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The Model 3 cells are custom 2170 li-ion cells co-developed with Tesla and manufactured by Panasonic at Gigafactory 1.

Tesla Gigafactory 1, which started in 2013, has already grown into the biggest battery factory in the world with an annual production capacity of over 20 GWh. [1]

Actually they have exceeded 20 GWh currently and are pushing towards 35 GWh. [2]

Panasonic is a 25% stakeholder in Gigafactory 1. The fact that you think Tesla merely assembles packs, is because most of what they are doing to hit $100/kWh is trade secret.

Their packs are cheaper, lighter, denser. They will be cobalt free. And that’s driven by Tesla IP not just Panasonic. [3]

As far as margins, the idea that you could ship a 50kWh electric car for $35,000 was pure and utter lunacy 10 years ago.

There literally isn’t enough battery production in the world to produce a million EVs a year, let alone 10 million. You are comparing apples to oranges.

[1] - https://www.google.com/amp/s/electrek.co/2018/09/26/panasoni...

[2] - https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/g...

[3] - https://electrek.co/2018/11/13/tesla-battery-cells-improved/

IP is not the same as manufacturing capability.

Exactly!

Tesla fans love to claim Autopilot is the best because, for example, Waymo's system is not available to purchase. How then can we be expected to believe a secret Tesla battery project is beating competition? There is no independent review and it is not in production.

I think people should just watch the gigafactory video:

https://vimeo.com/176841432

there's a lot going on behind the scenes.

> Toyota and VW shipped 10 million cars worldwide last year without any logistics issues. Hell, most companies are able to ship their products without any controllable logistics issues.

These companies are shipping with more or less established infrastructure and supply chains that have been optimized over decades. Tesla has been building almost all of its infrastructure and supply chain from scratch (batteries, supercharger networks, software tech, etc.), while also getting cars delivered. And breaking tons of new ground in almost every area of automotive tech.

(You can argue that Torota and VW build infrastructure too, but almost all of it is incremental, and almost none of it is groundbreaking.)

> Why does Tesla get a pass for failing to do something that every other manufacturer gets right?

Nobody's giving them a pass. It just seems unreasonable to draw conclusions without understanding the entire context.

>It would be accurate to say that Tesla is the largest manufacturer of car batteries

Pretty sure that title goes to Johnson Controls, who produces about 1/3rd of all car batteries globally.

Interestingly they're selling that business to Brookfield

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/...

"one color and style .. with limited options" is simply incorrect, and your biases are showing. You're either being disingenuous or not affording the same luxury to Tesla that other manufacturers get. Plenty of manufacturers charge more for different colors, and, by the way, that's considered an "option".

It's also an assumption that they had to (try to) close all their stores to make the $35k Model 3 possible.

The fact of the matter is, every manufacturer wants to sell products for the highest overall profit (unit profit * volume) possible, and lower overhead. The fact that they previously refused to sell (presumably lower margin) short-range 3s does not mean it wasn't possible. Maybe it wasn't possible. Or maybe they'd rather make $100 per unit on a mid-range than $1 per unit on a short-range.

> in one color

Why is "black" and not "white" the standard color?

Asking this because I think that black electric cars need in general more air-conditioning, therefore more energy, have therefore less range than white cars - based on the belief that it's easier to heat a car than to cool it => if the previous statements are correct, why is the high-energy-consumption-colour less expensive than the low-energy-consumption-colour?

I wouldn't put it past Elon to be because of Ford's famous edict when ramping the Model T: "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Ford

Maybe a nod to Ford on the model t? I think he famously said, "they can have it in any color they want, as long as it's black"

I've secretly thought it was like the airlines taking away legroom and making you buy it back with an upgrade.

> It would be accurate to say that Tesla is the largest manufacturer of car batteries,

Uh, duh? Last I checked, Tesla mostly sells cars. If they were the largest manufacturer of, say, cellphone batteries, THAT would have been surprising.

In term of overall capacity they mean.

They're the manufacturer of the largest batteries then. Not the largest manufacturer of batteries.

They're not even the largest manufacturer of car batteries.

Have you ever played a real time strategy game?

I see Tesla as a company that is basically putting all their resources into building their tech tree and their vehicle and parts factories, but cannot mine enough vespene gas to support the stores.