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Tesla designed the entire chassis around the battery pack (as in, it's structural component). Traditional car companies are going to have to do a lot of very ex

Tesla designed the entire chassis around the battery pack (as in, it's structural component). Traditional car companies are going to have to do a lot of very expensive retooling to something similar.

tw04 5y ago
Traditional car companies moved to "platform" based vehicles 20 years ago and they refresh the entire platform every 5-ish years. This isn't really a big deal for any of them as evidenced by both Ford and GM already rolling out EV platforms. "There's no way GM can build a sub-$100k mid engine Corvette" was a common refrain too. They didn't get to that size by being bad at designing cars.
- deelowe 5y ago
  They don't retool the factory every 5 years... I think you're underestimating things a bit. Did ford integrate the battery pack into the chassis?
  - GiorgioG 5y ago
    They're constantly retooling their factories. My dad worked at several GM factories for nearly 40 years. I feel like every year or two GM would announce a huge spend per factory to retool/upgrade/etc.
  - gameswithgo 5y ago
    There are a lot of different things one can mean by that. that "structural pack" that elon has been talking about doesn't go live until the new Model Y chassis starts being built, which is maybe today? The current level of tesla's battery/chassis integration is not any more sophisticated than everyone else that I can see.
  - tw04 5y ago
    >They don't retool the factory every 5 years... I think you're underestimating things a bit. I think you don't know what you're talking about. https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/trucks/a15539/rebuilding-the-rouge-truck-factory/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/trucks/a15539/rebuildi... https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/ford-prepares-to-retool-truck-plants-for-new-f-150-and-build-new-electric-f-150-factory.250/ https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/ford-prepares-to-ret... >Did ford integrate the battery pack into the chassis? Yes, they did integrate the battery pack into the chassis on both the mach-e and the lightning. https://s3-prod.rubbernews.com/s3fs-public/styles/width_792/public/Ford%20battery-main_i.jpg https://s3-prod.rubbernews.com/s3fs-public/styles/width_792/...
Yaggo 5y ago
It took few years for traditional auto to learn that Tesla-style dedicated EV platform is the way to go, but they are doing it now. Their first EVs were ICE cars "converted" to electric (e.g. e-Golf) but VW now has their ID-platform, for example.

Tesla designed the entire chassis around the battery pack (as in, it's structural component). Traditional car companies are going to have to do a lot of very expensive retooling to something similar.

tw04 5y ago

Traditional car companies moved to "platform" based vehicles 20 years ago and they refresh the entire platform every 5-ish years. This isn't really a big deal for any of them as evidenced by both Ford and GM already rolling out EV platforms. "There's no way GM can build a sub-$100k mid engine Corvette" was a common refrain too. They didn't get to that size by being bad at designing cars.

deelowe 5y ago
They don't retool the factory every 5 years... I think you're underestimating things a bit. Did ford integrate the battery pack into the chassis?
- GiorgioG 5y ago
  They're constantly retooling their factories. My dad worked at several GM factories for nearly 40 years. I feel like every year or two GM would announce a huge spend per factory to retool/upgrade/etc.
- gameswithgo 5y ago
  There are a lot of different things one can mean by that. that "structural pack" that elon has been talking about doesn't go live until the new Model Y chassis starts being built, which is maybe today? The current level of tesla's battery/chassis integration is not any more sophisticated than everyone else that I can see.
- tw04 5y ago
  >They don't retool the factory every 5 years... I think you're underestimating things a bit. I think you don't know what you're talking about. https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/trucks/a15539/rebuilding-the-rouge-truck-factory/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/trucks/a15539/rebuildi... https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/ford-prepares-to-retool-truck-plants-for-new-f-150-and-build-new-electric-f-150-factory.250/ https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/ford-prepares-to-ret... >Did ford integrate the battery pack into the chassis? Yes, they did integrate the battery pack into the chassis on both the mach-e and the lightning. https://s3-prod.rubbernews.com/s3fs-public/styles/width_792/public/Ford%20battery-main_i.jpg https://s3-prod.rubbernews.com/s3fs-public/styles/width_792/...

Yaggo 5y ago

It took few years for traditional auto to learn that Tesla-style dedicated EV platform is the way to go, but they are doing it now. Their first EVs were ICE cars "converted" to electric (e.g. e-Golf) but VW now has their ID-platform, for example.