Official Tesla Model 3 thread

Q2 production and delivery info is out.

http://ir.tesla.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tesla-q2-2018-vehicle-production-and-deliveries

They delivered 18,440 Model 3s in Q2 in the US and Canada.

The company has 11,166 Model 3s in transit, perhaps held back past July 1st for tax credit purposes.

It looks plausible that the Model 3 is on track in the US to outsell the Bolt, Leaf, Volt, and all compliance BEVs for 2018. Combined.

mtndrew1 said:

It looks plausible that the Model 3 is on track in the US to outsell the Bolt, Leaf, Volt, and all compliance BEVs for 2018. Combined.

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I think it did in May already...

Probably, but Tesla’s production and deliveries are inconsistent and volatile compared to legacy automakers, so a full-year snapshot is perhaps more accurately representative of the situation.

edatoakrun said:

And another TSLA (temporary?) staff departure was reported over the weekend news dump:

As Model 3 production hits critical moment, Tesla’s top engineer taking a break

Tesla Inc.’s top engineer overseeing vehicle development is taking a leave of absence from the company at a crucial moment when the electric-car maker is struggling to boost production of the Model 3 sedan, according to people familiar with the matter.

Doug Field, Tesla’s TSLA, -1.30% senior vice president of engineering, is stepping away from the company for several weeks, these people said. One person described the absence as a “six-week sabbatical,” and Tesla declined to say when he would come back.

“Doug is just taking some time off to recharge and spend time with his family,” a Tesla spokesman said in a statement. “He has not left Tesla.”...

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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/as-model-3-production-hits-critical-moment-teslas-top-engineer-takes-a-few-weeks-off-2018-05-12

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It's no longer temporary.

Tesla’s head of engineering isn’t coming back to work after all
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2018/07/03/tesla-doug-field-engineering-chief-tsla.html
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000156459018016494/tsla-8k_20180702.htm

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

(b)

As of June 27, 2018, after almost five years at Tesla, Doug Field, Senior Vice President, Engineering, is moving on from the company. Tesla would like to thank Doug for his hard work over the years and for everything he has done for Tesla.

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Shouting CEO, changing rules - inside Tesla's Model 3-building sprint
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shouting-ceo-changing-rules-inside-050226699.html

Tesla stopped a 'brake and roll' test as it pushed to hit Model 3 goals
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/03/tesla-skipped-a-brake-and-roll-test-in-rush-to-hit-model-3-targets.html

Fremont outbound logistics lot | Week of June 24th, 2018
(use gear icon to change the speed to x2 if you want it faster)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ_mGqZdAes[/youtube]

FYI, IEV put out Tesla numbers. 24367 so far for the first 6 months which is more than some cars were sold in the entire 2017 year.

Title: TESLA UPDATE: June 2018 Plug-In Electric Vehicle Sales Report Card
https://insideevs.com/june-2018-plug-in-electric-vehicle-sales-report-card/

Current and past years sales here: https://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/

scottf200 said:

FYI, IEV put out Tesla numbers. 24367 so far for the first 6 months

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Not bad, but in a couple of months Tesla will be shipping 25k Model 3 a month and will be hard at work trying to figure out how to double that number within a year.

SageBrush said:

scottf200 said:

FYI, IEV put out Tesla numbers. 24367 so far for the first 6 months

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Not bad, but in a couple of months Tesla will be shipping 25k Model 3 a month and will be hard at work trying to figure out how to double that number within a year.

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Perhaps, and hopefully not slapped together

Via IEVS:

Tesla Expected To Open Model 3 Configurator To Everyone This Week

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https://insideevs.com/tesla-expected-open-model-3-configurator-to-all/

Tesla will reportedly bypass the reservation system and let anyone in the U.S. or Canada order a Model 3 via the Online Design Studio. . . .

This move by Tesla had many reservation holders upset since some waited in line the very first day in order to assure that they would be ahead of the pack. Also, some of these customers had hoped for the base Model 3, as well as the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Hopefully, they realized early on that Tesla would not be releasing the base model for some time and that the tax credit will be beginning the sunset process in the coming months.

Fast forward to today and not only can any North American reservation holder jump on the Tesla website and configure, but anyone in the U.S. and Canada can place a Model 3 order immediately. This means they don’t even have to reserve first with a $1,000 deposit.

Keep in mind that Electrek reported that Tesla still plans to prioritize orders for reservation holders. However, we haven’t heard any of this information from Tesla and we have no way of knowing “if” and “how” the automaker plans to handle the priority system, which seems to be changing on a regular basis. . . .

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^^^
Seems like they already did well before your post.

Tesla ditches reservations, opens up Model 3 car sales to all customers in North America
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/10/tesla-model3-orders-2500-deposit.html

One can go to https://www.tesla.com/model3 and then click DESIGN YOURS now. Was able to get thru the configuration and all the way to the summary and order page.

VIN registrations are up to 69601 now. The last batch of 6000+ were all AWD. Should start seeing some AWD/performance deliveries soon.

It appears that Tesla has confirmed hitting the 200k USA deliveries tax credit threshold this month:

Tesla confirms hitting federal tax credit threshold, $7,500 credit cut in half at end of 2018


I presume that Nissan and GM will also be hitting the threshold soon.

