Tesla Shows Off Chinese-Made Model 3s Ahead of Shanghai Factory Start (arstechnica.com) 69
Work on Tesla's Shanghai factory, dubbed Gigafactory 3, is just about finished, and the company is weeks away from beginning large-scale manufacturing. Ars Technica reports: According to Bloomberg, Tesla chairman Robyn Denholm said last week that Tesla is waiting for manufacturing certification from local government. The company hopes that will happen before the end of the year. Tesla recently posted images of some of the first Chinese-made Model 3s on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to Twitter. Tesla allowed Chinese reporters to take additional photos of the vehicle. There are a couple of obvious differences from the American model.
The back of the car has Chinese characters on the left and "Model 3" on the right. Like the cars Tesla is currently shipping to China, these new Model 3s also sport dual charging ports. One port is for the European Type 2 charging standard, while the other is for a Chinese charging standard. Tesla will initially use batteries from Panasonic in its Chinese-made cars, just as it does in the United States. Bloomberg recently reported that Tesla is negotiating a deal to start using batteries from Chinese battery maker CATL starting next year. Tesla is aiming to produce at least 1,000 vehicles per week at its Chinese factory before the end of the year. That could help Tesla achieve its overall goal to deliver at least 360,000 vehicles for the calendar year.
The back of the car has Chinese characters on the left and "Model 3" on the right. Like the cars Tesla is currently shipping to China, these new Model 3s also sport dual charging ports. One port is for the European Type 2 charging standard, while the other is for a Chinese charging standard. Tesla will initially use batteries from Panasonic in its Chinese-made cars, just as it does in the United States. Bloomberg recently reported that Tesla is negotiating a deal to start using batteries from Chinese battery maker CATL starting next year. Tesla is aiming to produce at least 1,000 vehicles per week at its Chinese factory before the end of the year. That could help Tesla achieve its overall goal to deliver at least 360,000 vehicles for the calendar year.
"Almost on schedule" - raelly (Score:5, Informative)
The whole thing is crazy - the factory was built starting from a green field (literally, a rice field) in less than a year. It would be interesting to compare it with the European factory once its location is confirmed.
Re:"Almost on schedule" - raelly (Score:5, Informative)
Given Tesla's history, if it is on schedule, it's anywhere from months to years ahead of when anybody actually expected it to be done, so saying it's ahead of schedule... maybe it's a typo, and they meant to type "almost a miracle"?
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They still did it in about 40% less time than VW’s China factory. It is a pretty impressive accomplishment.
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Or maybe years and year behind, like their "full self driving" that's been sold since 2016 and missed the original 2017 target date, and is now scheduled for 2020 last time I checked.
Or like the $35k Model 3 that was simply cancelled. Tesla target dates and timeframes are basically meaningless.
Re: "Almost on schedule" - raelly (Score:2)
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Re: "Almost on schedule" - raelly (Score:2)
That's because the Chinese don't care about... anything
What are you, twelve?
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Not unusual in China, they build things very quickly because they don't have the same environment and safety protections that the West does. Not just regarding the construction, but even the design of the building e.g. number of fire escapes and type of fire safety equipment installed.
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oh I'm glad I didn't sell my Tesla Stock (Score:1)
...
Tesla achievements: (Score:5, Informative)
8 “Impossible” Goals Tesla Achieved [cleantechnica.com] (Oct. 14, 2018)
7 Things [people said] Tesla Couldn’t Do [cleantechnica.com] (Oct. 19, 2019)
7 More Things Tesla "Couldn't" Achieve [cleantechnica.com] (Oct. 21, 2019)
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Closing eyes and ignoring real-world data (Score:4, Informative)
Still waiting on the $35,000 model 3.
You know that if all what Tesla's detractors were saying about the feasibility of Model 3 was true, there are a multitude of other cars which shouldn't be possible either?
Renault Zoe, Nissan Leafs, etc. : all cars that have already existed for years and nowaday compete roughly in the same price range.
