Tesla produce 7000 cars in seven days
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Just as SpaceX first showed that they could launch a payload to orbit, then showed that they could do it repeatedly; just as they first showed that they could land a booster, then showed they could do so dependably; just as they showed they could reuse a booster, then showed that they could do this rapidly and reliably.
First Tesla showed that they could meet their 5000 cars per week goal, now they have to show that they can do so repeatedly. I have a hunch that they'll do it.
Pushing a car out of the factory gates is not equivalent to assembling a car.
Who's to say some of the components aren't half melted or contaminated with natural elements from outdoors?
Even if all the parts are OK one would think not the whole manufacturing is temperature-insensitive.
I wouldn't worry if I saw Tesla as a responsible company, but I see them as desperate to achieve goals and capable of misleading people (e.g. autopilot being marketed as much more than what it currently is [1]).
[1] https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/autopilot?redirect=no : watch and read the embedded video too
The only thing I would be concerned about is dust or moisture intrusion.
There's actually quite a large driver shortage right now. On one route we use at work, the rate doubled in the last year. The report was that some of the drivers are just fine with the life they were living before they got a big bump in pay, and want to drive less and make the same money.
Heck, they could have 8000 cars parked waiting to go through quality control, discarded 1000 that didn't pass and rolled out 7000 cars.
The number is largely meaningless without further qualification.
(and they did miss that deadline)
They're now making in the territory of 5000 cars a week, almost double in 2 months. Regardless of how you interpret it as burst week or not, the production rate has ramped up significantly.
We are now seeing the goalpost being moved from whether Tesla can achieve this goal, to Tesla being lax with quality. Perhaps we'll hear soon 10K/week is unattainable. I guess that means they are making progress.
Each one of those cars could have taken 2 months to assemble, and they've just been waiting to finish and push it out.
Without more data, the 5000 cars out of the gate number is irrelevant.
Check Little's Law.
if meeting the 5000 production goal is irrelevant, then missing the old production goals would be just as irrelevant, right?
Tell me, do you consider "I can quality check 5000 cars in a week" equivalent to "I can produce 5000 cars in a week"?
Yes or no?
If you value Tesla as battery company that happens to make cars, it's just as silly since it's such a small portion of their revenue.
It's entirely possible Tesla will go burst. We'll see. However market value isn't a reliable indicator.