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Transportation Businesses

Musk Promises Tesla Design Overhaul, 'Ravecave' At Berlin Plant (reuters.com) 64

Posted by BeauHD from the culturally-necessary dept.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will use its plant in Brandenburg, Germany to demonstrate a radical overhaul of how its cars are built, as well as making electric car battery cells and battery packs. Musk also said he has plans for a "ravecave" on the roof of the new factory, which would make it a "real fun place to work." "I think a ravecave is culturally necessary," he adds. Reuters reports: Tesla plans to manufacture a new version of its Model Y crossover vehicle, and possibly even battery cells at the site. "It will be the first time that there will be a transformation in the core structural design of the vehicle. It's quite a big thing. Both manufacturing, engineering and design as well," Musk said in the video. Tesla wanted to help accelerate a transition to sustainable energy, not just build cars, Musk said. "The three elements needed for a sustainable energy future are sustainable energy generation, energy storage, and sustainable transport, electric cars."

Musk's comments come after Tesla acquired a license that will enable it to trade electricity across western Europe and started surveying customers in Germany about potentially using Tesla electricity in their cars. "I think we will be building some batteries and cells and other things here. That will be good for stationary storage of wind and solar," Musk stated. Musk, who said he was pleased with the progress being made on the plant, told the bystanders that "Deutschland Rocks" and praised the availability of local engineering talent, saying that Tesla would need to make lots of hires. "We will start off with the factory but we will also do some original engineering and design work. It is going to be, actually to be totally frank, better than the one in the U.S."
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Musk Promises Tesla Design Overhaul, 'Ravecave' At Berlin Plant More

Musk Promises Tesla Design Overhaul, 'Ravecave' At Berlin Plant

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  • Ravecave FTW (Score:3)

    by Midnight_Falcon ( 2432802 ) on Thursday September 03, 2020 @04:46PM (#60470572)
    I don't know about all of my colleagues here, but I for one can't wait for the opportunity to walk around a ravecave and see sights such as Elon Musk's pupils the size of a golfball and Joe Rogan smoking blunts with technologists. If this means I have to buy a Tesla, worth it.
    • Ok...guessing from your post it is a place to do drugs or were you making a joke I don't get?

      Not familiar with the term rave cave....

      • Might want to get out more...

        well maybe next year

      • Not familiar with the term rave cave....

        I've never heard it before either, but it's one of those times when the meaning should be immediately apparent to any English speaker, native or not. Demonstrate adaptability.

    • I concur. I thought he was a boring sod with all his driverless auto pilot stuff but the rave cave is changing my opinion of him
    • There will be beer, and maybe sausages too...

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I'm sure it will be quite a sausage fest.

    • How much do you have to smoke before you think that you're in a cave when you're actually on a roof?

      • How much do you have to smoke before you think that you're in a cave when you're actually on a roof?

        Exactly the amount you're required to smoke before entry.

        You must be new to this scene.

        Whatever it takes. If you're not there yet, stay home.

        • This is the only correct answer.

          Meanwhile, ravecave everybody!

        • Exactly the amount you're required to smoke before entry.

          Exactly the amount you're required to smoke to crash Tesla's share price. [theguardian.com]

          • That's hilarious, because $420 is what I had my TSLA alert set to yesterday right before I bought shares.

            You understand that story is two years old, and the stock price went up? The story you linked is the context for the ravecave comments; he won. He says even crazier shit now. And he does half of it. He's a crazy asshole, but news flash; that doesn't affect the stock price. It does make the business page, as you already know.

    • If this means I have to buy a Tesla, worth it.

      I'm not ready to go all in on a new car yet, but I did get excited and buy a couple shares of TSLA today to celebrate.

  • It'll be (Score:2, Insightful)

    by pele ( 151312 )

    the best factory in the world, in history, it will be so terrific that no other factory ever will even come close to being so great, the greatest factory ever.

    • Re:It'll be (Score:5, Insightful)

      by marcle ( 1575627 ) on Thursday September 03, 2020 @04:56PM (#60470622)

      Company founder makes optimistic forward-looking statements. Check. That's one of his jobs. This particular founder is showing up the entire global automotive industry, so he's got some justification for strutting.

      And it's not the only industry he's disrupting. How many industries have you disrupted lately? Not just Tesla and SpaceX, but if you count PayPal, Musk seems to have a bit of a knack for it.

      • This particular founder is showing up the entire global automotive industry, so he's got some justification for strutting.

        Both in terms of market share and profit, Tesla is barely a rounding error in the automotive industry.

        • Both in terms of market share and profit, Tesla is barely a rounding error in the automotive industry.

          Tesla is the leading producer of all electric cars [statista.com], which is all that matters for the future.

          You are like they guys whole claimed Detroit had nothing to worry about when Japan started making cars seriously.

          • And they produce zero ICE cars, which are the vast, vast majority of cars produced and sold.

            You are like the guys who claimed soccer would be the biggest sport in the US because LOOK HOW FAST THEY ARE GROWING!!!

    • Hmm, you think he's practicing to become president someday?

  • So, Austin just committed to all these subsidies, etc. to get Musk to locate the cyber truck factory in Central Texas, yet he kept his cards tight to his chest and never let on that a rave cave could be on the table.

    Damn smart negotiator.

    And it sucks for Austin.

    • Austin doesn't need a "rave cave" they have the lake front, a bridge full of bats and all manner of craziness already. They mean it when they say "Keep Austin Weird."

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      In terms of cars, Tesla is still losing money in the US. The $400 million of profits comes from $600 Million for carbon offsets. This means that Tesla is not reducing carbon footprint, as other car manufacturers simply build extra polluting vehicles.

