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Tesla Teardown Reveals Driver-facing Electronics Built By iPhone 6 Suppliers

Posted by Soulskill on from the you-got-your-smartphone-in-my-ev dept.

Lucas123 writes: The Tesla Model S gets attention because it's an EV that can go from from 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 4.2 seconds and can travel 265 miles on a single charge. But, a teardown of the vehicle by IHS Technology has also revealed that Elon Musk avoided third-party design and build routes used traditionally by auto makers and spared no expense on the instrument cluster and infotainment (head unit) system, which is powered by two 1.4Ghz, quad-core NVIDIA Tegra processors. IHS called the Tesla's head unit the most sophisticated it's ever seen, with 1,000 more components than any it has previously analyzed. A bill of materials for the virtual instrument cluster and the premium media control unit is also roughly twice the cost of the highest-end infotainment unit examined by IHS.

6 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. Value by istartedi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So it's expensive, but at least you get what you pay for.

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    1. Re:Value by CanHasDIY · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's what I was thinking. Sure beats some manufacturers, whose idea of a "premium" vehicle is a base model with nicer trim and a few extra parts.

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    2. Re:Value by MMC+Monster · · Score: 5, Informative

      No. The question was 'what is Tesla bringing to the table that you think makes it more than "nicer trim and a few extra parts"?'.

      And, frankly, if you need to ask what Tesla brings to the table, you haven't been reading much /. lately. A week doesn't go by without 5 Tesla articles.

      What Tesla brings to the table are:
      A complete electric drive train
      Performance to rival a sports car/supercar (depending which options you get)
      Free charging at their superchargers for the life of the vehicle
      Battery sizes that are considered best in class, if not best in any class
      A modern UI on the dashboard with free updates both to the UI as well as the mapping system (so far)
      A good warranty (8 year, unlimited mile?)
      Handling that's adjustable, from as smooth as a Lexus to as stiff as a sports car
      [I'm sure there's more that I can't think of currently]

      As for what makes it a luxury car, I'm not really sure. Probably it's price.
      The leather quality isn't as good as other luxury cars I've been in
      Ditto the stitching

      Other than that, I can't think of anything that's considered standard in a luxury car that the Tesla doesn't have.

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  2. Re:(some) cars are gadgets now by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, wait, people aren't supposed to keep cars that long any more.

    Cars don't last like they used to. I have seen several 100 year old Ford Model-Ts. I have never seen a 100 year old Tesla.

  3. Re:(some) cars are gadgets now by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can see a 100 year old Tesla if you're prepared to do some grave digging.

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  4. It had better be reliable! by olddoc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A 100 year old steam car can be kept running. A 70 year old Ford can be a daily driver. What will happen to an electric Tesla when the first capacitor on the control panel CPU craps out in 10 years? Will spare motherboards be available? Will you be able to drive the car when the computer controlling the battery cooler dies? Or will it become a brick? That central panel isn't the radio, it is indispensable to the operation of the vehicle! BTW I've driven a Tesla S Supersport and it is a lot of fun to drive and a worked very well.

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