[blackwasp]

Tesla teardown reveals tech 6 years ahead of rivals

Nikkei Business Publications did a teardown of the Tesla Model 3. The result suggested that the electric car came equipped with electronics that are at least 6 years ahead of rivals.

The teardown of the EV focused on the central module responsible for ECU, infotainment and autonomous driving. This module consists of custom dual 260 sq. mm. artificial intelligence chips. It also comes equipped with a water-cooled heatsink. It is reported that such a module replaces multiple systems used by conventional carmakers. It reduces complexity as well as components in the car. However, these could affect suppliers of components and larger carmakers who are reluctant to makes moves that affect the supply chains.

According to the report, it will take rival carmakers till at least 2025 to catch up with Tesla's technology.

It was also revealed that many components in the Model 3 bore the Tesla logo, which means the carmaker has control over the development of most of the technologies inside the car. Tesla founder Elon Musk had stated in the past that the company's cars come equipped with all the necessary hardware needed for full autonomous driving. This means that the cars can be upgraded over-the-air.

Tesla cars made after Spring 2019 come equipped with Hardware 3 module. This module was upgraded over time from the first launch as the Hardware 1 driver-assistance system (Autopilot) in 2014.





Source

Link to the Team-BHP News

[sajaijayan]

I wonder, why no legacy manufacturer ties up with Tesla. If I remember right, Elon Musk has also stated that all his patents are free to use, as long as you ask. No manufacturer seems to want to do that, but people like Ford and Amazon have tied up with Rivian, paying millions, but someone with apparently superior tech is basically offering for free and you are not interested. Really weird.

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by sajaijayan

I wonder, why no legacy manufacturer ties up with Tesla. If I remember right, Elon Musk has also stated that all his patents are free to use, as long as you ask .... but people like Ford and Amazon have tied up with Rivian, paying millions. Really weird.

Just like Google is free to use, but car manufacturers prefer their own partner for navigation in their cars. Reason - They don't want to share their customer data with Google.
Similarly IMO they don't want to share data with Tesla and also allow in some way Tesla to control their ecosystem.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by sajaijayan

I wonder, why no legacy manufacturer ties up with Tesla...Really weird.

Think it's got to do with scale and control of your supply chain.

Tesla, for all their technical advantages, are struggling to scale up and they manufacture a fraction of the volumes of say a VW or a Toyota.

Switching over from their established OEM partnerships to Tesla's would mean
1. Losing control over the supply chain built over decades or more. Pivoting to a competitor's technology (Musk famously said "all our patents are belong to you" in a reference to "all your bases are belong to us" ) will mean you're ceding control over the most vital part of any manufacturing process. Won't work unless you go into a full fledged JV with common tooling & production lines

2. Ability to control the quality parameters. Toyota for example is very strong on reliability and that's its key brand USP. They won't go with the latest and newest tech till its proved to be reliable! In comparison Tesla is poor on that (though its early days). Their software is high tech but they'll need time to get their car quality at par with tier 1 competition

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by sajaijayan

I wonder, why no legacy manufacturer ties up with Tesla. If I remember right, Elon Musk has also stated that all his patents are free to use, as long as you ask. No manufacturer seems to want to do that, but people like Ford and Amazon have tied up with Rivian, paying millions, but someone with apparently superior tech is basically offering for free and you are not interested. Really weird.

During its infancy days, Tesla was hand-held by Daimler and even provided the B-Class as a platform. Up until recently, Tesla bought some of its switchgear parts from Mercedes parts bin. They indeed co-developed the first Mercedes full-electric B-Class too.

[sandeepmohan]

Not one bit surprised. Tesla got into the game over a decade ago and their first car had a 200 mile manufacturer claimed range! The latest generation Nissan Leaf can do a little over half that figure. Off course, it ain't an Apples to Apples comparison. Both cars are at different segments and price points. They are way ahead of the game by building their own renewable energy based charging infrastructure too, atleast in their home market. It has taken 10+ years for the premium players such as BMW, Audi, Jaguar, etc to get their first electric car out.

