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The article was paywalled, but I'd imagine it's two main difficulties. One is fairly normal for early-production, but the other is much more fundamental to the

The article was paywalled, but I'd imagine it's two main difficulties. One is fairly normal for early-production, but the other is much more fundamental to the design: * The battery - Tesla is using some new battery technology on this model, which they haven't done at scale before. This will come together with time, as it did on the S, 3, Y, etc. * The body - Unlike practically every car on the road, the CT is made out of stainless steel. Instead of stamping typically used on body panels, they have to be bent on very precise folding machines. The higher strength causes a lot more wear on the dies used for stamping. The only other production car to be made with stainless was the Delorean, which was also a mass-production nightmare. https://wisconsinmetaltech.com/why-dont-we-see-more-stainless-steel-cars/ https://wisconsinmetaltech.com/why-dont-we-see-more-stainles...

prometheus76 3y ago
Just to add a little detail about working with stainless: contamination. You have to use separate tools between carbon steel and stainless steel, and even dust contamination between carbon steel work areas and stainless steel work areas can cause contamination on the stainless steel, which leads to rust. I have no idea how they're going to keep the stainless from corroding in states that use salt for the roads in the wintertime. I was a project manager on many jobs fabricating stainless steel pipe, and we had to go to great lengths to prevent contamination, including shrink-wrapping every piece, in addition to using covered loads to prevent contamination from road salts. That's tangential to the manufacturing difficulties, but I have no idea how Tesla will respond to owners' rage over rust on their cybertruck after one winter.