BlackbirdHighway
Member
They had 2 companies work on the transmission, and now they have another 2 companies that seem to have just started working on the transmission.
They (actually Elon, I think) did say that the 2 new companies are not starting from scratch, but building and improving on the existing design, now that they (Tesla) has a much better understanding of where it went wrong.
With two failed efforts already, and no time left for a third, they are certainly showing they are serious about getting the thing out by pursuing two in parallel. Normally you would not want to incur that sort of expense.
He stressed how long it takes for a transmission development cycle. Molds have to be designed and made in order to produce castings of prototype housings. Other parts have to be machined, then assembled. Then you can't tell if it's successful until many, many miles of testing have been performed, and it all takes lots and lots of time.