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Model S Update: Tesla Factory

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AnOutsider

S532 # XS27
Moderator
Apr 3, 2009
11,958
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Got this email today:


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The Model S is the premium sedan evolved. It will raise the bar of vehicle efficiency, meet the highest standards for safety, and provide more cargo space than any other sedan. It will be as beautiful as it is functional. Here's how we will build it.

The Model S will be produced at the new Tesla Factory in Fremont, California. Everything from body panel stamping to final quality testing will take place at the Tesla Factory. We will also work to set environmental benchmarks for energy efficiency and emission levels.


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When building a car, most manufacturers follow a consistent production flow. We will use the same process, with innovations at each stage.
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The Model S will begin as sheets of aluminum. The sheets will be placed in a hydraulic press machine and stamped into 3-dimensional fenders, hood panels, doors, and roofs. Stamped aluminum saves about half the weight of steel and the decrease in weight enables us to increase overall vehicle efficiency. Even before we finalized the factory location, we secured machinery and items we'd need to quickly bring the facility online. Our hydraulic press line is of the finest quality and we expect to use it for decades. The press line will produce body panels you can see and structural features you can't. The remaining body stampings, castings, and extrusions will be produced at outside facilities and shipped to the factory for assembly.


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The workers in the Body Sub-Assembly Shop are responsible for joining the stamped pieces together at stations. It is far more efficient to compile groups of components into assemblies instead of building a car piece by piece on a single production line. The smooth outer panels that give the Model S its beautiful lines will be welded to the inner structures that give the car its strength and safety.



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Next, the prepared sub-assemblies are moved to the Body Framing Shop. Robotic arms pick up sub-assemblies from nearby racks while other arms move in with glue, weld, and rivet guns to seal and join the parts. The doors, hood, and trunk lid are hung on the main frame. The roof frame that will hold the bright panoramic glass panels is then attached.

At this stage, precision is paramount. Once framed, the welds, holes, and gaps are checked for imperfections. The perfected structure that leaves the Body Framing Shop is referred to as a "body-in-white." The body-in-white represents the primary structure of the car and is critical to driving dynamics and occupant safety - it is our goal to achieve a 5-Star Safety Rating from government crash tests. The complete structure is now ready to be painted.

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A car's color says a lot about the driver, and it is at this stage that the Model S begins to develop its character in a four step paint process including preparation and three coats of paint. The Model S paint process will differ from traditional paint in an effort to reduce emissions. The innovative paint process will use powder coating for both the primer and clear coat layers. The Model S will be one of the first cars to employ not one, but two layers of powder coating. Traditional liquid paints contain harmful VOCs. By using powder paint, we will substantially reduce factory emissions while producing class-leading paint quality.

To paint, the car will be attached to an electricity source and grounded. The positively-charged paint will be sprayed with paint guns. The charged particles are electrostatically attracted to the car and spread evenly. Once applied, the car travels on a conveyor belt through a 350 degree oven to cure the paint. Between the primer and clear powder coats, the color layer will be applied. After the three paint layers are applied, the car will be wet sanded to ensure a flawless surface.



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Once the final coat of paint is polished, the car moves to the final assembly area. Here, it transforms from a shell of sculpted, painted aluminum to the premium sedan you've been waiting for. The movable pieces of the car (the doors and trunk lid) are removed and delivered to separate assembly stations for further work. At a door assembly station, for example, wiring is fed between the outer panel and the inner frame, the handles are attached, and the premium leather pieces are fastened. Other assembly stations work on the dashboard, trunk lining, and other pieces. The parts deepest within the main frame of the car are attached. Next, the interior sub-assemblies are installed: carpet, headliner, console, dashboard, seats, and the steering wheel. Airbags are installed in key locations to protect occupants in the event of an impact from any direction. The doors, once appointed, are reattached and adjusted for fit.

But, what would the Model S be without the state-of-the-art powertrain and battery systems? With far fewer moving parts than an internal combustion engine, the motor, transaxle, inverter, and rear suspension system will be contained within one sub-assembly that can be bolted into the Model S in one step. The liquid-cooled battery pack, with quick release fluid connections will be installed in a matter of seconds. The battery pack provides the final structural element to the body. With this engineering feat, you'll be able to quickly swap an empty battery for a full one, should the need arise on long road trips.



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Before delivery, the car must go through quality testing. Typical quality tests consist of a 'rolling road' (a device that mimics driving on real streets), a water test to check for leaks, and an inspection station that ensures all components are installed to standard. Instead of wasting gallons of water to perform the leak test, we will instead employ ultrasonic waves inside the car as a device on the exterior detects escaping waves. With this scientific fluid ingress test system, we will save precious natural resources.

At the end of Quality Testing, your Model S is ready for delivery.

When the factory opens in 2012, we'll invite you to take a tour. In the meantime, we'll keep you updated. Stay tuned.
 
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I got an email too. Great to know that while we were bickering, making assumptions and trying to read the tea leaves TM was busy planning their factory and even securing equipment to be used. Glad they are keeping our hopes up. This note in their press release is very encouraging:
Our hydraulic press line is of the finest quality and we expect to use it for decades.
 
