Tesla Master Plan: Part Deux

[Aaronhuang]

My previous post was obviously in jest, but the question occurred to me today, considering this thread's title...what exactly is Tesla's plan now? Now that the company is strapped for cash, I don't see the semi truck or roadster projects seeing the light of day, at least any time soon.

Their long-term goal? Try to captivate interest of young university graduates who've found themselves with a bit of extra cash after having their student loans paid off while also capitalizing on Silicon Valley tech fanatics who freak out at every Tesla grand-opening event.

 

[inCloud]

Looks like Javier Milei wants to open full circle production of Tesla in Argentina, he visits Musk on monthly basis.

Argentina is massive lithium holder and currently experiencing massive right turn which should make country more interesting for investments.

AFAIK, it could be first big EV production facility in region.

 

[Omnis]

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/teslas-musk-trims-senior-management-amid-more-layoffs-information-reports-2024-04-30/

This is ultra-hardcore Lean. What were the charging people doing? They already designed the best system, proliferated the world, and, basically, they won. Everyone is using NACS now, so they can just focus on manufacturing and uptime, with expansion of existing sites.

I seem to have read something somewhere about abandonment of the so-called giga-castings. That's a little more concerning for me. I figured that they would build the budget car in one shot with their biggest Idra machines. Maybe they will decommission the Cybertruck once the molds need to be refurbished, and move their largest presses to new casting designs. Who knows?

Business-wise, I think they are preparing for economic downturn and will start pumping out cars when interest rates come back down. Biggest mistake was to buy Twitter. Dude could've bought out the entire automotive sector for that money lol

 

[JC_Dude]

This is ultra-hardcore Lean. What were the charging people doing? They already designed the best system, proliferated the world, and, basically, they won. Everyone is using NACS now, so they can just focus on manufacturing and uptime, with expansion of existing sites.

I seem to have read something somewhere about abandonment of the so-called giga-castings. That's a little more concerning for me. I figured that they would build the budget car in one shot with their biggest Idra machines. Maybe they will decommission the Cybertruck once the molds need to be refurbished, and move their largest presses to new casting designs. Who knows?

Business-wise, I think they are preparing for economic downturn and will start pumping out cars when interest rates come back down. Biggest mistake was to buy Twitter. Dude could've bought out the entire automotive sector for that money lol

How anti-innovation for the supposed visionary. It's not like there's no way to further improve the chargers, nor is the supercharger network robust enough in many countries, especially smaller and/or poorer ones. And while most manufacturers have announced support for NACS, I don't think many, if any, actually implemented it yet. The question is how well documented is the standard and how will Tesla now support OEMs in implementing it? I can see them walking back on that decision with so many seemingly impulsive moves.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Who uses NACS in Europe?

 

[JC_Dude]

Who uses NACS in Europe?

Not sure why someone in Europe should use the North America Charging Standard.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Not sure why someone in Europe should use the North America Charging Standard.

That's not an answer to my question. Also, this is the context for it...

They already designed the best system, proliferated the world, and, basically, they won. Everyone is using NACS now,

 

[Omnis]

Who uses NACS in Europe?

Everyone, going forward.

Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Scout Motors brands to implement the North American Charging Standard in future electric vehicles

Future Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Scout electric vehicles to use the North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging port, starting in 2025

newsroom.porsche.com

Well here's a win. VAG/Porsche adopting NACS.

How anti-innovation for the supposed visionary. It's not like there's no way to further improve the chargers, nor is the supercharger network robust enough in many countries, especially smaller and/or poorer ones. And while most manufacturers have announced support for NACS, I don't think many, if any, actually implemented it yet. The question is how well documented is the standard and how will Tesla now support OEMs in implementing it? I can see them walking back on that decision with so many seemingly impulsive moves.

Manufacturing and support (i.e., the "robusting" team) was not laid off. The American network is pretty much built out, or at least this is what this move indicates. Now that you can get from A to B no matter where you have to stop at XYZ, the new focus is making sure there's enough space at XYZ for everyone. Nobody cares about poor countries. You don't use infrastructure-reliant vehicles in places without infrastructure.

As for your question, NACS was open-sourced by Tesla and is now an official SAE standard, J3400. https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j3400_202312/ It has nothing to do with Tesla's support anymore. It's just no longer necessary.

 

[Famine]

Everyone, going forward.

for future products in the North American region

In Europe, CCS2 is the legally mandated DC fast-charging standard - even on Teslas, with the V3 Superchargers only using CCS Type 2, and Tesla cars sold since 2019 coming with CCS or CCS2 sockets only.

NACS doesn't support three-phase (which is essentially our transmission standard almost right up to domestic properties where it's converted to single-phase, and to industrial sites), while CCS2 does.

 

[Omnis]

Like I said, nobody cares about poor countries.

Kidding. Anyway, my fault on that one. If I'm not mistaken, the whole point of J3400 was to include 480/277V capability via J3068 EVSEs. This way you can just charge directly from 3-phase commercial/industrial service on the single 277V phase. In Europe, you can just step down with a converter, but it's supposed to be directly compatible. Wasn't aware of the law surrounding CCS2, but it's not unreasonable to think that that the new receptacle could replace CCS as it expands throughout North America. It'd be just like NEMA and BS1363... oh wait.