” Was 2021 a fantastic year? Not exactly! Yet we did have some blog posts that got a great deal ofinterest
. Stroll down memory lane with us, as we think back on 2021, a year that will certainly appear much better by now in 2022.
Advertisement Elon Musk is taking responsibility for Tesla’s manufacturing failings. He just recently took a seat with among Tesla’s most significant build-quality movie critics, producing expert Sandy Munro, founder of the benchmarking consultancy Munro & Associates. Below’s what Musk needed to claim regarding huge panel spaces and also badly made body frameworks in what has to be one of the most legendary technical meetings I’ve seen in a while. What happens when you take a production professional with years of vehicle engineering experience and also put him in an area with a scientific research geek like Elon Musk? Magic.
That’s what. Munro, a man that made headlines after definitely eviscerating the build high quality of an early Model 3 by
contrasting it to a 1990s Kia, lastly satisfied face-to-face with Musk while the video camera was rolling. It sounds like it could be a controversial condition, but what does Musk claim right out of eviction?”I assumed your criticisms were exact.”I’m much from a Tesla or Elon Musk stan, yet I need to value that sincerity. Tesla’s CEO then fesses up to his firm’s”build-related blunders and dives into why they’ve been happening. When asked”about panel spaces, Musk claims:”It took [Tesla”] a while to”… straighten out the manufacturing procedure,” going on to go over exactly how the company struggled to obtain details right while production was in” vertical climb mode.”Really very early production cars, and the cars that appear after manufacturing has actually leveled off, Musk states, are the ones likely to have the best fit and also coating. Munro, having actually consulted with a number of Tesla proprietors during a current journey, discovered variations between 2 lorries constructed in the very same brief time-span. Baffled as to exactly how this can take place, he asked Musk.” We really did improve void as well as paint high quality a fair bit towards the end of last year, “the California-based engineer-CEO informed the Michigan-based engineer-CEO,” Even in the course of December.
“Musk likewise points out
that while increase manufacturing, his team hurried autos in a manner that really did not effectively permit paint to dry, triggering concerns with top quality.” Production is heck,”Musk places it truthfully.
Advertisement The photo above programs this problem on a very early Model 3 build, though Munro’s 2021 design does reveal some enhancement. For instance, there are now 17 area welds on one specific plate rather than 26 on the old auto, and also there’s one less bolt.
Oddly, though, also more recent Model 3s
don’t share the Model Y’s even more instinctive”mega-casting”rear wheelhouse– i.e. a solitary item rather than numerous panels secured together.
finest product scientific research team worldwide at Tesla. Designers would ask what’s the very best material for this objective … and also they got like 50 different solutions. And they’re all true separately, but they were not real jointly, “he admits.
Advertisement”When you attempt to join all these different alloys … you’ve obtained gaps that you’ve got to secure, and also you’ve reached sign up with these points, and also a few of them require to be joined with rivets, several of them require to be joined with place welds, a few of them require to be joined with material or resin and spot welds,”he proceeds.”Frankly, it appears like a little bit of a Frankenstein scenario when you look at everything with each other.”Musk then speaks about exactly how securing the gaps between the different items in the body is a headache.” That may be the most painful task in the factory, is spackling on the sealer,”he describes, stating just how even a small mistake can cause leaks and also NVH troubles. Advertisement Munro asks why more recent Model fives still make use of such a multipiece rear body layout as opposed to a solitary spreading like on the Model Y.”It’s hard to change the wheels on the bus when it’s going 80 mph down the freeway,”Musk reacts, saying the Model 3 stands for such a huge section of the car manufacturer’s quantity that the firm”[ demands] a possibility to redesign the manufacturing facility without blowing up
the cashflow.”He discusses
just how vital mosting likely to a single-piece casting was for the Model Y: There are no gaps, there’s no sealer as well as there’s no danger of galvanic deterioration at the user interface of dissimilar steels. That selection alone, Musks claims, permitted Tesla to decrease its body store size by 30 percent.”We removed 300 robotics simply with that said rear body casting,”he tells Munro.
