OT Tesla manufacturing

I saw one at a car show last Sunday. It is a very well finished car ,nice paint ,sharp lines. I spoke to the owners and the guy said that going on a long trip can be stressful if you know the distance traveled is longer than your power before recharge. But there is a whole community of electric car enthusiats that list charging stations and there are those who will let you charge at their homes. The guy said it would feel very weird to pull up to somebodys house and ask for an extension cord, but it is offered. It is no golf cart like the Toyota thing that annoys you by going too slow.It is a nice machine. I could picture myself in this electric car.
 
Maybe planning and patience required -

I saw an item (no link now) that suggests charge time on an extension cord is 2 days
 
Interesting vid John.

I wonder how the car would fare after sitting in -30 degrees f. all night.

I know that all the stuff I have that have batteries don't particularly like the cold.

Brad
 
That plant is similar to most automotive plants in the world. One of my coworkers just returned from California working in that plant installing some of the conveyor illustrated. I, myself, built a few inverted power and free switches for that system.

I must say, they do utilize robots differently. Typically robots will apply the seam sealer for body panels, which was shown in the video being done by employees. Also, I have never seen seats installed by a robot.

Very interesting video, thanks for sharing!
 
Bingo.

I've meen in many automotive assembly plants and see nothing in the video that I find unique.

Unlike Musk, most manufacturers tend to keep their technology (both product and manufacturing) confidential.

The fact that Musk is posting such material on the web is cause for concern.

Buyer beware.

Dean
 
Very, very good question, Brad.

Yes, tha batteries are temp controlled but such requires energy.

Dean
 
I was having a discussion with a coworker about Tesla Motor Co, He said they released all their patents. Something about they wanted to further the development of electric cars by releasing their research so others could use and refine it, make electric the future power of choice.

I don't think it'll ever happen!
 
The automation in the body shop is quite similar to any other modern auto plant. But they've automated the general assembly area to a greater degree, something most manufacturers won't do because of labor contracts.
 
Milton Hersey sold chocolate to Mars until Mars toured the Hersey factory. You can not tour the Hersey factory now because of what Mars did.

The US auto makers made the same mistake when they let Japanese people tour their plants before the japanese built plants in the US. The japanese came with cameras and took pictures of everything of interest. Employees of some of those plants if not all of them were not allowed to take pictures. Ford got a little smarter at the new Rouge plant, on a tour you only get to see a small portion of the plant.
 
Yup, my wife worked at a company that made automotive gaskets. They were courting Izuzu as a potential customers and let the slant eye guys crawl all over the machinery taking pics and writing down dimensions, and the stupid clucks couldn't figure out why Izuzu started making their own gaskets intstead of buying from them. Every worker in the mill was smart enough to know what the Izuzu reps were doing except the management. The company went belly-up a couple of years later.
 
I believe the Tesla logic is that if he makes it easier for other manufactures to offer electric cars, there will be more electric cars on the road. This encourages building of charging stations etc. We will never have electric cars without charging stations and I think Mr Tesla is simply acknowledging he alone can not make it happen. His patents are not profitable without charging stations in place all over america.

The same thing is holding back propane or natural gas fueled cars. Since there are very few of these cars on the road it holds back the building of filling stations. Very few filling stations is holding back people from buying the cars.
 
Robots have been used to install seats for a long time in some GM plants. That operation is hard on installer's backs, too many workers were injured.
 
A shop I used to work for made parts for an IA tractor company. They offered to bring in engineers and experts to help us be more efficient and lower our/their costs. After they studied our tooling and processes, they reduced their costs by replicating everything in Mexico and moving production there.
 
I think you give the UAW way too much credit. The union hasn't had much say in anything for quite awhile. And with new folks starting at $14 per hour and limited bennies ( no pension or retirement health care ) I don't think that will change anytime soon.
 
John Tesla was funded by our present president and then they went bust. When Sandy came up the east coast Tesla claimed a huge loss. They had a bunch of cars setting on a dock in New Jersey, or so they said. Now they're back in business.
Yes they make a very pretty car which they sell for a handsome price. All electric and you have to buy the recharge station.
There have been a few lawsuits since for some reason these car burst into flames and burn.
Several problems to be solved before I'll get interested.
 
VADAVE, none of that is true other than they make a nice looking car. You've got your car companies mixed up.
 
Most technology in a manufacturing plant is proprietary to contractors not he manufacturers. Tesla is not showing anything that is not uncommon in any other automotive manufacturing plant in the world.
 
(quoted from post at 10:50:59 10/04/14) Wisconsin buddy just e mailed this, I want one.

John T
Tesla Auto
t was an interesting intro, John, but then the dam broke & there is so much BS in the follow on posts that I can't even begin to address all of those. So sad! :cry:
 

I agree. I worked on a robot welding line, using Unimate robots, in 1977. I didn't see any new tech there. Other than the cars... :D
 
I'll just add my .02 to the "BTDT" crowd. However, a couple of things that we used to build "Ergo Arms" for in the '90's (Instrument Panel and Seat Installation) are being done in the video by robots. Otherwise, it was neat to watch but a "hohum" video for anyone who's been in an assembly plant before. In fact, it brought back memories of spending days tuning the equipment. Ugh! Plus, showing rows of coils of steel? C'mon, that could be an appliance manufacturer's floor, nothing unique there. It all boils down to Elon Musk hype.
 

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