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> Climate change and the EV transition are going to be tough. That has to be depressing their valuations some. Does it have to be? I can imagine that going fro
by anyfoo 5y ago
> Climate change and the EV transition are going to be tough. That has to be depressing their valuations some.
Does it have to be? I can imagine that going from 100 years[1] of internal combustion engines to an entirely different type of drive train is going to be jarring, to say the least. But neither are EV completely new at this point, nor is a car just its drive train.
Surely other comparable transitions have been successful? Any older computer corporation has more or less reinvented itself a few times. More topically, airplane manufactures must have gone from piston engines to vastly different jet engines at some point[2].
[1] BMW for example exists since 1916.
[2] Apparently Boeing was originally founded in 1916, too.
- kickopotomus 5y ago> But neither are EV completely new at this point, nor is a car just its drive train. Exactly this. The EV drivetrain is also simpler than an ICE because a transmission is not needed[1]. I think the hardest part about vehicle manufacturing, which is the issue Tesla seems to run into repeatedly, is dependable mass production. The major auto conglomerates have a lot of experience with cranking out massive volumes of quality vehicles. I don't think that re-tooling their production lines is going to be a problem. The primary issue with switching to EVs, which Tesla should capitalize on, will continue to be energy storage. Sourcing large quantities of batteries is tricky. Tesla had the right idea to just vertically integrate cell production and likely has a lot to gain by being the premier battery producer for the industry. As an aside, hopefully the switch to EVs will help fund research for the next breakthrough in battery tech. [1]: Application-dependent but most 2-axle consumer electric vehicles should not need a transmission
- mxschumacher 5y agoIn light of the Panasonic partnership with its large involvement in the gigafactory, I don't understand why Tesla is supposed to be considered vertically integrated in batteries. Nothing stops Panasonic from collaborating with a car maker that churns out 10m+ cars per year
- reducesuffering 5y ago> I think the hardest part about vehicle manufacturing, which is the issue Tesla seems to run into repeatedly, is dependable mass production. Musk agrees substantially. He says prototypes are fun and easy and it's the mass production scaling that is the most hell.[0] [0]https://youtu.be/YAtLTLiqNwg?t=134 https://youtu.be/YAtLTLiqNwg?t=134
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- pintxo 5y agoActually BMW started as a producer of aircraft engines...