Advertisement Musk then talks about with Munro the plans for Tesla to transfer to a structural battery pack that leverages the private cells as structural aspects that withstand shear pressures.”The cells today in every auto are brought like a sack of potatoes,” Musk clarifies.”They in fact have adverse architectural worth,”taking place to claim just how today, cells don’t make lorries any more inflexible, which particularly since there is seclusion product needed between the cells themselves as well as the pack real estate to aid the batteries manage shock lots, batteries are just a responsibility from a mass viewpoint. Musk intends to change that, and also get twin use from those batteries.
The rest of the meeting continues to be extensively unpopular. There’s discussion regarding autos’ natural regularities, regarding just how decreasing polar minute of inertia by bringing mass toward the cars and truck’s center of gravity returns far better handling. There’s discussion regarding tolerance stack-up and exactly how that leads Tesla to often err towards less items and Lego-like components accuracy.
Advertisement Munro states his company’s BMW i3 searchings for, admiring the German car manufacturer’s outstanding develop top quality for the carbon-fiber body. Musk responds that one of his significant worries concerning use of carbon fiber is that it has a greatly various coefficient of thermal development than light weight aluminum or steel, as well as this can trigger fitment concerns when the automobile is subjected to particular thermal atmospheres. Musk also discusses exactly how Tesla’s casting sizes on the Model S and X were limited since heat treatment brought about shape distortion once the component got to a certain dimension. To assist in larger castings, Musk states, firm’s material scientists needed to make a custom alloy that didn’t need an additional dealing with action after casting. Advertisement Musk additionally discusses that he
wants to do away
with 12-volt systems on EVs– a holdover from earlier designs and also a way to quickly integrate already-existing parts from popular car distributors. A 48-volt system, Musk and Munro agree, might have great deals of advantages consisting of lowered cord dimension and also weight. Musk points out that the S and X are now getting lithium-ion 12-volt batteries, which add capability as well as last longer than standard lead-acid ones. The discussion wraps up with speak about the future of EVs as well as the speed with which they will go into the market in coming years. There’s also speak about shortsellers due to the fact that of course there “is. Advertisement Throughout the meeting, particularly in the beginning, Munro compliments Tesla’s exceptional seats, with Musk discussing exactly how the trick is to lower stress tops on the body. The two enginerds take a look at the
worth of making
seats internal versus buying them from providers. It’s all unpopular and interesting, and in some ways, a truly enchanting minute in between two complete mathematics as well as scientific research nerds. I like it. I additionally like just how, when Munro claims he was having problems with Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system as a result of poor roadway markings in Texas, Musk straight-up says:”Even if the road is repainted totally wrong and a UFO lands in the middle of the roadway, the cars and truck still can not crash and also still requires to do the best thing … It can’t be dependent upon the roadway markings being right … It’s simply got ta be’no matter what, it’s not gon na collision.'”
Advertisement The entire interview is just gold. I chatted with Munro & Associate’s president Cory Steuben, and he informed me about how this meeting even became. Steuben as well as Munro are in the middle of a trip right now in a Model 3 that they spontaneously determined to buy. The two intended a trip out western to see
some EV automakers,
as well as socialized in Fremont to see if Musk would be there. He wasn’t &. Serendipitously, Steuben received an e-mail from an individual stating he might set up an interview with Musk. Musk’s assistant, at 11 p.m. on Monday, arranged a meeting in Boca Chica, Texas for Friday, however already, Steuben as well as Munro remained in Eugene, Oregon.
Advertisement Steuben as well as Munro had to bee-line it 2,500 miles, 40 hours in the Model 3, intending billing terminals and also actually putting electromobility to the utmost examination in driving from Oregon all the method to Texas to see the king of EVs himself, Elon Musk. Luckily, Steuben
as well as Munro made their
meeting, with the previous claiming the billionaire came off as” one of one of the most satisfying, humble, stoic … people that I’ve met that’s in a setting like that. ”
Advertisement Musk, Steuben stated, spent three hrs with the two designers from Michigan, and was seen working at 10:30 p.m. on a Friday. As if the interview weren’t epic enough on its own.
Elon Musk hasn’t”made a secret of his current distaste for California, as well as his preference for Texas. “He called”the California’s COVID constraints” fascist,”he’s shared a worrying lack of point of view on Texas ‘s anti-abortion legislation, as well as he’s currently moved into a little home on SpaceX’s Austin school. Advertisement Currently, he’s taking his firm on
the moveRelocation Musk revealed at a financier meeting Thursday that Tesla would formally relocate its head office
from Palo Alto to Austin, long prior to its Texas manufacturing facility is totally completed. “< div class =”sc-1eow4w5-2 loxZOX img-wrapper” contenteditable=” false
Initially, when Musk noted his California residential properties to buy, some thought his relocate to Texas was just a personal tax obligation dodge. Texas’s state constitution famously restricts income tax obligation, a provision Musk would likely take pleasure in should he determine to sell off any type of equity in Tesla. From CNBC: Tesla’s board granted Musk an executive payment bundle that can earn him substantial stock awards based upon the automaker’s market cap increases and some other monetary targets. If he sells options set to expire in 2021, he could generate earnings of more than $ 20 billion this year, according to InsiderScore. G/O Media might obtain a compensation When Tesla’s third-quarter revenues record provided its location as Austin as opposed to Palo Alto, nonetheless, the adjustment really did not go unnoticed. Authorities information of the step does not come as a shock, yet as a verification of reports that have been swirling for days. Advertisement As usual with Tesla, numerous details have yet to be launched. It’s uncertain the amount of employees will certainly be moved from Palo Alto to Austin, if any type of. Musk has made it clear that the Fremont manufacturing facility will remain to expand, yet didn’t discuss what distinction the step might make for employees outside of Tesla’s manufacturing facilities.
As I suspect you’ve heard, Volkswagen of America is claiming that they’ll be changing their name to Voltswagen of America, as a way to highlight their new focus on electric vehicles. You may also have heard that we at Jalopnik are pretty skeptical this is really happening, to the point that our bossman Rory said he’ll get a VW tattoo if they do it. It’s April Fool’s day the day after tomorrow, people. More significantly, though, is that “Voltswagen” for an electron-powered VW is by no means a new name. In fact, it goes back to at least 1968.
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Sure, VW is playing it up, with the Voltswagen name used on their website showcasing the ID.4, and they did tweet this:
Okay, okay, we get it. Maybe VW will use the Voltswagen name in specific EV branding, but I’m not sold they’re changing the name of the whole company in the U.S. to “Voltswagen of America.”
We’ll see how it plays out on April first. Until then, I’d like to talk about where I think the Voltswagen name first came from, and I’m happy to say it’s a pretty fun story.
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It’s from the Great Electric Car Race of 1968.
That first Voltswagen (well, until we find out about an earlier one) was a 1958 VW Type 2 bus, owned by Caltech student Wally Rippel, who converted it to electric power around 1966 or so, and drove it around town to, as Caltech’s magazine Engineering and Science reported back in 1968,
“…to demonstrate an alternative to smog.”
Rippel then became part of an electric car team at Caltech that challenged an MIT team to a cross-country electric car race: the Caltech team would drive from Pasadena, California to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the MIT team, in a 1968 Chevy Corvair donated by GM and converted to electric power at MIT, would travel in the opposite direction.
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As you might have guessed, attempting this sort of cross-country EV race back in 1968 was borderline bonkers. It wouldn’t even be easy to do today; back then, it was almost Sisyphean.
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To accomplish the feat, 54 charging stations were established along the 3,311 mile route, placed between 21 and 95 miles apart. Some of these charging stations were extremely improvised, like this one in Winslow, Arizona that looks to be tapping right off a small roadside power transformer:
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The race was, by all accounts, something of a shitshow: long charge times for both cars (45 minutes to an hour), the MIT Corvair caught on fire, one of the Caltech drivers got the mumps, both teams ended up burning out critical components (motors, transformers, etc), and both teams made significant use of ice to cool the batteries.
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The Caltech team only used 50 pounds of ice, and only when recharging their lead-cobalt (a variant of lead-acid) batteries. The MIT team’s more advanced nickel-cadmium batteries constantly struggled with overheating, and had to be packed full of ice pretty much all the time, with the team using 350 pounds of ice during the trip.
The race was a great underdog vs. rich kid sort of story, like most movies made in the 1980s. Where Caltech’s Voltswagen was just a student’s personal project car, built using pretty basic and mainstream electrical tech, MIT’s donated brand-new Corvair was cutting-edge in every respect at the time, and as a result was faster (it could do about 60 MPH instead of 55) and was supposed to have a longer range, and recharge faster, as well. It even had a special aerodynamically optimized front facia. It did look pretty cool.
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The advanced NiCad batteries used by the MIT team were worth $20,000 in 1968 dollars—that’s about $151,000 today! MIT was not playing around, here.
In practice, though, the technical advantages really didn’t come to matter at all. The MIT car was plagued by technical snags and, while it technically finished the race before the Caltech bus, penalties assessed for all the time it had to be towed en route (the Corvair had to be towed 250 of the race’s first 500 miles at a penalty of 5 min per mile!) eventually gave the win to Caltech, with a time of 210 hours—30 minutes less than MIT.
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They won by just 30 minutes! That’s amazing!
The Voltswagen wasn’t all that primitive, though—it did have the ability to do some regenerative braking, using the motor driven by the wheels to generate electricity to recharge the batteries, which was used on a long downhill grade into Needles, California.
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Caltech’s Voltswagen proved a few crucial things: sometimes proven reliability beats bleeding-edge tech, and if you’re doing a cross-country drive, it’s great to have a vehicle you can easily sleep in.
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You really should read through the whole Caltech article; it’s a fascinating look at how far we’ve come and a great insight into how clever and bold these early EV pioneers were.
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Wally Rippel, the owner of the Voltswagen, later went on to work for JPL and then later Tesla, helping to develop the motor for the original Tesla Roadster around 2006.
Maybe Volkswagen will really become Voltswagen. Maybe not. Either way, it’s worth taking a moment to commemorate that original 1958 Voltswagen, the winner of the first ever Great Transcontinental Electric Car race.
Yesterday, a Nikola short published an exhaustive report detailing a series of allegations and calling Nikola an “intricate fraud.” Nikola founder Trevor Milton said last night he would have a “clear, factual, low-emotional answer to the report” out “before market opens.” Today, Milton said the report wouldn’t be made public for now.
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Milton has had a dramatic day-and-a-half or so after the initial report, issued by Hindenburg Research, a Nikola short that says it does “forensic financial research.”
Here’s the entirety of the statement Nikola released this morning, which Milton said is all he would say about the matter for now:
Yesterday, an activist short-seller whose motivation is to manipulate the market and profit from a manufactured decline in our stock price published a so-called “report” replete with misleading information and salacious accusations directed at our founder and executive chairman. To be clear, this was not a research report and it is not accurate. This was a hit job for short sale profit driven by greed.
We have nothing to hide and we will refute these allegations. They have already taken up more time and attention than they deserve. We have retained leading law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP to evaluate potential legal recourse, including with respect to the activist short seller and any others acting in concert.
Nikola also intends to bring the actions of the activist short-seller, together with evidence and documentation, to the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
We respect the rights of investors and the integrity of the market and will be back to you after we have advanced the process with the SEC.
Most importantly, Nikola remains focused on delivering on the promises we’ve made to our stakeholders.
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One thing I’ll note: Retaining legal counsel is not the same thing as filing a lawsuit, and, further, law firms are always happy to take your money. Another thing I’ll note, per Automotive News, is that Kirkland & Ellis also is repping GM in its so-far-unsuccessful lawsuit against Fiat Chrysler.
A third thing I’ll note: Here is Trevor Milton at 9:01 a.m.:
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And here is Milton an hour and twenty minutes later, commenting on the thing he said he wouldn’t comment further on. The author wanted emotion and Milton is simply refusing to give it to them:
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F@&k the haters, indeed. Whether Nikola actually proceeds with legal action is still to be decided, then, though in a statement Hindenburg’s founder said a lawsuit would be welcomed.
“The company answered none of the 53 questions we raised in our report after promising a full rebuttal,” [Hindenburg founder Nathan Anderson] said. “We are pleased that Nikola is engaging with the SEC and we are not surprised that Trevor Milton (Nikola’s founder and executive chairman) is not commenting further on advice of counsel.”
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Nikola’s stock is down 15 percent today after falling 11 percent yesterday, meaning it’s pretty likely a lot of investors have already decided who they want to believe.
Known for blending outrageously powerful motors with understated exteriors, RUF Automobile GmbH has made quite a name for itself. But beyond the tire-smoking Yellowbirds, there are a few vehicles which, while possibly not headline material in themselves, help constitute an interesting, varied stable from a company capable of producing more than just performance.
eRUF
A simplified front bumper suits the clean, futuristic ethos behind this car.
Why not embrace the changing times by fitting an electric motor in one of the most classic shapes in the automotive world? The eRUF’s subdued exterior hides a UQM Propulsion system that generates 201 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque—all available from zip. That small powerplant makes room for the Axeon iron-phosphate, lithium-ion batteries weighing 12.34 pounds and delivering 160 Ah each.
the 1,212 pounds of powertrain contribute to a total weight of over 4,000 pounds.
Production was slated for fall of 2009, but unfortunately, this never happened.
RT-35 Roadster
The gaping maw of the RT-series cars screams performance.
A drop-top Carrera, still relatively diminutive with the 997’s proportions, using 630 horsepower to move its 3,600-pounds around is an appealing recipe. The RT-35 Roadster is based upon a non-turbo Carrera Cabriolet, but fitted with the defining bodywork that straddles the fence between aggressiveness and respectability. Like the exterior, the 3.8 turbomotor is exaggerated in typical RUF style; staying just this side of ostentatious while still getting a message across. As we can tell from the hurricane powering this car in the footage below, this is no standard 911.
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RUF 3400S
You wouldn’t be out of place by saying the first Boxster needed a little added chutzpah to turn heads. In the case of the 3400S, RUF added that vim and that red-blooded character that the 986 could’ve used. True, the Boxster was a capable car in factory trim, but its soft shape and underpowered engine left a little to be desired.
Viper Green paint and a GT3 front bumper help garner more attention.
With this model, the focus was on swapping in a 3.4-liter engine for a respectable amount of power. Thanks to 310 horsepower and different aero, the 3400S’ 0-60 mph sprint takes just 5.0 seconds, the 100-mph mark is reached in 11.5 seconds, and the top speed is 175 mph.
The 3400S was far more than a straightline special, though. To give it a properly athletic appearance, it received a few bits from the 996.1 GT3. Some portions of the aero kit, those incredible bucket seats, larger brakes, a sports exhaust, upgraded suspension, and additional chassis bracing made the rare 3400S a genuine sports car.
Those stylish, supportive seats make any backroad blitz bliss.
Wider, five-spoke 19″ wheels wrapped in 235/35ZR19 tires up front and 275/30ZR19s in the rear give the 3400S the stance and roadholding a true sports car should have. Though this is a clear demonstration of what RUF do best, there’s no denying that injecting that level of performance into the maligned Boxster, giving it a unique character, and creating a well-balanced, accessible product required a level of ingenuity that goes beyond what many shops can manage.
RUF VW T4
Though it might look better suited to shuttling the kids to soccer, there’s real track potential with this van.
Though the VW T4/Eurovan had an adequate amount of power from the factory, it, like its older brother, could’ve always used a little more. RUF addressed this by implanting a 3.6-liter making 550 horsepower, stiffening the chassis, and replacing the bench seats with Recaro buckets. An unsuspecting van which can hit 60 in 5 seconds ought to get your blood pumping.
The badges on the back hint at the 993 Turbo’s motor quietly nestled between this van’s rear wheels.
RUF Dakara
True, RUF’s bodywork is typically on the conservative side of things. If you’re seeking something that screams at the pedestrian, a Gemballa is arguably the buy for you. However, RUF’s stab at the first-generation Cayenne seems to have borrowed a bit from Gemballa’s book. With the help of Platune Technology, RUF produced the Dakara: a loud, aggressive, wildly-styled SUV with sporting pretensions.
The Dakara’s 600 horsepower and 659 lb-ft make up for the heftier bodywork.
Gills, flares, and the 997 Carrera’s headlights make you double-take. In fact, the most restrained piece of styling are RUF’s signature five-spokes, which complement this cruiser’s shape beautifully in a 22″ size. If there’s a model to try your hand at bling, perhaps the largest and least athletic member of the family is the right one—they won’t mind the added weight.