On Geektimes
, the news was recently
published that Tesla Inc presented a version of the electric vehicle Tesla Model 3 with two electric motors. Then it was reported that one motor is designed to increase the power of the electric vehicle, the other allows to cover a greater distance on one battery charge. The cost of this version of the machine is $ 78,000.
And today
it became known that Musk made a new statement, and not just one. The first is that in the near future, customers of the basic version of Model 3, which was promised to them at a price of $ 35,000, will not see their order. The fact is that selling this modification for a company now amounts to losing money. Therefore, they will be delivered to the market, but not now, but later.
Musk explained this by saying that the company now needs to reach a certain level of production, and then everything will be as it should be. He also reported approximate terms of solving the problem with deliveries of the basic version - from three to six months. To lose money on the supply of inexpensive electric car company now can not, because it is so unprofitable.
With his statement, Musk upset many fans of his brand, since $ 35,000 is the amount that lower middle class buyers can afford. Let them either by installments or by credit, but they can afford such an electric car. But not everyone will take the car for $ 49,000, and it is impossible to call it “inexpensive” even with a stretch.
If you draw a line under the above, then none of those who booked the basic version of the electric car for $ 35,000 will not receive it, most likely in the next six months.
Another unpleasant moment in the statement of the Mask is his confirmation that the problem with the brakes of an electric vehicle does exist. The company has found significant problems that prevent electric vehicles (Model 3 versions) from performing emergency braking. Braking distance for problem electric vehicles is much longer than it should be.
Nevertheless, the problem, as far as can be understood, is not software, but hardware. Mask hopes to solve everything with the help of an update of the software platform of the electric vehicle. “We will release it in the next few days. In the future, we will improve the characteristics of the brake system in comparison with the initially stated. Tesla will not stop until Model 3 slows down better than any other model of electric car of a similar class from another manufacturer, ”said the entrepreneur.
In fact, the problem Musk is talking about is not very significant - it does not expose to the risk of the lives of passengers and the driver. This is a Consumer Reports report. In it, the braking system was called not too high quality and not responding to the manufacturer's statements.
Ilon Mask justifies this by the fact that an early version of the electric car fell into the hands of testers. He says that since representatives of Consumer Reports evaluated the quality of an electric vehicle, the company introduced hundreds of large and small changes that not only improved the braking system, but also reduced the noise level in the cabin, and increased the reliability of the electric car itself. And these changes and improvements continue to be implemented.
According to Consumer Reports, in the first test, the emergency braking system showed excellent results. But after they failed to repeat even once - even after the electric car stood all night, so the brake pads "rested" for many hours. Similar results showed another instance of Tesla Model 3.
According to Mask, the whole thing is not in mechanics, but in that the work of the software needs to be better calibrated, and then all the problems with the pads will be gone.
Earlier it was reported that top managers are leaving Tesla, and the “staff turnover” is quite large, which is uncharacteristic for top management. Some investors of the company believe that there is some kind of problem that the company simply does not report, but top managers are in the know and therefore leave their posts one by one.
Musk himself is not discouraged and says that in the near future the company will pick up new employees who will be responsible for the release of Model 3. At the beginning of the year 37,543 employees worked in the company. Additional employees are needed in order to achieve the company's goal for the production of electric vehicles - about 5,000 per week.