It is "cheaper and simpler" to have a software button actuate a relay to open my glovebox than having a simple latch? It is going to be easier to have electric actuators for redirecting air than having plastic blades I move myself?
It doesn't hold water. These are crazy Musk fantasies being realized like the gull wing doors, not because they are cheaper, easier or more reliable.
Don't get me wrong, I love Tesla, Musk and really love the model 3, but the reasoning just doesn't make sense.
An electric car is theoretically simpler than a gas powered car. It has a battery and a motor. Electric cars were popular before gas cars in early part of the 20th century.
Complex manufacturing is typically a highly parallel process.
For instance, as Tesla ramps up to 5,000 vehicles a week sometime this year, Toyota will sell 30 to 40 thousand vehicles a week just in the US. One of them is obviously producing vehicles faster.
But my point was that removing buttons isn't the only way to quickly produce cars and it is awkward to praise them for their relatively slow production rate. Praise them for reducing the time devoted to assembling each vehicle.