3 ms·

During my internship on automotive cost engineering, I quickly learned that motorized anything on a car costs and weighs leagues more than its mechanical-only c

During my internship on automotive cost engineering, I quickly learned that motorized anything on a car costs and weighs leagues more than its mechanical-only cousin. I am curious why Model 3 went down the path of total motorization, when it is marketed as a more affordable car. Also, while I am becoming more open-minded towards touchscreen for non-realtime controls, E-brakes does NOT seem like one of them --- sure you don't need it that often, but when you do need it, you'd better pull it RIGHT NOW. Wiper is also questionable. If full autonomy works then sure I don't really need a clear view on the road, except it likely won't work as well when it pours and you need to blast the wiper to max RIGHT NOW.

stcredzero 9y ago
During my internship on automotive cost engineering, I quickly learned that motorized anything on a car costs and weighs leagues more than its mechanical-only cousin. I am curious why Model 3 went down the path of total motorization, when it is marketed as a more affordable car. Would it be more costly or less costly for Tesla to have just one set of underlying mechanisms for all of their cars at all luxury levels, or have different sets of mechanisms depending on luxury level? The motorized mechanism could be adapted to all levels of luxury by simply changing the controls.
D_Alex 9y ago
>During my internship on automotive cost engineering, I quickly learned that motorized anything on a car costs and weighs leagues more than its mechanical-only cousin. That is not true these days, eg electric windows are cheaper than manual, and electrically adjustable mirrors are cheaper than the mechanical remote mirrors. As a principle, electric actuation enables the componentry to be less robust, since the forces are lower and more predictable. Also, you can standardise electrical actuation across several models and lower the cost, whereas different designs may be needed for the manual option (windows are a good example here).

stcredzero 9y ago

During my internship on automotive cost engineering, I quickly learned that motorized anything on a car costs and weighs leagues more than its mechanical-only cousin. I am curious why Model 3 went down the path of total motorization, when it is marketed as a more affordable car. Would it be more costly or less costly for Tesla to have just one set of underlying mechanisms for all of their cars at all luxury levels, or have different sets of mechanisms depending on luxury level? The motorized mechanism could be adapted to all levels of luxury by simply changing the controls.

D_Alex 9y ago

>During my internship on automotive cost engineering, I quickly learned that motorized anything on a car costs and weighs leagues more than its mechanical-only cousin. That is not true these days, eg electric windows are cheaper than manual, and electrically adjustable mirrors are cheaper than the mechanical remote mirrors. As a principle, electric actuation enables the componentry to be less robust, since the forces are lower and more predictable. Also, you can standardise electrical actuation across several models and lower the cost, whereas different designs may be needed for the manual option (windows are a good example here).