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

How is this different ...

[pablo_max]

How is that different than every other company in the world? I have worked with and for at a lot of places over the years and one thing is universal, most of the people have no idea at all what they are doing.
It is amazing to me that some companies are even able to put products on the market at all. I am not talking only about the small guys either.
I was once testing a wireless product for one of the largest companies in Europe for global radio certification (FCC/ISED/CE and many others). Once I got the devices I told them.. hey, thanks a lot for sending these samples, but it would be great if you could send them with a SMA connector so we could test the radios as well.
What is a SMA connector, was the response. After explaining it a couple of days went by and they called me up and explained that the guy who knows how to do that quit the company so it would be better if we changed the design for them to make it work.
Of course this kind of shit happens ever every company every single day. These are not things which people know about it.
So, you can say that 100% of companies are shittier than people on the outside know about.

Re:How many factories do not have any problem?

[Rei]

Rather...

This is an extremely misinformed and misleading article. To be absolutely clear, we are on track with the previous projections for achieving increased Model 3 production rates that we provided earlier this month. As has been well documented, until we reach full production, by definition some elements of the production process will be more manual. This is something Elon and JB discussed extensively on our Q3 earnings call, and it has no impact on the quality or safety of the batteries we’re producing. As noted in our Q4 deliveries release, during the fourth quarter, “we made major progress addressing Model 3 production bottlenecks, with our production rate increasing significantly towards the end of the quarter.”

Furthermore, as is often the case in manufacturing, some parts of the production process require the expertise of employees with engineering or manufacturing experience, and others don’t. We’ve created thousands of new high-quality jobs in Nevada in recent years. As we continue to expand Gigafactory 1 and ramp Model 3 production, we’ve been able to teach new skills to thousands of new employees, many of whom had no manufacturing experience prior to joining Tesla. New hires on the module line receive extensive training, including safety training, and learn about the importance of proper cell-to-cell spacing so they can identify such issues in the production process. More broadly, battery production – and the module line in particular – is overseen by our top engineering talent, and many of Tesla’s most senior leadership.

Finally, the implication that Tesla would ever deliver a car with a hazardous battery is absolutely inaccurate, contrary to all evidence, and detached from reality. It is irresponsible to suggest as much based on unnamed, anonymous sources who have provided no such evidence and who obviously do not have a complete understanding of the extensive testing that all batteries in Tesla vehicles are subjected to. As with Model S and Model X, which have well demonstrated safety records, we maintain a rigorous approach to quality and process control for the Model 3 battery. Even more importantly, to our knowledge, there has not been a single safety concern in the field related to Model 3 batteries at any point over the six months of Model 3 production.

As for the assertion about cells touching in Model 3 batteries, this is extremely misleading and displays a complete lack of basic knowledge about how our batteries work. Every battery in a Tesla vehicle has thousands of cells, the vast majority of which are at the same voltage potential as neighboring cells. Hypothetically, even if two cells of the same voltage potential were touching, there would be absolutely zero impact, safety or otherwise – it would be as if two neutral pieces of metal touched. Despite this fact, all Model 3 battery modules’ cell positions are measured twice in manufacturing to verify process control and quality of outgoing parts. Conversely, if at any point in the production process cells are touching at different voltage potentials, they cannot be electrically interconnected. Over the course of the production process, we conduct three different tests to ensure the right number of cells are electrically connected in Model 3 modules. Additionally, the long term reliability of cell position is something validated through testing, including shock and vibration, and high temperature and humidity testing, as well as thermal cycling endurance testing throughout design and via sampling in production. All of this testing is designed to prevent touching cells from being installed in any of our vehicles, including Model 3. Finally, the safety aspects of our module design would continue to function even in the presence of touching cells, so the concerns raised are further unfounded.

These false claims are being made even tho

Re:How many factories do not have any problem?

[Hognoxious]

What can I, AC, do?

You could try to rectify the situation.

Re:3.7 volt 18650's

[K. S. Kyosuke]

The funny thing is, the cells are 18650's

No, they're not. Chances are that the switch to a cell size that's more efficient in the long term has created problems for them in the short term.

Re:The first one is always the hardest.

[drinkypoo]

Building the first factory is the hardest part about building factories. Once you've built it, you can build 200 more just like it in a fraction of the time.

Except nobody builds lots of factories all the same. Automakers for example build different factories with different lines to produce different vehicles. The building is not the interesting part, the production line is. And the production lines are different for each vehicle. Also, by the time you've got the first factory completed, new techniques have been developed, and new equipment has hit the market. Maybe you've been just welding all your cars together, and now you're starting to use structural adhesives. Now you're going to change the line again.

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.

Feds to investigate Tesla crash driver blamed on Autopilot
Tesla factory workers have filed a lawsuit claiming widespread racism, unsafe conditions
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/01/elon-musk-tesla-fired-700-people.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/17/tesla-firings-former-and-current-employees-allege-layoffs.htmlTesla employees detail how they were fired, claim dismissals were not performance related
Tesla employees detail how and why they were fired
Tesla cites performance reviews as it fires SolarCity employees, though workers say reviews never took place
Tesla fires hundreds of employees while trying to ramp up vehicle production

German report calls Tesla's Autopilot a "hazard"
Senate committee calls out Elon Musk, wants answers on Tesla Autopilot
Tesla under investigation for possible breach of securities law, WSJ reports
What the NTSB know