Model 3 structure cost v. i3 carbon Fiber

[ted99]

The current issue of Motor Trend has a short article on the teardown and analysis of the Tesla Model 3. It was done by the same company that did the i3 teardown and analysis back in 2014. The most interesting comment, to me, was that the Model 3's structure was unnecessarily overbuilt and heavy. Their opinion was that it is even more expensive to build than the i3 carbon fiber structure.

 

[bwilson4web]

The current issue of Motor Trend has a short article on the teardown and analysis of the Tesla Model 3. It was done by the same company that did the i3 teardown and analysis back in 2014. The most interesting comment, to me, was that the Model 3's structure was unnecessarily overbuilt and heavy. Their opinion was that it is even more expensive to build than the i3 carbon fiber structure.

The Sandy Munro's teardown. Sometimes two engineers can hold three opinions about the same subject. I would note there have been some pretty horrific Tesla accidents that people have walked (or staggered?) away.

Bob Wilson

 

[jadnashuanh]

The implied background on the tear down seems to be saying that you can achieve similar strength with less materials if you have the skills to design and implement it. From what we've seen so far, Tesla doesn't have the skills to mass produce much of anything, and some of the expertise that they do hire, doesn't stick around for one reason or another.

Now, whether any company can do CFRP like BMW spent years and hundreds of millions of Euros working out is somewhat questionable, at least for now. You can only garner so much from a patent application. A good portion is in the fine details, and BMW has a long head start.