Aluminium body and swappable pack has always been either promises or strongly hinted at. Since the Roadster is made out of carbonfiber I suppose using Aluminium is dirt cheap in comparison :)
Keep in mind though that Tesla has never said their swappable pack should fit Better Place's solution.

Cobos
 
But if it does NOT ... we're back to Betamax vs. VHS ... and that's a really expensive path, not to mention an "ungreenly" WASTE.
Not necissarily, as Tesla has said the package change is more intended for people with the smaller packages to rent a bigger one for a weekend trip f.inst. and thus need to go to a Tesla store anyway. It does also help Tesla with any repairs, being able to do a replacement within 5 minutes at the HQ and probably within 20min or so with more manual tools. That way a repair truck can swap a defective pack for a working one at the site of the brakedown.

I see this more as a handy feature when the pack should be in the bottom part of the vehicle anyway. Not something that should let PBP dictate pack size and dimensions.

Cobos
 
I'm sure the battery swap was but not sure about using Aluminum.

April 2009 : LA Times -Tesla S: a model citizen
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, May 21, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 2 inches; 92 words Type of Material: Correction
Tesla Model S: A column by Dan Neil in Business on April 29 about Tesla's Model S said the car would not have the capacity to accept 440-volt current, which would allow it to be charged in 45 minutes and make it theoretically possible to drive the car cross-country with only brief stops to plug in. The column should have specified that the car would not accept a 440-volt alternating-current (AC) charge. It will take a 440-volt charge in direct-current (DC) voltage, which would require a special charging device not readily available.
* The body structure could be aluminum or steel or a combination, but the Model S will have lightweight aluminum body panels. Tesla expects to make its own "hard tooling," which are expensive stamping molds for the body panels. Although Straubel and Kelty declined to speculate, one possibility is that Tesla could align with Alcoa, the aluminum company, which works with Ferrari and other exotic-car makers to produce aluminum-bodied cars.
* Tesla is aiming for a 0.25 coefficient of drag, which would make the car very efficient aerodynamically. Ideally, the bottom of the car would slope up gradually toward the rear at a 7-degree angle, but the battery packs might interfere with that.

March 2009 : Autobloggreen
...The body panels and chassis will be primarily aluminum, with a total weight of just over 4,000 pounds, about 1,200 pounds of that being battery mass...
 
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I don't think there's really any new information here, but it's nice to read about anyhow.

Btw, we first heard about Al body panels (as well as pure BEV) back in June of 2008 from an interview Elon did with ABG. The following month, we first heard about battery swaps (and quick charge) from an interview Elon did with Newsweek.

All these features were of course confirmed at the Model S premiere in LA in March 2009.


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Seeing the original concept car based on a (presumably steel) existing Daimler chassis made some wonder just how much Aluminum was being considered. The concept car (probably being steel + fiberglass) is probably not at all representative of the materials to be used on the production car. Given the new Toyota tie in, who knows what might happen with the chassis now. Personally, I would cut Tesla some slack if they make some changes to what they originally suggested they would do. A lot has changed since then.
 
I take it no one else is terribly surprised at the last line of the letter:
When the factory opens in 2012, we'll invite you to take a tour. In the meantime, we'll keep you updated. Stay tuned.

I'm not surprised...but would be lying if I wasn't a tad disappointed. Makes it seem that 2013 isn't an unrealistic expectation for seeing a Model S in my garage....
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If factory is production capable in 2012 we should expect a number of Model S's to roll off the assembly line. You will most likely have R77 sometime in 2012. I will have to wait longer but expect it in 2012 as well.

Hey Iz and eFusco,

I'm a little puzzled the statement that the factory will open in 2012 :confused: when this line is included in their update "Even before we finalized the factory location, we secured machinery and items we'd need to quickly bring the facility online."

Is TM still going with the 2012 time frame to keep expectations down???? Or to give themselves time to build the best product they can??? Someone shed some light.
 
If factory is production capable in 2012 we should expect a number of Model S's to roll off the assembly line. You will most likely have R77 sometime in 2012. I will have to wait longer but expect it in 2012 as well.

I admit to total ignorance about this topic. What does "opening the factory" mean? The first production vehicle starts down the line? Or that's when they start in factory training/testing?

How long does it take from "opening" to rolling the first car off the line? How many vehicles will they be able to produce in the first month? 6th month?

I guess I'm being pessimistic to avoid getting my own hopes too high...and yet it makes a difference as I determine my next vehicular move. Is it wise to get a Nissan Leaf in mid-2011 to replace my aging Prius (100k + miles now) while I await the Tesla or should I just drive the Prius into the dirt? The longer I have to wait for the Tesla the closer it gets to time to replace my wife's vehicle and we can't really afford 2 new vehicles at that same time (esp. considering the price tag of the Model S). The longer it is going to be the tougher these choices are.

Not complaining, I expected delays...just expressing the way the delays impact my choices going forward.