I know at the beginning the "Top-Down" approach of Telsa (first built luxury car, and reinvest the money made to increase production capacity, until you can make the cars cheap) seemed a bit counter to what was the norm elsewhere (first built cheap (low risk) city cars, and progressively increase spec - works better for established manufacturer (with larger war chests) in denser regions such as EU and JP).
But nowadays both have progressed and met in the middle. If the 35k $ Model 3 is impossible, the Leafs and Zoes would have been impossible too.
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They cancelled the $35k Model 3 because it cost too much to produce. Officially it wasn't worth creating a separate line to build the cheap interior and other parts that differed, but unofficially it was probably due to not wanting to compromise on the autopilot hardware.
Tesla fits autopilot hardware to every car, regardless of if you paid extra for it. Their plan is to enable self driving one day and start profiting from a robotaxi service using a fleet paid for by customers.
I just hope they were not relyi
Re:Electric Moped Cars (Score:2)
>first built cheap (low risk) city cars, and progressively increase spec
I am not sure i agree, because it didn't work out. All it ended with was a few firms producing electric moped cars, but with higher specs. With small batteries incapable of driving outside of the commuter city.
Questionable shell design, storage space, speed, capacity. Essentially a moped car in size and utility.
The current electric car is a feasible design that could happen after the late 1980s: Batteries existed, MOSFET and micropro
Musk finally delivering $30K Tesla... (Score:1)
Re: Musk finally delivering $30K Tesla... (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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China is bigger than UK EU and US combined
That's wrong, not only by population but by landmass as well. Forget about economically.
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Re: absolutely infuriating. (Score:2)
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Population? Landmass?
Idiot we're talking about EV sales and China several million is wiping the flaw with your pathetic effort of 300000 EVs on the road in the USA.
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Did Tesla switch to CCS in the US?
I thought they still uses their proprietary one here.
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I just wish that Tesla would open up their charging network to others, now that they are switching to CCS in Europe.
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China is leading the world in electric vehicle development and deployment. One of the reasons they created their own charging standard is that they couldn't wait for CCS to catch up to their needs... The same as Tesla and their proprietary system.
CHAdeMO was because Nissan was the first to be selling affordable EVs and deploying a major network. At the time CCS was shit anyway - CHAdeMO was simple and robust and it wasn't uncommon to find CCS cars unable to charge while the same charger would work with a Le
Some data for your infatuation (Score:2)
2018 total EV sales by country:
- China 1.256 million
- Europe 406 thousand
- USA 361 thousand
Yep there were more electrical vehicles sold in China in the past year than in the greatest other markets in the world. There are more vehicles cumulative owned in China than those two markets as well which in effect means the GB/T standard is actually the one that is *most* popular based on vehicle sales.
I'm also guessing you've never heard of BYD. Last year it was still the biggest electric passenger vehicle produce
Fuck Tesla. (Score:2)
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But now we get to spy on the Chinese.
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Sets of side cameras and a front camera everywhere.
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How long before (Score:1)
China steals IP and clones the Model 3?
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China steals IP and clones the Model 3?
They don't need a factory in China to do that. At least this way Tesla has a head start over the cloners.
And... in case you hadn't noticed, you need massive investment to be able to make these. It's not going to be done in a tiny sweatshop like all the stuff you're wearing/using.
Re:How long before (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: How long before (Score:2)
Cost no object.
Being China, cost is the object.
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The factory belongs to the government anyway, unless Tesla is paying hundreds of millions in taxes in a few years, which isn't likely.
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China steals IP and clones the Model 3?
How do you steal something that's available for free?
Re: How long before (Score:2)
Tesla betrays America (Score:1)
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Re: Tesla betrays America (Score:2)
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Re:Tesla betrays America (Score:4, Insightful)
Elon Musk should stop helping China build its car industry.
And you should stop thinking in terms of "them" vs. "us". Do you know how stupid that concept is?
