Tesla Employees Say Gigafactory Problems Are Worse Than Known (cnbc.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Tesla's problems with battery production at the company's Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada, are worse than the company has acknowledged and could cause further delays and quality issues for the new Model 3, according to a number of current and former Tesla employees. These problems include Tesla needing to make some of the batteries by hand and borrowing scores of employees from one of its suppliers to help with this manual assembly, said these people. Tesla's future as a mass-market carmaker hinges on automated production of the Model 3, which more than 400,000 people have already reserved, paying $1,000 refundable fees to do so. The company has already delayed production, citing problems at the Gigafactory. On Nov. 1, 2017, CEO Elon Musk assured investors in an earnings call that Tesla was making strides to correct its manufacturing issues and get the Model 3 out. But more than a month later, in mid-December, Tesla was still making its Model 3 batteries partly by hand, according to current engineers and ex-Tesla employees who worked at the Gigafactory in recent months. They say Tesla had to "borrow" scores of employees from Panasonic, which is a partner in the Gigafactory and supplies lithium-ion battery cells, to help with this manual assembly. Tesla is still not close to mass producing batteries for the basic $35,000 model of this electric sedan, sources say.

Comments

Highly biased article...

[denzacar]

Two main sources for the story are people who either "worked at the Gigafactory in recent months"... Past tense...

But more than a month later, in mid-December, Tesla was still making its Model 3 batteries partly by hand, according to current engineers and ex-Tesla employees who worked at the Gigafactory in recent months.

...aaaaand a guy with a huge "shorting" investment, standing to win millions from perceived losses by Tesla.

Stanphyl Capital's Mark B. Spiegel, who has a significant short position in the company, told CNBC:
"While I've no doubt that Tesla will eventually work out its Model 3 production problems, the base model will cost Tesla at least mid-$40,000s to build.
The company will never deliver more than a token few for less than the current $49,000 lowest-cost offering.
Sales will hugely disappoint relative to expectations of over 400,000 a year.
And even at those higher prices Tesla will never come anywhere close to its promised [profitability]."

Also, article is reeeeeaaalyyyy trying to paint a picture of doom and gloom.
It takes a line from a Tesla engineer about how workers were "slapping bandoliers together as fast as they possibly could" back in December - and presents it as a doom&gloom subtitle:
'Slapping bandoliers together'

Hell, it even manages to paint higher test standards as bad, by omission of the fact that test standards are higher than expected not simply "[not] the same kind".

The two engineers also said that Tesla doesn't do the same kind of "stress tests" of its Model 3 batteries which would be expected of other electronics or carmakers.

And then there's that thing where I can't seem to find a single article by that author, about Tesla, which isn't a story about how VERY DOUBLEPLUS BAD Tesla really is.

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