Written by/Zhu Lin
Editor/Windsor
Design/Zhao Haoran
Source/Autonews, Bloomberg, authors Paul Lienert, Norihiko Shirouzu, Edward Taylor, Craig Trudell
Elon Musk is known as an innovator and disruptor. In 16 years, he went from knowing nothing about car manufacturing to becoming one of the most influential people in the world. value automaker.
As a company from Silicon Valley, Musk and his Tesla have a strong Internet mindset - learning and trial and error. Like many Internet companies, on the one hand, Tesla has a more advanced, adventurous, open, and inclusive style of doing things. By cooperating with different companies, it absorbs their strengths and transforms them into its own technology, and is willing to do more Trial and error to keep improving. On the other hand, the process of constant trial and error also brought about imperfections in the product and the inability to launch it as planned.
Learn from partners
Then walk independently
Musk’s record of leading Tesla’s development over the years shows that he is more like a fast learner. Forged alliances with companies that had technology that Tesla lacked, hired some extremely talented people, and partnered with companies that transcended risk aversion.
Now, Musk and his team are preparing to outline how Tesla can become a more self-sufficient company and less dependent on suppliers at a "Battery Day" event on September 22.
Musk has been hinting for months that Tesla would make significant advances in technology as it works to produce low-cost, long-lasting batteries that would make its electric vehicles comparable to Cheaper gas cars are on a more equal footing.
New battery designs, chemistries and manufacturing processes are just some of the developments that will help Tesla reduce its reliance on its long-time battery partner Panasonic of Japan, people familiar with the matter said.
“Elon doesn’t want any of his business to be dependent on anyone else,” said a former Tesla executive who declined to give his name. “For better or worse—sometimes good, sometimes bad— — He thinks he can do it better, faster, and cheaper. Tesla's battery production cooperation with Panasonic, South Korea's LG Chem, and China's CATL is expected to continue.
But at the same time, Tesla is taking control of the production of battery cells - the basic component of electric vehicle battery packs - in highly automated factories, including one built near Berlin, Germany, and another in Built in Fremont, California. Dozens of experts in battery cell engineering and manufacturing are employed.
"We have a good relationship, past and present. Panasonic is not a supplier to Tesla, we are a partner. There is no doubt that our partnership will continue to innovate and contribute to society." Contribution."
Make everything
People familiar with Tesla's strategy say that since taking over the fledgling company in 2004, Musk's goal has been to cooperate, Acquisitions and talent recruitment are fully learned to bring key technologies under Tesla's control.
Their goal, they say, is to build a highly vertically integrated company, or a production system that runs from iron ore to cars for the digital age, as Ford Motor Co. did in the late 1920s. Version.
"Elon thinks he can improve everything, everything, that his suppliers do," said Tom Wessner, a former Tesla supply chain executive. He is now a principal at industry consulting firm Imprint Advisors. "He wants to do it all."
Batteries, which make up a large chunk of the cost of electric vehicles, are at the heart of Musk's approach.
Although his subordinates have opposed the development of Tesla-specific batteries for years, Musk is still working towards this goal.
"Tell him, 'Don't do it,' and then he actually wants to do it," said one former Tesla veteran.
Tesla is expected to unveil changes to battery design, chemistry and production processes on Battery Day that are aimed at recalculating the math that has until now made electric vehicles more expensive than carbon-emission vehicles with gas engines.
According to a Reuters report in May, Tesla plans to launch a low-cost battery with a range of 1 million miles. Tesla is also working to secure direct supplies of key battery materials such as nickel, while developing battery chemistries that no longer require expensive cobalt and highly automated manufacturing processes to speed up production.
"Straight to Mars"
Panasonic cooperates with Tesla to invest $5 billion in the "Gigafactory" (Gigafactory) in Nevada, while CATL and LG Chem cooperate for Tesla The company's Shanghai factory supplies batteries, where it assembles battery modules and battery packs for Tesla's Model 3 sedan.
Panasonic recently said it plans to expand its production line in Nevada to provide batteries for battery modules assembled by Tesla.
But two former Tesla executives said the Nevada Gigafactory partnership had little success. In 2011, Musk ordered the formation of a team to study battery manufacturing, but ended up partnering with Panasonic in 2013, according to a former executive.
Tesla is now testing a pilot battery production line in Fremont and building its own large-scale automated battery manufacturing plant in Gruenheide, Germany.
Tesla’s roller coaster relationship with Panasonic is similar to Tesla’s other alliances.
During Tesla's development alliance with Germany's Daimler Group, Musk became interested in sensors that could help cars stay in their lanes. Daimler Group is an early investor in Tesla.
