Tesla Factory Tour & Model S Impressions

I got to tour the Tesla factory today! My boss' boss (hereafter referred to as VP) bought a new Model S, and picked it up directly from the factory. Evidently if you buy a Model S, you can take a tour of the factory, accompanied by up to three other people.

A couple weeks ago, I happened to be eating lunch with VP the day he was scheduled to pick up his car, and he mentioned that one of his friends was canceling out on the tour, so he had an open slot. I jumped at it, and we were set. I drove out to the Tesla factory in Fremont in Friday afternoon 880N traffic (hideous), and was just pulling into the parking lot when VP called to tell me they had canceled all factory tours for the day.  I was crushed. I felt like a five year old who has just had his Lego stolen. I drove home and put the whole thing behind me - after all, Tesla doesn't give tours to random nerds like me who obsess over their cars. Only to Customers. Which I'm not likely to become in the near future. =)

You can imagine how excited I was when VP emailed me yesterday to tell me the tour had been rescheduled, and he still had a slot for me! And even better, that I'd get to carpool with him in his Model S to the factory! Here are my impressions as a passenger.

First, the Model S is huge. It's as big as some SUVs, if not as tall. And it is cavernous inside - a car conceived from the ground up as electric has dramatically better space efficiency than the internal combustion engine cars we know and love.  The exterior is sleek; I loved the automatically extending door handles, milled out of solid aluminum. I did notice several panel gap mismatches and slight panel misalignments. For a $100k car, I'd ordinarily expect perfection. I'm not sure if Tesla is still on a learning curve with their aluminum stamping and assembly, or if the tolerances are just higher than what I expect, but I was a little surprised to notice so many imperfections.  The magnetically and physically latched, computer operated charge port door was nifty.

The interior is large and spartan. I loved the wood on the dashboard, it had a lovely texture, and the general geometric motif of the interior was clean, modern, and beautiful. I have to say, I'm not sold on the 17" touchscreen that serves as the command center for the car, controlling everything from the adjustable air suspension to the air conditioning to the radio to the sunroof to the navigation system (along with multitudes of other things). I'm not convinced because having to hunt and peck on a 17" touchscreen to adjust the climate controls seems a little frustrating. Also, having something that rectangular and large really disrupts the flow of the dashboard. Finally, I don't really like their UI design. It reminds me of the strange UIs from the early 2000s, back when non-rectangular buttons were a hot new thing.  I'd prefer something cleaner and more modern looking. I loved the continuous energy usage display, it was beautiful and informative.

Interestingly, as the sun glinted off the touchscreen, I could see a rectangular grid of sensors embedded in the display. There are two buttons on the dash: one for the hazard lights, and opposite it, a button with a very strange icon that I couldn't parse at all. VP told me the strange button opens the glove compartment, which has no button of its own. This particular Model S had a light brown leather interior. It was beautiful, but I don't know how practical the color is, especially on the doors/armrests where it is likely to get dirty quickly. I also was not a fan of the interior lighting, which seemed crude. Despite my quibbles, the interior is radically simpler than any recent car I've been in, and it's quite beautiful. I was especially pleased that Tesla avoided putting chrome strips on everything, preferring satin finishes on interior metal trim (GM's penchant for shiny shiny chrome strips everywhere inside their cars is blinding).

VP is famous for his aggressive driving. In fact, he likes to tell stories about his track racing experiences. Driving with him in the Model S was exciting. The acceleration was so immediate and so strong that it caught my breath. But there was no drama - no gears whining, no engine noise. Just instantaneous movement. I didn't get to drive it myself, but I can tell it would be exciting.

I think the Model S represents a coherent and compelling vision for the future of what a car should be.  The radically improved space efficiency is super compelling. The performance is amazing. For all its sophistication, what's striking about the Model S is how simple it is. The powertrain is essentially invisible, it's like a normal car with the engine bay empty and an invisible genie that pushes it from 0-60 in 5 seconds. So many of the gewgaws and doodads that encrust traditional cars have been removed - the myriad buttons, the gear selectors, the emergency brake. It's a much simpler machine, but it's also more powerful and more efficient. It is the most elegant car I've ever seen. All this, and it brings all the environmental benefits of an electric car.

For the first homegrown effort of Tesla Motors, I think it's a tremendous achievement, and I can't wait to see what the future brings for them.

Now, on to the tour itself. Back when GM was going bankrupt and American auto sales were imploding, GM and Toyota shut down their immense factory in Fremont, which built about 300,000 cars a year.  Toyota sold it for a song - only $42M - to Tesla. The land alone is worth more than that!  Let alone the factory and the equipment inside, which Toyota gave to Tesla.  Tesla is using only a small part of the factory itself, most of it is empty.  Tesla employees drive around inside the factory on bicycles and electric carts.

Our tour was conducted by a very knowledgeable guy that did a great job of explaining things, even detailed technical questions. As we drove through the factory on an a cart, we could see desk farms where people do computer stuff, right on the factory floor next to inventories of Model S parts: fasteners, struts, windshields, battery shells... The first stop was the stamping plant.  They had several "baby" presses, each of them about the size of a house, that handled stamping the smaller parts. Then they showed us the big press, which Tesla got used from Michigan and installed themselves, after digging a basement several stories deep so that the top of the press wouldn't poke through the factory roof. The big press is the 6th biggest in the world, and it was running while we were there. Aluminum rolls come in one end, and parts come out the other end.

Even large parts, like the side of the body, are light enough that a worker can easily pick them up and stack them on special carts. Robots manipulate sheets of aluminum and the parts as they are stamped. Every time the press closed, the whole factory would vibrate. The factory was much brighter than I expected it would be. Many places had the floor painted white, and there were skylights everywhere. The robots were painted in Tesla red and white.  

The parts are put together on a robotic cart that holds the car under construction. After the frame and body panels are on, the car is painted, and then assembly starts. Rather than having a traditional assembly line with a conveyor belt, the cars remain on robotic carts that follow strips of magnetic tape on the ground to carry them from one station to the next. They weren't assembling any cars while we were there, so I got to peek my head into many Model S vehicles in various stages of assembly, and see what the car looks like at each stage.  The wiring harnesses were pretty intense, there are many wires running around in this car. Not just the high-voltage wires connecting the chargers and the battery, etc., but also the wires for all the lighting, etc.  Still, despite the complexity involved in putting a car together, I was struck by how simple the assembly process looked. The only part of the factory I wanted to see that we weren't shown was the drivetrain section: where they create the heart of the Tesla - the motors and batteries.

Just like the car, the factory seemed like it was transported from The Future. Robots and computers everywhere. I found it inspiring.  Here's to hoping that Tesla follows through with their secret plan for world domination. Until then, I'll keep dreaming!  The future is here, it's just unevenly distributed.

p.s. If, after having read this post, you're still interested in more detail, I really enjoyed this National Geographic documentary on the Tesla factory.