Depending on how many lawmakers are stockholders of Tesla they might just be able to lobby an extension

dgpcolorado said:

It appears that Tesla has confirmed hitting the 200k USA deliveries tax credit threshold this month:

Tesla confirms hitting federal tax credit threshold, $7,500 credit cut in half at end of 2018


I presume that Nissan and GM will also be hitting the threshold soon.

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Current estimates are GM will hit it in 4th quarter. I believe estimates for Nissan are first half of next year.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/12/teslamodel-3-workers-got-free-red-bull-walked-through-sewage-report.html (Tesla factory workers reportedly drank Red Bull, walked through raw sewage to meet Model 3 quotas ) has a pointer to https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-07-12/how-tesla-s-model-3-became-elon-musk-s-version-of-hell.

The latter points out the 5K/week goal and says

Today, Tesla has about 10,000 workers at its Fremont plant. GM and Toyota had less than half that and produced more than 400,000 cars at the plant’s peak in 2006. Tesla argues that a larger workforce is justified given that more of the car is manufactured in-house, but interviews with workers suggest the company has stretched to ensure that there are enough workers on the floor. Current and former employees describe 12-hour shifts as common, with some going as long as 16 hours.

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Yep.

I might've pointed to http://autoweek.com/article/green-cars/teslas-fremont-plant-doesnt-have-enough-parking-employees-because-plant-so before:

It’s because in this temple of lean manufacturing, Tesla uses far more workers than NUMMI employed to build far fewer cars. In 1985, its first full year of production, NUMMI had 2,470 employees and produced 64,764 vehicles — about 26 vehicles per worker per year. By 1997, it had 4,844 workers and produced 357,809 vehicles — about 74 vehicles per worker per year.

Tesla, on the other hand, had between 6,000 and 10,000 workers in 2016 and manufactured 83,922 vehicles. That puts its vehicle-per-worker number between 8 and 14, about one-seventh the efficiency of NUMMI at its peak.

“The number of people Musk’s got in there has a great deal to do with why he doesn’t make money building vehicles,” said automotive manufacturing consultant Michael Tracy of Agile Group in Howell, Mich. “Toyota’s numbers reflect the number of people you expect to have if you were going to efficiently build vehicles for a profit.”

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I'm pretty sure NUMMI never had a tent set up outside as an assembly line.

cwerdna said:

...I'm pretty sure NUMMI never had a tent set up outside as an assembly line.

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I take it that you aren't aware that Tesla builds far more parts of its cars in-house than traditional car manufacturers? Even things like the seats, for example.

I don't see how the tent has anything to do with the NUMI operation Toyota ran. Tesla really balled Toyota out with that deal and the EV greenwashing swap they did.

cwerdna said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/12/teslamodel-3-workers-got-free-red-bull-walked-through-sewage-report.html (Tesla factory workers reportedly drank Red Bull, walked through raw sewage to meet Model 3 quotas ) has a pointer to https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-07-12/how-tesla-s-model-3-became-elon-musk-s-version-of-hell.

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My kid worked GA4; aka, the "tent", during the last 3 weeks of June (pulled from summer engineering intern job, as was everybody). Described it as intense, and stimulating and physically demanding. They were always monitored for weariness and often switched to less demanding work or tasked to learn other stations. "I worked every part of the Model 3 line and know where just about everything attaches and torques. Elon was there working nearby". The assembly folks would arrive in the morning with portions of the line re-configured by engineers overnight to be more efficient. Never heard any mention of raw sewage or Red Bull but the kid is more of a nitro-cold-brew coffee type.

cwerdna said:

The latter points out the 5K/week goal and says

Today, Tesla has about 10,000 workers at its Fremont plant. GM and Toyota had less than half that and produced more than 400,000 cars at the plant’s peak in 2006. Tesla argues that a larger workforce is justified given that more of the car is manufactured in-house, but interviews with workers suggest the company has stretched to ensure that there are enough workers on the floor. Current and former employees describe 12-hour shifts as common, with some going as long as 16 hours.

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Yep.
...

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Also notable (emphasis mine):

Musk’s disregard for precedent, of course, is part of his appeal. In the weeks before the March 2016 public unveiling of the Model 3 design, employees took bets on how many prospective buyers would pay a refundable $1,000 deposit to reserve one. The most optimistic prediction was around 200,000; the actual number was twice that. Field recalls opening his staff meeting the following week with a warning: “You are now working at a different company,” he said. “Everything has changed.”

According to one supplier, Tesla had said it expected to spend 28 months to reach large-scale mass production, but after seeing demand for the car, Tesla moved up the timeline by 15 months. It had previously said it would build 500,000 cars per year by 2020, a goal skeptics called outlandish. But in May 2016, Musk said the plan was to do that in 2018.

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If Tesla did things the way GM and Toyota does, there would be a lot fewer highly desirable EVs to drive; more Mirai clones I guess; and I wouldn't have a 2017 Model 3. If they hit 2500/week S/X; 7500/week Model 3's by the end of Q4 they'll exit 2018 with a 500k car per year run rate. It's now within reach and I for one am very impressed. So, BTW is my kid who says the place just has a low tolerance for management b.s. and a very dynamic problem solving spirit; unlike anything previously experienced.

I'm kinda rooting for Tesla (along with other EV makers) to succeed. Not sure how others here feel.

Toyota does have some nice EV models now. I just can’t rememeber the model names. /S