Before Mercedes-Benz engineers helped improve the Tesla Model S, the car had no cameras, advanced driver-assist sensors and software like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
"He understood this and went a step further. We asked engineers to launch to the moon, and he went directly to Mars." A senior engineer at Daimler said.
At the same time, his work with Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation, another early investor, taught him about quality management.
Eventually, executives from Daimler and Toyota joined Tesla in key positions, along with talent from Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and rivals Ford, BMW, and Audi.
Imperfect Cooperation
However, some relationships don’t end well.
In 2014, Tesla formed a partnership with Israeli sensor maker Mobileye, in part to learn how to design an autonomous driving system that would become Tesla's Autopilot.
A former Mobileye executive who asked not to be named said: "Mobileye was the driving force behind the original Autopilot."
Mobileye, now owned by Intel, is also aware of the relationship with Fast-growing startups like Tesla share the risks of technology. Tesla was on the verge of collapse in late 2008 and now has a market capitalization of $420 billion.
But after a 2016 crash of a Model S using Autopilot that killed a driver, Tesla and Mobileye had a heated public disagreement.
At the time, Amnon Shashua, now CEO of Mobileye, said Tesla’s Autopilot was not designed to cover all possible crash situations because it was a driver’s Assistance system, not a driverless system.
The former Mobileye executive said there was no problem with Tesla improperly using his company's technology.
The American technology company Nvidia became a supplier of Autopilot after Mobileye, but was eventually marginalized.
Nvidia and Tesla both have a similar strategy, which is to develop software-defined cars driven by high-performance artificial intelligence computers. "Elon is very focused on vertical integration and wanting to make his own chips," said Danny Shapiro, senior director of Nvidia's automotive division.
In addition to cooperation, Musk also went on an acquisition spree four years ago, acquiring several little-known companies such as Grohmann, Perbix, Riviera, Compass, Hibar Systems, etc. to quickly improve Tesla’s Expertise in automation. Maxwell and SilLion further enhance Tesla’s capabilities in battery technology.
"He learned a lot from those people," said Mark Ellis, a senior consultant at Munro & Associates. The company has conducted extensive research on Tesla. "He used a lot of information they provided and then used his own way to make things better."
Frequent delays, late but late
Musk at Tesla "All these things, I said we would do, and we did it," La said at the Autonomous Driving Day in April 2019. "The only criticism is that sometimes I'm not on time. That's true, but I got it done in the end." , and the Tesla team is done.”
The CEO was right in some respects, admitting candidly that Tesla was taking longer to bring the product to market than he expected. long. What he fails to acknowledge is that several of the products he touted at events that helped create his Silicon Valley fantasy image have barely been commercialized, are not on the market now, or have been abandoned entirely.
Musk, 49, won’t be selling investors a bunch of merchandise on Battery Day—batteries are at the heart of the existing products and technologies that have made Tesla one of the world’s most important companies. One of the most valuable companies. But a tendency to overpromise has made the billionaire a highly controversial figure, and many doubters still have to prove Musk wrong.
Model X (February 2012)
When Musk unveiled the Model Delivery of the first Model S sedan, he said at the time that the Model X would be put into production by the end of 2013.
This crossover SUV was launched almost two years later, with the first batch of customers only starting to purchase it in September 2015. At the unveiling of the Model The "arrogance" of doing too much on this car.
Musk said at the press conference that the door of this car is not much higher than the hatchback door of an ordinary SUV, but some customers have opened the door to the ceiling of their garage. The Model X consistently scores poorly on Consumer Reports rankings, while other Tesla models score highly.
Battery Swap (June 2013)
This was one of Musk's more problematic presentations, as the product offering never really materialized.
Musk said that Model S drivers can choose to charge for free at Tesla’s Supercharger stations, or they can drive to a station with the kind of automated equipment used in the company’s factories and use a One set replaces another set. He demonstrated that it took less time than it took to fill a gas tank.
Tesla later began offering charging at Supercharger stations, and Musk said that ultimately few customers were interested in swapping battery packs. California's Air Resources Board, which at one point granted Tesla additional zero-emission vehicle credits under its plan to offer battery swaps, changed the rules less than a year after Musk's demonstration.
Dual Motors, Autopilot (October 2014)
Musk posted a cryptic tweet days before the appearance: “It’s time for D and other stuff. D Representing the dual-motor version of the Model S, the other stuff referred to Autopilot, which, as it turned out, was by no means an afterthought by Tesla.
The CEO announced that all of the cars produced in the two weeks before the event. The car is equipped with radar, image recognition cameras and ultrasonic sonar, Musk said: "This car can do almost everything. He also cited features such as lane keeping, automatic cruise control and automatic parking, as well as the ability for owners to summon the car in a parking lot.
