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> the pace at which Tesla is improving and innovating is far greater than the pace at which any other automaker is doing it. What portion of Telsa's pace of im

> the pace at which Tesla is improving and innovating is far greater than the pace at which any other automaker is doing it. What portion of Telsa's pace of improvements and innovation would you say is due to Telsa only recently having got started at this, 16 years ago, compared to Toyota 86 year history of automobile manufacturing, or Ford's 116 years.

HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
Their ability to iterate fast for one thing. The fact that their structures are built around an all EV company. Toyota will have pressure from other departments to build and fund ICE research at the same time. Tesla is 100% focused on one thing. Plus they have the lowest cost batteries which plays a huge role. I think what the other car manufacturers are waiting for is to jump straight into solid state batteries once that train is going. That should at least reduce the advantage Tesla has right now.
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Fast iteration is great for software. It's not so great for hardware, because iteration means that newer builds of existing models may not share the same parts or designs, increasing the costs of maintenance. It's even worse for consumer hardware, because consumers will do all sorts of crazy things to/with their hardware. Tesla couldn't keep up with the demand for repair parts before the Model 3 surge last fall. How will they manage if every part essentially needs to be custom made since they're constantly changing the parts?
  - freerobby 8y ago
    > How will they manage if every part essentially needs to be custom made since they're constantly changing the parts? That's not what happens in practice. Their revisions still obey interfaces wherever possible and follow the principles of modularity. E.g. when a v1 Model S door handle breaks, they replace it with the v3 version. When a v1 battery fails, they replace it with the v6 version.

HeadsUpHigh 8y ago

Their ability to iterate fast for one thing. The fact that their structures are built around an all EV company. Toyota will have pressure from other departments to build and fund ICE research at the same time. Tesla is 100% focused on one thing. Plus they have the lowest cost batteries which plays a huge role. I think what the other car manufacturers are waiting for is to jump straight into solid state batteries once that train is going. That should at least reduce the advantage Tesla has right now.

gamblor956 8y ago
Fast iteration is great for software. It's not so great for hardware, because iteration means that newer builds of existing models may not share the same parts or designs, increasing the costs of maintenance. It's even worse for consumer hardware, because consumers will do all sorts of crazy things to/with their hardware. Tesla couldn't keep up with the demand for repair parts before the Model 3 surge last fall. How will they manage if every part essentially needs to be custom made since they're constantly changing the parts?
- freerobby 8y ago
  > How will they manage if every part essentially needs to be custom made since they're constantly changing the parts? That's not what happens in practice. Their revisions still obey interfaces wherever possible and follow the principles of modularity. E.g. when a v1 Model S door handle breaks, they replace it with the v3 version. When a v1 battery fails, they replace it with the v6 version.