders" (apparently all are pure, but some are more pure than others). Tesla's goal is to increase the number of miles people drive on grid power, and they are agnostic about the means used to achieve that.
Elon reiterated several times that they are absolutely committed to delivering a car that buyers will love. Production will be very slow until the transmission problems are fully resolved, which means full-rate production will probably begin about summer, probably late summer. There are some uncertainties about the schedule, and they are trying not to over-promise until they have it figured out better.
