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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday May 08 2018, @01:32AM   Printer-friendly
from the Tesla-guts-everywhere dept.

http://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-model-3-teardown-details/

MotorTrend is running an overview of the 6000-person-hour teardown of a Tesla Model 3 by Munro & Associates, a well known reverse engineering and manufacturing consulting firm. A couple of details from the text (there are many photos as well):

Front Upper Control Arm—These are formed of thinner-gauge stamped steel then reinforced by having plastic webbing molded inside. This plastic also provides attachment points for routing the ABS sensor wiring. The oddity: Note the ingot of iron that is glued in place (held by zip-ties while glue sets). Munro reckons this is to dampen a troublesome natural frequency.

Charging Board—This large, complex board filters electricity coming in from the charger with the tall and modular board at right. This board is tailored to suit the electrical service of the vehicle's destination country. This U.S.-market car is prepped for three-phase current, so there are three big copper donuts under that board that look like the one on the left side of the board (that one handles the conversion to 12 volts). This approach is unique and deemed quite savvy relative to the Chevy Bolt and BMW i3 Munro has also analyzed.

Overall, they liked the electronics and panned much of the mechanical design and fastening/welding details--relative to current practice at other auto manufacturers. Which kind of makes sense given Tesla's location near Silicon Valley, and far from Detroit (although Tesla has hired many experienced engineers from existing car companies & suppliers).

The article includes a link to an overview of this analysis, which was published last week.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by dltaylor on Tuesday May 08 2018, @01:56AM (19 children)

    by dltaylor (4693) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @01:56AM (#676863)

    Did the engineers fail to do the analysis of their flexiflyer control arm or did some management constraint keep them from fixing the inherent problem rather than applying a bandaid?

    BTW, if your phone is dead, how do you open the doors?

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by RS3 on Tuesday May 08 2018, @02:31AM (10 children)

    by RS3 (6367) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @02:31AM (#676867)

    BTW, if your phone is dead, how do you open the doors?

    It reads your mind.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 08 2018, @02:49AM (8 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 08 2018, @02:49AM (#676874) Journal

      BTW, if your phone is dead, how do you open the doors?

      It reads your mind.

      First time, with an undamaged mind, it may work.
      What about after that?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Tuesday May 08 2018, @03:00AM (2 children)

        by RS3 (6367) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @03:00AM (#676876)

        With a then damaged mind, it won't matter.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 08 2018, @06:17AM (1 child)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 08 2018, @06:17AM (#676913) Journal

          With a then damaged mind, it won't matter.

          Market asks for it. As a proof, one acronym: DUI

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday May 09 2018, @12:42AM

            by RS3 (6367) on Wednesday May 09 2018, @12:42AM (#677273)

            The fairly obvious answer is that if it can read minds, it can read the damage and refuse to go anywhere, but it will let you in.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 08 2018, @04:14AM (4 children)

        by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @04:14AM (#676893) Journal

        apply forehead to driver's side glass.

        After gaining entry, you won't want, or need, to do it again.

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 08 2018, @06:20AM (3 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 08 2018, @06:20AM (#676917) Journal

          After gaining entry, you won't want, or need, to do it again.

          I think the US market shows some peculiar specifics.
          Namely, their version of footy shows the more damag-ed/-ing, the more they play it (grin)

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 3, Informative) by MostCynical on Tuesday May 08 2018, @07:56AM (2 children)

            by MostCynical (2589) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @07:56AM (#676943) Journal

            But they don't buy Teslas..
            http://www.nfl.com/photos/0ap1000000205215 [nfl.com]

            --
            "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday May 08 2018, @08:11AM (1 child)

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 08 2018, @08:11AM (#676948) Journal

              I believe the 'driver side glass' is not specific to Tesla. Which mean that, in a pinch, they could (repeatedly) apply the strategy you suggested even if their cars don't read their minds.

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday May 08 2018, @09:47AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @09:47AM (#676969) Journal

      Great. I'm going to name mine after that disreputable GCU Grey Area.

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @03:06AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @03:06AM (#676877)

    Little masses like that one (visible in one of the photos) are fairly common on cars. Used to have an early '90s Corolla and there was a small mass on one of the rubber engine/transaxle mounts. When it started to fall off (flopping to one side), reversing the car led to a major vibration. The dealer first pulled it off and the major vibration went away. Later they got in the correct part and things were back to normal.

    Without seeing the full modal analysis of the Model 3, it's damn near impossible to work out what that mass does--it might be inertial damping a body resonance near the mounting point of the control arm.

    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday May 08 2018, @04:40AM (1 child)

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday May 08 2018, @04:40AM (#676897) Homepage
      Without actually performing any damping itself, I think it's better to just call it ballast. It releases every single bit of the energy given to it by the parts it is rigidly mounted to straight back to those same parts. Of course, it may change the natural frequencies of vibrations such that other damping performs closer to critical, but that could better be achieved by changing the damping factor to match the original frequencies better.

