During Tesla’s conference call today, CEO Elon Musk elaborated on Tesla’s plan to bring Model Y, the automaker’s upcoming all-electric CUV, to production and he said that the vehicle will bring ‘a manufacturing revolution’ in 2020.
Last month, a report from Reuters, which they claim was based on sources in the supply chain, stated that Tesla was aiming to start Model Y production in November 2019.
During Tesla’s Q1 2018 conference call today, Musk denied the report and instead, he stated that Tesla aims to bring the new vehicle to production in 2020.
The CEO also confirmed that Tesla doesn’t plan to manufacture the Model Y at its Fremont factory and that it will instead announce a new factory location “no later than in the fourth quarter”, which mean that it should be confirmed by the end of the year.
Furthermore, Musk, who has long been hyping a Model Y architecture aimed at rapid and simple manufacturing, doubled down on the hype by saying that it will be ‘a manufacturing revolution’.
In February, Musk said that Tesla plans to unveil the Model Y production plans in the next 3-6 months and that the company will start capital investment into the program this year.
The CEO confirmed today that they started investing already, but capital expenditure related to Model Y is currently low and it won’t be significant until next year.
Last year, Musk surprised people when he said that Model Y will be built on a new platform for production in “late 2019 to 2020”. This is a change from their previous plan to build the vehicle on the Model 3 platform in order to bring it to market faster.
Musk later walked back on his latest announcement and said that Tesla will go back to its original plan in order to bring the car to market sooner.
But it now looks like the plans might have changed again as Tesla is learning from mistakes that led to a very slow Model 3 production ramp and applying the knowledge to the development of the Model Y.
Musk said that they are taking their time in making development decisions in order to minimize the capital expenditure required to bring the vehicle into production.
When talking about making a new platform for Model Y, Musk previously said that Tesla will get rid of the 12-volt battery architecture. It means no more lead-acid battery and a different way to power in-car electronics. Musk says that it will reduce the overall wiring significantly and simplify the production process.
Less wiring harness means easier automation in the production process and Musk plans a completely different – more automated – production line for the Model Y.
And it’s still unclear where that production line will end up, but Tesla is apparently actively looking. If you know where it might end up, let us know.
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