Re:Tesla betrays America (Score:5, Insightful)
Elon Musk should stop helping China build its car industry.
And you should stop thinking in terms of "them" vs. "us". Do you know how stupid that concept is?
I'm as against the "us v. them" mentality as the next guy but the Trumkins to have a bit of a point when it comes to China. We may disagree abut methods but the Chinese have access to our free markets, our rule of law, our patent systems, etc. A Chinese company that patents something in the US/EU gets treated like an US/EU company. If you try to patent something in China the government drags its feet for years beyond the waiting time that is normal for a Chinese company to get a patent cleared. In the mean time your Chinese competitors are free to copy/reverse engineer your stuff, produce knockoffs that vary in quality from quite good to horrible, such that by the time your Chinese patent finally clears it is useless and this is by design. The Chinese are allowed to invest their money freely in the west but just you try to penetrate the Chinese market where local companies are fiercely protected by the government from foreign investors. If China wants to be a player in international trade it has to play nice, and if that means that Huawei, Xiaomi or any other national pride emblems may come into the majority ownership of foreigners like some western companies are already owned by Chinese investors then so be it. Also, their aggressive use of their intelligence services to steal IP has to stop. I know everybody spies on everybody but the Chinese have taken things to extremes in that department. Another issue is that you sink enough money into China you stand a good chance of losing all of it if you happen to utter the wrong things about the treatment of Uyghurs or Falun Gong in China, the Tibet occupation, Hong Kong protests, ... the list goes on. This is one reason I'd either stay the hell out of China or severely limit Chinese investor's access to western markets as long as they continue to basically crack down on and effectively ruin foreign investors the instant these say something the Chinese government does not like. It's not my favorite choice since I favour free trade but it is probably preferable to adopting the attitude: if they can do this so can we , and start some asinine game of tit for tat cracking down on investors just trying to do business. Finally, there is the subject of rampant corruption within the Chinese Communist Party but that is topic all to itself.
Re: Tesla betrays America (Score:3)
Ummm Tesla opened their patent portfolio for everyone to use.
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Ummm Tesla opened their patent portfolio for everyone to use.
And everybody else who holds a patent did that too? Is Huawei allowing all of their competitors free access to the their key 5G patents?
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Of course some companies don't release their IP, rather they try to milk them for profit.
You just can't be taken seriously saying that Tesla was betrayed or that their IP was stolen when:
1. They released all the patents for everyone, and
2. Their goal as a company is to accelerate the onset of electric vehicles.
China is actually helping them with their company goal.
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Of course some companies don't release their IP, rather they try to milk them for profit.
You just can't be taken seriously saying that Tesla was betrayed or that their IP was stolen when:
1. They released all the patents for everyone, and 2. Their goal as a company is to accelerate the onset of electric vehicles.
China is actually helping them with their company goal.
My accusation of IP theft by China was general and not limited to Tesla alone.
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Fair enough.
I think it's also a fair point to say that industrial espionage is not exclusive to the Chinese.
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Fair enough.
I think it's also a fair point to say that industrial espionage is not exclusive to the Chinese.
I appreciate that you are trying to minimise China's catalog of shenanigans at every step but as I pointed out, they practice industrial espionage a whole heck of a lot more than others and they do so primarily with massive state assistance.
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lol look at the actual details of how they "opened" their portfolio, then you'll see why literally NO ONE was dumb enough to take them up on that offer
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The engineering is the hard part. Thus you can also then say:
LOL look at the actual details of how they "opened" their portfolio, then you'll see why literally NO ONE was _smart_ enough to take them up on that offer.
The thing is China is "people rich" the amount of smart people they can throw at solving problems is incredible.
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to make a newline in /.
chinese characters (Score:3)
These Should Go Down...... (Score:2)
Strange move... (Score:2)
Can't wait for those cheap TISLA cars! It'll be like Tesla without the quality control... so just like a real Tesla!
And the next day... (Score:2)