Tech aside, I don't consider any of Tesla's cars to have the premium feel of even the latest generation Camry (Forget a C or E Class). You get into Tesla for an entirely different reason, their brilliant electric drive train.

[OrangeCar]

This amidst huge discussions over Tesla stock price, makes me wonder if the premium on stock is actually worth it. Many people had shorted the stock sighting Tesla’s financial and sales numbers lack in comparison to traditional auto makers. Short sellers believed that the stock would correct from the high levels since Tesla consistently had underwhelming quarters in terms of financials and sales figures (due to production constraints and some claimed lack of demand too!).

And from there, the stock further took off to almost double its price, resulting in a short squeeze. Buyers of the stock at these high levels say, Tesla is not a typical auto maker. Tesla is a technology company which is way ahead in its technical competence compared to auto makers and technology companies. And thus such high premiums are justified. They also say the car maker has plans for self driving taxis, autonomous cars, etc and the sales numbers will eventually go up.

Not sure who’s right. But the best comment I read was, stay away from Tesla. Neither short it. Nor buy it! I mean it’s shares. Can afford to buy a Tesla? Go ahead for sure!

[D33-PAC]

I don't know about rivals but Lamborghini definitely has a bit of work to do.

I was in Los Angeles in a Huracan driving through Beverly Hills. Some guy in a Model 3 pulled up next to me and when the light turned green I didn't even bother to challenge him. He took off like a rocket and I looked silly in the Lambo.

When you feel embarrassed in a Lambo , you know shit got real.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread moved to the EV Forum!

[pacman2881]

Meanwhile Audi requests Oil change for it's E Tron SUV

An owner by name of Carey Trost sent Electrek a picture of his e-tron’s digital instrument cluster as the electric crossover was approaching the scheduled service mileage, reading “oil change and inspection in 200 miles.” Indeed, ladies and gents; the appeal of dinosaur juice is hard to resist.

This slip-up can be attributed to the software developers who coded the instrument cluster’s software and service notification program, copying and pasting the message from an internal combustion-engined Audi.

e-tron owners in Europe have also reported oil change messages, which goes to show that the software in question is shared between U.S. and European models.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/c...es-141119.html

Tesla has the advantage of starting from a clean slate while others are still caught up in the transition.

[CarJunki]

The report assumes that Tesla will stop innovating so that rivals can catch-up.

Coming to Tesla stock, there is a lot more to it than just automobile or navigation. It is the only company which sells both the cars and fuel (Tesla super charging network?).
Tesla solar and PowerWall are relatively less capital intensive with good profit margins.

Every company has the freedom to start from clean slate, it is just that very very few opt for it, fallacy of sunken cost keeps them tied to legacy.

[maverick.munish]

Wow. Plain Wow.
Whatever Elon Musk is smoking, he should carry on doing that. The man lives up to what he says. Not for anything that he is bashing every other automobile maker for inefficiencies in their product lineup.
Would be really interesting to see how other car makers react to this. The R&D heads of many competitors need to take a leaf out of Tesla's book and start innovating for the future.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

He took off like a rocket and I looked silly in the Lambo.

When you feel embarrassed in a Lambo , you know shit got real.

I guess driving a Lambo, any Lambo tends to be a bit of an embarrassing exercise. They do stand out. A lot in fact. On the other hand, a Huracan outruns a Model 3 on the 0 - 60 mph and the quarter mile by a huge margin. Nothing to be ashamed of!

Jeroen

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I guess driving a Lambo, any Lambo tends to be a bit of an embarrassing exercise. They do stand out. A lot in fact. On the other hand, a Huracan outruns a Model 3 on the 0 - 60 mph and the quarter mile by a huge margin. Nothing to be ashamed of!

Jeroen

Huge margin? Both Huracan and Model 3 performance have 3.2s 0-60 time. Model 3 does it quietly though.
Imho, that's impressive considering the tire size.

[speedmiester]

Not surprised. Elon started from clean slate and he is a visionary. His thoughts are a decade away and is not curtailed by bean bag counters. This enables Tesla and Elon to innovate at a faster rate than any legacy automobile manufacturers.
Kudos to Tesla and Elon.