Part of CEO Elon Musk’s presentation at the Tesla Annual General Meeting 2022 last week was a preoccupation with innovations in production. Among other things, these consisted in Tesla using the largest castings ever, Musk explained, and had a graphic with a comparison between Model 3 and the latest Model Y appear on the screen (see small in the photo above). . And just before that, a video by well-known consultant Sandy Munro showed much the same thing on real car skeletons.
Tesla responded to consultant criticism
The 3D graphic presented by Musk is titled “Simplifying the Vehicle Structure” and shows the side-by-side body shells of the Model 3 and Model Y, before glass, interior and powertrain follow. The rear and front sections are colored – in many different colors for the sedan and only in blue for the crossover. That is also the message of the graphic: From 171 individual parts in the vehicle structure for the Model 3, Tesla made two, namely a large and complex casting at the front and at the rear.
This makes production much easier, Musk explained, while the simplified frame is stiffer and less vibration than before, “really better in every way.” And that praise might sound almost familiar if you saw a video about a week earlier from industry consultant Munro, who has been involved with Tesla for a long time. In the article he shows the raw bodies of the first Model 3 from 2018 that he disassembled, a Model Y from 2020 and a Model Y from the Gigafactory in Texas, which is apparently one of the few with front and rear casting and battery pack of 4680 batteries in between was produced.
The Model 3 was still a “there are 120 parts back here” car, explains Munro and points to the rear area of the naked electric car. After the disassembly, he had clearly criticized Tesla for this patchwork. But instead of being offended, the company responded to his criticism, says the consultant. He recommended making the rear frame member out of just two pieces, and with the Model Y, Tesla did that from the start. You can see that in the example from 2020 in the middle, which was also dismantled at Munro.
Latest Model Y as “World Class Design”
In all Model Ys, the rear frame element is now even cast in one piece, and when it was produced in the new Gigafactory in Texas, the front element also came directly from one of the Giga presses to begin with. Apparently for lack of 4680 batteries for the supporting battery pack in the middle Tesla meanwhile back to a more conventional construction as before in the German factory converted, but Munro was able to secure one of the latest Model Y from Texas beforehand. This is in his video, also only as a metal skeleton, on the far right – a “world-class design”, as the consultant says enthusiastically.
With the new design, Tesla could save hundreds of millions of dollars, he says, not to mention plenty of space, machinery and staff in its factories. He really advises everyone who is developing a new vehicle to deal with this concept, even if it is very different from what they are used to. So Munro has almost become a fan from the Tesla critic – and he took the opportunity to put in a good word for the outgoing Volkswagen boss Herbert Diess, who the electric car company is also often presented as a role model but has to go at the beginning of September: In his opinion, this was the best thing that VW has ever had, says Munro.