A distinct form of Cyber-stuck.
Batteries Not Included
Final week, Tesla told workers on its Cybertruck line to not come into work — and now, it seems like we all know why.
As Business Insider reports based mostly on interviews with individuals who work on that line, a battery provide challenge has precipitated Cybertruck manufacturing to be “backed up” in current weeks as the corporate is “understanding the kinks” on its mega-popular — if not somewhat raggedy — new automobile.
In a memo considered by BI and utilized in its prior reporting, Tesla instructed Cybertruck workers they “didn’t need” to come back into work between December 3 and 5. Although they have been instructed they’d be paid for eight hours of labor throughout that point away from the road, no official motive was given within the memo.
In keeping with 5 employees on that line, the schedules for Cybertruck employees have been inconsistent for the reason that finish of October. And should you’re counting down the minutes till the corporate solves the problem, at the very least a type of workers instructed the web site they have been searching for a brand new job because of this.
Manufacturing Issues
Within the yr since Tesla started delivering its polygonal vehicles to its long-suffering prospects, there was at the very least one further occasion of manufacturing line snags associated to the corporate’s capability to make sufficient of its bespoke 4680 batteries to fulfill demand.
Just below a yr in the past, Reuters reported based mostly on a number of insider sources that Tesla was having trouble ramping up production of the enormous cylindrical energy cells, that are additionally utilized in its Mannequin Y vehicles, to fulfill the demand posed by the intensive Cybertruck waitlist. On the time, the corporate’s Giga Texas manufacturing facility was solely making sufficient of the batteries to supply 24,000 Cybertrucks per yr — about one-tenth the dimensions of its required output, per the outlet’s number-crunching.
Although 4680 production did increase because the yr went on, Texas Tesla employees who have been working 12-hour shifts when Cybertrucks have been first being delivered had their hours reduce in April — and employees who spoke to BI for this more moderen story stated additional reductions have taken place within the interim as effectively.
Critics have long claimed that Tesla’s 4680 batteries have been doomed to fail, and reporting from The Information over the summer time prompt that Elon Musk gave his battery staff til yr’s finish to deal with its manufacturing issues.
With this newest leak, it seems that that deadline might not have been met — and as The Data‘s report additionally prompt, Musk might quickly surrender on its pioneering battery in favor of 1 that is simpler to make.
Extra on Cybertrucks: The Value of Used Cybertrucks Is in Freefall
