Tesla’s Model 3 has already been plagued with production issue delays and as the company ramps up production to hit milestones in 2018, it seems as if the vehicle will have further delays for launch as the Gigafactory battery facility is still not up to par. In addition to this, there may also be issues around the quality of the batteries that have been shipped already.
As per a report released recently, while Elon Musk, Tesla CEO had already pointed the finger to the Reno, Nevada facility when it came to production woes causing the Model 3 to fall off its shipping schedule, it seems these problems are persisting, and the issues might continue to make things worse. Anonymous sources indicate that as late as this past December, batteries were still being produced, ‘partly by hand’ and Panasonic workers were brought into Gigafactory in 2017, temporarily, to assist with demand.
Still, the complicated procedure of placing 7 cooling tubes within the lithium-ion cells’ rows when it comes to each and every battery (by hand) might be the reason behind the potential battery defects from last year.
The Verge recently reported that an engineer from the facility recalled an incident from last December where factory staff were manually placing together bandoliers as fast as they could, which was creating a ton of scrap while doing so.
To worsen the situation, a lot of the quality control inspectors at Gigafactory were brought in from a temp agency, and the workers at the facility are not using the same ‘stress tests’ as battery manufacturer at other plants that use the same technology.
Tesla denies their vehicles have dangerous or defective batteries.
On January 3rd of 2017, the company announced 1,550 units of the Model 3 would be delivered to clients within the year, and that it had created over 2,400 of them, as well as 101,000 Model X and S cars. It offered a new goal of 2,500 Model 3s produced weekly by the end of 2018’s first quarter end, where the initial number was 5,000 to be produced weekly by the end of the second quarter this year.
What shall be of Tesla? They release their 2017 financial report on February 7th, where the auto industry will get a better indication around the company’s pulse, 2018 goals, and more information around when reserved holders can get their hands on the Tesla Model 3. Only time will tell …