In 2016, Tesla finally signed a deal with a key supplier of early self-driving hardware Mobileye parted ways. After the Summon feature first launched in 2019, some owners posted videos of their cars colliding with other vehicles or narrowly avoiding accidents. Consumer Reports called it "glitch-free." Tesla Energy (May 2015)
Musk has laid out a vision of harnessing the power of the sun, or in his figurative language, “this convenient airborne fusion reactor” — not just from solar cells The panels collect energy and store it in batteries for home use.
"The problem with existing batteries right now is they're terrible," he said. They're expensive, unreliable, smelly, ugly and ugly. “It’s terrible in every way,” he said. The missing piece of the puzzle, Tesla’s $3,500 Powerwall, “looks like a beautiful sculpture hanging on the wall. "Users don't have to worry about running out of power or having a power outage. This product can be promoted globally, especially in remote areas where power supply is unstable or expensive.
At this meeting In the following five years, the automotive business has been Tesla's leading business, with 86% of revenue coming from the automotive business last quarter. Musk said that Tesla's business is "battery shortage", which means Tesla lacks batteries. Supplies it needs to support its cars and power walls
Model 3 (March 2016)
Tesla managed to deliver on many of the specs Musk promised for the Model 3. , including at least 215 miles of driving range, he prompted laughter from the crowd by suggesting he would likely miss the deadline: "I'm actually fairly confident it will be available next year. ”
The event was a huge success, with Tesla winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits for its first affordable, high-volume car.
But the company didn’t One key promise that was kept was a starting price of $35,000. Three years later, Musk announced plans to close most Tesla stores to save costs so he could sell the car at that price. Regret it again. Today, the cheapest Model 3 is priced at US$37,990 (approximately RMB 260,000)
Solar Roof (October 2016)
Here. The event helped Tesla shareholders back Musk's plan to acquire SolarCity Corp., just months after the CEO proposed an acquisition he called an "obvious" and "no-brainer." The company is a debt-laden solar sales and installation company that Musk co-founded with his brothers.
On stage, Musk held up different styles of roof tiles. Equipped with virtually non-functioning solar cells, shareholders approved the deal worth more than $2 billion a few weeks later.
"At the time, I thought the merger of Tesla and SolarCity made strategic sense. Saying that now is hindsight." Musk said desperately two and a half years later, "If I could turn back time , you know, I would say I would probably keep SolarCity independent."
Semi-trailers, sports cars (December 2017)
As Musk said, time will tell. , whether this semi-truck really offers "quasi-infinite" brake life and "thermonuclear explosion-proof" glass. He said at the time that the company would start production in 2019. Now the plan has been changed to start next year.
Musk showed the audience a surprising cargo on one of the trucks: a prototype of a new convertible that he said would be "the fastest production car ever."
The CEO canceled plans to launch the car this year. In May, he listed several other tasks Tesla needed to complete first, suggesting they might not be completed until after next year.
Model Y (March 2019)
After a difficult year, Model 3 production is finally in full swing. Musk said Tesla ran out of money within weeks and expressed his gratitude to those who continued to support Tesla during the company's difficult times. He imitated his critics—"You're a liar!"—and retorted about the cars the company delivered: "You can drive that liar!"
To its credit, the Model Y is better than The reservation was made much in advance. Musk said at the event that the crossover will be available starting in the fall of 2020. This timetable has been advanced to March.
Autonomous Driving Day (April 2019)
In a hours-long demonstration, senior engineers from Tesla’s Autonomous Driving team conducted a demonstration of Tesla’s technology A highly technical introduction. Musk then started making his usual bold predictions.
"We expect to have the first self-driving taxis operating next year," he said, "without people in them. Next year." Any customer can add their car to the Tesla network, and soon Schneider described the service as a cross between Uber and Airbnb. Model 3 owners can share their car whenever they want and earn money from the people who drive it. Tesla will take 25% to 30% of the revenue. Musk expects the company to stop making cars with steering wheels and pedals in about two years.
None of this has been implemented yet. The CEO also said that by mid-2020, Tesla will have more than 1 million cars on the road, and the hardware of these cars will be able to drive fully autonomously and complete some functions that do not require the driver's attention. Today, the company is still reminding users of its self-driving systems that they must keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.
Cybertruck (November 2019)
At the big event, it took a few minutes for Tesla's first pickup truck prototype to live up to expectations. The event featured a holographic image of a "cybergirl", a giant hammer and a ball of fire flying into the air.
The demonstration of the truck’s stainless steel “exoskeleton”’s robustness went well, with the door taking a few hits without denting. But an attempt to show off the strength of its clear metallic "armor" glass failed miserably - a metal ball shattered the first and second row of windows.
"Well, it's not bad," Musk said after the demonstration went wrong. "There's still room for improvement."