      It sounds like they are going to try to use different jurisdiction to make profitable cars. Instead og]f getting people to work all night by giving away rave parties, which is insane giving COVID

      It may be profitable to sell electricity.

      • Your implied calculation ($600M in credits > $400M in profit) only makes sense if the cost of the revenue is $0. It's tempting to think that, but Tesla wouldn't be able to sell ZEV credits to GM if they didn't sell enough of their own vehicles. So the cost of the $600M in revenue is production of a fleet of ZEV vehicles that they sell to customers. Otherwise, GM wouldn't need to buy ZEV credits from Tesla. They could just start up a shell company and buy the ZEV credits from them instead. So, the correct

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fermion ( 181285 )
          The correct way to think about this is they are not selling enough cars to cover fixed costs of producing those cars in the US. Anyway can make a widget that costs $1000 and sell it for 90, sell a million of them, and claim to be successful even though they lost 100,000 dollars. This is in fact the basis of the digital economy. But it is not good business. The fact that the firm then goes on to sell customer data for $15 a pop and reports a profit of 5 million does not really change the fact that they d

          • Tesla had a gross profit of $1.3B on their cars in Q2 2020, a 25.4% margin. Their operating expenses are still high relative to gross profit, but they are reducing. $300M of their operating expenses was for R&D. They are a growing company and are spending their money on growth.

            Just because you don't like how a business makes some of its money doesn't mean it's a bad business. Printers everywhere are almost universally sold at a loss. The printer companies profit from selling the consumables. Car dealers

  • I must be old, what the hell is a "ravecave"?
    • It's like the Bat Cave, but with more dancing https://www.bing.com/videos/se... [bing.com]

    • very old then, there were rave caves in the early 90's

      • Yes, and this one is in Germany.
        I have some experience of Germans, and they seem to like to take their clothes off, which can either be great, (really, really great in fact) or slightly frightening depending on your perspective.

    • I must be old, what the hell is a "ravecave"?

      A rave is a party and a cave is a place which is usually dark. So a ravecave is a dark party place. Think of a geek party, where they "party" and "engineer" at the same time while having all the trappings of a Geek playground, pinball, game consoles, and all sorts of what we would have called "cool stuff to play with" if we where young. the theory is that folks are more creative when they are having fun and it's easier to keep talent when they find their work engaging.

      I think it goes a bit too far at tim

      • Musk calls people 'pedo' but really is this an appropriate environment for a grown man? Such an odd person.

        • Musk calls people 'pedo' but really is this an appropriate environment for a grown man? Such an odd person.

          No, it really isn't. Slashdot is definitely not an appropriate environment for supposed adults. But here we all are... Such odd people.

  • Fit and Finish Improvements (Score:3)

    by WankerWeasel ( 875277 ) on Thursday September 03, 2020 @06:48PM (#60470950)
    How about making them have the fit and finish of at least a $20k vehicle? The panel gaps are just about the worst from any vehicle manufacturer and the paint is horrid (unless orange-peel is what you're into straight from the factory). These issues shouldn't be present in the standard vehicle segment, much less vehicles that are running more than $100k.

    • Most vehicles have a shitload of orange peel. The very highest-end vehicles are hand painted. Everything else gets rolled past sprayers as a BIW and then rolled into an oven where the paint gets baked so hot it reflows, so that it dries rapidly and assembly can commence as soon as it cools.

    • How about making them have the fit and finish of at least a $20k vehicle?

      yes, but decreasing panel gaps (manufacturing refinement) is way easier than platform creation/development, which they already excel at.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by psergiu ( 67614 )

      My 3 doesn't have those issues.
      Any other Tesla-owing /.-ers have those issues ?
      Just curious.

      • Nearly every Tesla suffers from those issues. It's mentioned frequently in car reviews and ask any detailer and they'll tell you how trash Tesla paint jobs are. There was even a class action suit against them over the paint quality on the 3.

  • Generally not a good marketing plan to announce that you have a revolutionary redesign of your core products coming "soon" - it tends to lead large numbesr of people to not buy the current generation simultaneously.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mspohr ( 589790 )

      This is for the Model Y in Europe. It's not now available in Europe. Can't buy it if you wanted to.

  • I expect to see he man himself DJ'ing "Don't Doubt ur Vibe" at his German ravecave. Very inspiring.

  • German working conditions (Score:5, Interesting)

    by felixrising ( 1135205 ) on Friday September 04, 2020 @01:03AM (#60471824)
    I wonder how Musk will cope with Germany's very employee favourable working conditions. Employees enjoy up to minimum 24 working days vacation per year. But in reality Employers regularly grant more than the minimum vacation. Between 25 and 30 days per year is common practice. Employers have no power to veto or control when employees take leave - often with as little as 3 days notice required. German employees are also highly unionised.... Personally, I think this all makes for much better employees. Less stress and more freedoms makes for happier and more productive employees.

    • Re:German working conditions (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fph il quozientatore ( 971015 ) on Friday September 04, 2020 @02:40AM (#60471938)
      That sounds horrible. I bet no other European company before Tesla has managed to thrive, or even survive, under these unbearable conditions.
      • I totally agree. It is probably the reason why Germany does not have any other car factories. It also explains the lack of German car brands.

        • To be fair, those other German car brands have had to cheat on some regulations because otherwise they cannot be massively profitable for their owners. All the German brands have been implicated in emissions cheating. They may not cheat on the labor rules designed to benefit employees, but they do cheat on the rules designed to benefit all humans by preserving the biosphere.

          Tesla, of course, doesn't have to worry about that... because they make ZEVs. The fueling pollution is someone else's problem.

    • 30 days holiday is standard in Germany, but it needs to be approved and can be mandated by the employer when the employees take it.

  • Headline talks about "design overhaul", but TFA offers no information beyond that quote? What kind of journalism is this?

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