      If we can't agree on "ballast", I can suggest other words beginning with "b" (and having 2 "l"s, and an "s" to boot).
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @12:34PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @12:34PM (#677000)

        Sorry, poor choice of word...
        s/inertial/mass
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuned_mass_damper#Production_cars [wikipedia.org]

        Tuned mass dampers are widely used in production cars, typically on the crankshaft pulley to control torsional vibration and, more rarely, the bending modes of the crankshaft. They are also used on the driveline for gearwhine, and elsewhere for other noises or vibrations on the exhaust, body, suspension or anywhere else. Almost all modern cars will have one mass damper, some may have 10 or more.[emphasis mine]
        ...
        All four wheels of the Citroen 2cv incorporated a tuned mass damper (referred to as a "Batteur" in the original French) of very similar design to that used in the Renault F1 car, from the start of production in 1949 on all four wheels, before being removed from the rear and eventually the front wheels in the mid 1970s.

  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday May 08 2018, @05:18AM (3 children)

    by Whoever (4524) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @05:18AM (#676903) Journal

    BTW, if your phone is dead, how do you open the doors?

    Using the touchscreen, of course.

    But seriously, it has mechanical doorpulls, plus, although it won't let you move it, the touchscreen and climate control remains on and it does not lock the doors while you are still in the car: I assume that there are sensors, perhaps in the seats, so that the car knows that someone is inside it even if the phone is dead.

    • (Score: 2) by dltaylor on Tuesday May 08 2018, @05:45AM (2 children)

      by dltaylor (4693) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @05:45AM (#676908)

      Touchscreen!? From the OUTSIDE!?

      If you have a dead phone, and forget your key card (or leave it in the car), those magic doors will not unlock.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday May 08 2018, @06:40AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 08 2018, @06:40AM (#676921) Journal

        Touchscreen!? From the OUTSIDE!?

        If you have a dead phone, and forget your key card (or leave it in the car), those magic doors will not unlock.

        You make it sound like a valuable life lesson is a bad thing (grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Whoever on Tuesday May 08 2018, @01:48PM

        by Whoever (4524) on Tuesday May 08 2018, @01:48PM (#677013) Journal

        I misunderstood.

        I thought the question was "how do you open the doors if you are in the car and then your phone dies?"

        If you phone doesn't work to open the car, you just use your card key. This is no different to any other car: you must have your key or fob with you. In fact, it has an advantage that there is no battery in a fob to go flat.

  • (Score: 1) by PhilSalkie on Tuesday May 08 2018, @10:18PM

    by PhilSalkie (3571) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 08 2018, @10:18PM (#677204)

    There's an RFID keycard that you stick in your wallet. Touch it to the driver's side door pillar, the car unlocks. Put it by the cup holder, you can drive the vehicle and/or recharge your phone.

    https://electrek.co/2017/09/22/tesla-model-3-how-keyless-and-phone-entry-works/ [electrek.co]

    I'm a Model S owner (couldn't wait for my Model 3 reservation) and bought a used 2015 service loaner from Tesla's Pre-Owned list. Did a demo out at a Detroit-area Linux/SF/Maker Con called "Penguicon", and a very thorough gentleman came by and was surprised by the (to my eye hard to notice) panel gap variation throughout and differences in curvature between frunk hood and the headlights it closes against. He then proceeded to be extremely impressed by the electronics, UI, SuperCharging network and integration of that with the car's software, OTA updates, etc. The ultimate agreement several of us reached was this was a mid-range luxury card build on a highly advanced electric car chassis - the money goes to the electronics, the power/drive system, continuing hardware and software support, and the SuperCharging network, not so much to making the best ever exterior. (At least that seems to have been the case with this 2015 vehicle.) I've had a chance to look at four different Model 3's, but that was with a less critical eye than I might now have, so I'm not sure I could say they were better or worse - they certainly didn't offend me in any way, they were awfully fine looking cars.

    That all being said - I'm not going back, you can't make me, no way, no how. I'll ride my bicycles for the rest of my life before I buy another internal combustion driven automobile, and only a complete dissolution of Tesla would make me buy a vehicle from a competitor. The experience of driving that vehicle over the last year has been unparallelled - from the vehicle itself, the quiet ride, the fact that the car fills itself up in the driveway overnight, the 30,000+ miles of AutoPilot I've been sitting in the driver's seat for, the SuperCharger network, the Tesla phone/tablet app and third-party support apps like TeslaFi, the superb service center staff who've just made every visit as easy as possible, even the sales experience was painless, downright pleasant. I'm far from the only person to feel this way and say so quite loudly - I'm sure that's why Tesla's still got all those paid reservations on Model 3's.