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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.

3 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Anybody surprised? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No, I'm not surprised that you're making blanket comments on things you have little in-depth information about. It's actually quite commonplace on the Internet.

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    Ezekiel 23:20
  2. Re:How many factories do not have any problem? by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    What can I, AC, do? Maybe write a letter of encouragement

    Write a troll post about Trump, or a reaction to someone else's troll post about Trump. This has been scientifically determined to solve all problems.

  3. Another "funny" story by Ecuador · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Another "funny" story, my company got asked by a Japanese manufacturer wether we can deliver a pinyin entry method for a device to be released in Taiwan. I replied that we could, but, surely, they'd want bopomofo/zhuyin instead, since that is what people use in Taiwan. They went ahead and ordered a pinyin instead. Somewhere late in the process, they told us that they sent a sample to their Taiwan office and it was asked for it to be switched to bopomofo/zhuyin because they don't use pinyin in Taiwan...

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    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS