All this stuff is about the Gigafactory, which produces both cells and assembled packs. The cell production is fine–it’s assembling them into packs that is the difficulty. And pack production is the current limiting factor in Model 3 production.
They are not currently limited by anything at Fremont, but will be somewhat past the 2500/wk level, where they start running into internal transport problems. They’re working on that, too, which will be necessary to get to 5k/wk. It may never show up as a constraint if the German line takes a while to get to full speed, but if it works out of the box then they’ll hit this as a limit.
To be fair, my Taurus that was supposed to be delivered in Dec to Jan was finally built on February 8th. Not a Tesla-style delay, but still has me a bit peeved.
To be fairer you could go out to a lot and buy a Taurus already made. You ordered one to specifications. Ford is not involved in production problems with the car.
I won’t get into it, but they’re all ordered to specification for those in my circumstances. No choice in the matter. I actually, literally mean no choice in the matter. Not a want-vs-need thing, either. Quite plainly and simply, built to order is the only choice. And to boot, I can’t even build every option. No performance package for me.
yeah, but that’s most likely a delay in your order being entered. you’re not just Joe Schmoe putting in a retail custom order. my previous manager ran into the same thing when he selected a Fusion hybrid; it kept getting shuffled back in favor of retail orders. if I was to put in a retail order for your car, I’m pretty sure it would be the standard 6-8 weeks.
though I’d wonder why there’d be any kind of delay on a Taurus. Who the hell is buying those anymore?
It’s a company benefit, kind of. I have to pay, but it includes maintenance and insurance. If you choose the right car, it comes in below market. If you choose the wrong car, it comes in about the same as market. I actually love the Taurus, but the market hates the Taurus, so I get it below market. The catch is, the company builds these for us on demand, because they don’t come through dealerships, and retains title.
My Fusion Energi arrived without delay (I miss that car!), but probably the Hybrid was more popular. I have no idea who’s ordering the Taurus, and given I’m in manufacturing, I happen to know that there are no production problems, and the 2018 launch has no issues (there’s no MCA in body, so not really a “launch”). Or, if there are issues, no one cares about them because it’s not the Explorer, which is all anyone cares about.
I’m hoping I love this car enough to buy it (and that the B price isn’t outrageous). Transitioning back from China, it’s been kind of nice to have a car available, but long term, I’m not the type of guy that loves paying for something forever (a lot of other managers and tech. specialists fall into that trap). House is in order, job is in order, so would like to have a car in order, too.
I miss the B car lot. Not sure if that was before your time or not. If we still had it, I’d not waste my time trying to find my “forever car.”
Some further behind-the-wheel impressions from the same guy (Munro) here, which seem to be almost a polar opposite from his earlier cabin and exterior fit & finish criticisms:
[ul]
[li]Loved the handling and acceleration, good braking impressions.[/li][li]Seems particularly impressed with the quality of some of the drive platform components (multi-link suspension, transmission).[/li][/ul]
No kidding. I went to a Michelin star restaurant a little while back, and I didn’t like one of the dishes. In this thread, I’d be viewed as hating the restaurant and calling it a failure.
Then I liked the other dishes. In this thread, I’d be declared as seeing the light as coming around to the best restaurant ever.
It’s very pretty on the inside. I don’t know enough to evaluate the quality, but it doesn’t look janky. The fiber-reinforced plastic suspension component is interesting, but clearly the forces on that component are pretty low due to the overall linkage.
Kinda funny (though not surprising) that there’s just a giant internal cavity where the second motor would go. Almost makes me think it could be retrofitted in. Battery connections and mounting brackets are right there.
The actual battery connections are to the other side. They shows a tunnel - the wires in that tunnel would be the 3 phase variable frequency AC that actually drives the motor, and that would have to be generated by a second motor driver in the back under the rear seat. There is no doubt a cavity for it.
I think you’re sort of right. You could buy a motor that would work off the shelf. You could buy an EV motor driver that even has a water block, and use the existing cooling system. Could probably figure out the CAN code or whatever for an acceleration command, it’s not encrypted, that would be straightforward.
Hard part would be the mechanicals. The 3 doesn’t ship with the transmission you’d need.
The DC->AC conversion happens in the (integrated) motor unit–it’s all one assembly. So it just needs the DC input. You may be right that holes shown are just a tunnel, but there could be contactors in there; I can’t tell.
I wasn’t thinking about a third-party solution; just an official front drive unit, either bought or pulled from a wreck.
It would probably need some kind of firmware update to enable the new motor, though maybe not–could be that in the interest of simplicity, they kept everything “plug and play” and it just uses a new acceleration/regen/stability control/etc. program if it detects the second motor.
shrug it looks like pretty much every other car on the market, save for the lack of ICE. the design and assembly doesn’t look like anything special. though I’m wondering about the body sealer applied after dip/paint (the pink goo on seams under the frunk); typically sealer is applied first to protect steel in seams where the anti-corrosion dip can’t reach.
that is the upper control arm (UCA.) the UCA in this setup is not bearing any of the car’s weight; the weight is carried by the coil-over spring/shock which connects the lower control arm (LCA) to the body. the UCA is only there to locate the top of the hub/knuckle. most of the force it will carry is lateral (tension or compression,) no bending stresses. Ford was doing composite stabilizer bar links in the '80s.
Well, it helps that it’s super-clean, which I don’t get to see often. And simple enough that you can see what’s going on.
But the big thing is the drive unit. It’s just a really nice looking cast aluminum piece with all the important stuff on the inside. Just a few cables going in and a mechanical shaft going out. Older (and cleaned up) ICE engines also look good, again due to their simplicity. But modern ones are just a blob of wires and tubes and you’d never know how they look underneath. The Tesla unit reminds me a lot of the giant blowers my dad had on his dragsters.
Yeah, and even those lateral forces are only a small fraction of those on the wheel due to the lever arm.
Why aren’t FRP or other composites used more in suspensions? Corvette I see has a FRP leaf spring. But given that unsprung weight is a big deal and it can obviously be used for the less-stressed components, I’d think it would be more common. Is it more expensive than stamped steel?
it’s a high-pressure die casting, I can tell by the surface finish. you could say the same thing about pretty much any automatic transmission being made. it’s how most aluminum engine blocks and transmission cases are made these days since it reduces the occurrence of porosity and inclusions. sand casting aluminum lets the surfaces of the molten metal oxidize as it flows into the mold cavity, bringing in potential leak sources and weakened areas.
a lot of vehicles have MacPherson struts, which have no upper control arm. the lower control arm gets pounded like hell in normal usage and a plastic one would not be nearly robust enough. stabilizer bars undergo too much torsion, though as I said composites can be used for end links since those only really ever experience straight tension/compression. there are CFRP sub-frames being developed, but they’re going to be limited to applications where the weight save is the most important thing. otherwise the cost hit vs. steel will be prohibitive.
