Talking Tech with Elon Musk!
Summary
TLDRIn this video, host QBHD interviews Elon Musk at the Tesla factory, discussing Musk's daily involvement in design and engineering, Tesla's dedication to creating compelling products through word-of-mouth rather than traditional advertising, and the company's challenges in making electric cars more affordable. They also touch on the upcoming Tesla products, including the Model Y, Semi, Pickup Truck, and the highly anticipated new Roadster, with its impressive specs and potential impact on the electric vehicle market.
Takeaways
- 🚗 Elon Musk is deeply involved in Tesla's operations, spending most of his time in factories, design, or engineering meetings, rather than on social media as some might assume.
- 🏭 The Tesla factory is a hub of activity with various processes such as door assembly and other production stages visibly in motion.
- 🛍️ Tesla's sales strategy relies heavily on word of mouth, focusing on creating products that customers love, rather than traditional advertising or endorsements.
- 💰 Elon Musk emphasizes the importance of making Tesla cars more affordable, noting the challenges of economies of scale in comparison to larger car manufacturers.
- 🚘 The Model 3 has seen a variety of trade-ins, with the Prius being one of the top five, indicating a shift towards electric vehicles even from hybrid owners.
- 🚀 Elon Musk is optimistic about Tesla's future products, hinting at the development of more affordable electric cars and the potential for a $25,000 car in the next few years.
- 🔧 Design and technology improvements, alongside scaling, are key to making electric cars more affordable, drawing parallels to the evolution of early cell phones.
- 🚗 The upcoming Tesla products, such as the Model Y, Semi, Pickup Truck, and the new Roadster, showcase Tesla's ambition to innovate across different vehicle segments.
- 🏎️ The new Tesla Roadster aims to outperform gasoline sports cars in every metric, with a 0 to 60 mph time of 1.9 seconds and a 600+ mile range.
- 🔍 The importance of aerodynamics is highlighted, with side mirrors contributing significantly to a car's drag, impacting range and efficiency.
- 🤖 Automation in car manufacturing has its limits; human adaptability and precision are still essential, particularly in tasks like general assembly.
Q & A
What was the main purpose of the sit-down chat with Elon Musk at the Tesla factory?
-The main purpose was to discuss a range of topics from Tesla products to technology and the future, providing insights into Musk's perspective and Tesla's operations.
How does Elon Musk spend most of his time at Tesla?
-Elon Musk spends most of his time in the factory, either in design or engineering meetings, or working on production aspects such as the paint shop, body shop, and final assembly.
What is Elon Musk's stance on using Twitter?
-Musk humorously dismisses the idea that he spends a lot of time on Twitter, stating that it's actually almost nothing compared to his time spent on factory and production work.
How does Tesla approach sales and marketing differently from traditional car companies?
-Tesla focuses on making products that people love, relying on word of mouth for sales rather than spending money on advertising or endorsements.
What is Tesla's strategy for making their cars more affordable to a wider range of people?
-Tesla aims to achieve affordability through high volume production, which allows for better economies of scale, and by continuously improving design and technology to reduce costs.
What is the significance of the Model 3 being a common trade-in for the Prius?
-The fact that the Model 3 is a frequent trade-in for the Prius indicates that there is a market for more affordable electric cars and that Tesla is successfully attracting buyers from traditional car segments.
What is Elon Musk's vision for an even less expensive electric car from Tesla?
-Musk envisions a $25,000 car that could potentially be achieved with hard work and advancements in design, technology, and scale within three years.
How does Tesla plan to manage the development of multiple products simultaneously?
-Tesla is working on strategies to manage the development of two products at a time, such as the Model Y, Semi, Pickup Truck, and the next-generation Roadster, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively.
What is the significance of the 'Track Mode' feature being introduced in the Model 3?
-Track Mode is designed to bring a fun and engaging driving experience to a wider audience by allowing users to adjust settings like traction control and battery temperature, similar to customizing a computer's graphics card.
What are the aerodynamic benefits of removing side mirrors from cars, as hinted at with the new Roadster?
-Side mirrors can significantly increase drag, reducing a car's range by around 5%. Removing them can improve aerodynamics, but regulations require them on manufactured vehicles, although modifications may be possible for owners.
How does Elon Musk view the balance between automation and human labor in the Tesla factory?
-Musk acknowledges that while automation is beneficial for certain tasks, humans excel in adaptation and performing delicate tasks. Tesla's challenge is finding the right balance between the two in the production process.
What was the strategic misstep in Tesla's original master plan?
-The introduction of the Model X was seen as a misstep, as it was an exercise in hubris that diverted focus from the mission of advancing electric vehicles and may have delayed the Model 3's development.
What is the future direction of Tesla's master plan?
-Tesla is considering expanding its focus to develop multiple models simultaneously, moving from a single model at a time to potentially managing two or more, in line with other larger manufacturers.
Outlines
🤖 Interview with Elon Musk at Tesla Factory
In this segment, the host, QBHD, expresses gratitude for the opportunity to interview Elon Musk, who is known for his busy schedule. They discuss the setting of the interview at the Tesla factory, with a view of the production line. Musk clarifies that contrary to popular belief, he spends most of his time at the factory, deeply involved in design, engineering, and production rather than on social media. The conversation touches on Tesla's commitment to creating compelling products that generate word-of-mouth marketing, the absence of traditional advertising, and Musk's personal approach to purchasing Tesla cars at full retail price.
🚗 Tesla's Strategy for Excitement and Affordability
Elon Musk discusses Tesla's strategy to excite people about their products, emphasizing the importance of creating a product that customers love to drive word-of-mouth sales. He highlights the company's focus on making electric cars more affordable by increasing production volume to achieve economies of scale. Musk also hints at the potential for a more affordable electric car in the future, possibly within three years, through design improvements and technological advancements, similar to the evolution of cell phones from bulky devices to sleek, high-capacity smartphones.
🔧 The Future of Tesla: Innovations and Challenges
Musk shares his excitement for Tesla's future projects, including the Model Y, Semi, Pickup Truck, and the next-generation Roadster. He acknowledges the challenge of managing multiple product lines simultaneously and the need for Tesla to 'walk and chew gum at the same time.' The conversation delves into the technical aspects of electric vehicles, such as the benefits of eliminating side mirrors for aerodynamics and the regulatory challenges of manufacturing cars. Musk also reflects on Tesla's growth and the importance of hiring enough skilled workers to meet production demands.
🛠 Lessons from Tesla's Past and the Master Plan
In the final paragraph, Musk reflects on Tesla's journey, from the high-priced Roadster to the more affordable Model 3, acknowledging the 'hubris' of developing the Model X, which deviated from the company's mission to advance electric vehicles. He discusses the strategic decision to expand Tesla's product range, considering the balance between focus and diversification. Musk concludes by expressing his intent to steer Tesla towards new opportunities, maintaining a tight ship while selecting projects that align with the company's goals.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Elon Musk
💡Tesla Factory
💡Product Compelling
💡Word of Mouth
💡Model 3
💡Aerodynamics
💡Track Mode
💡Roaster
💡Master Plan
💡Manufacturing Capacity
Highlights
Elon Musk's time at Tesla is primarily spent in the factory, focusing on design, engineering, and production.
Musk clarifies that contrary to popular belief, he does not spend a significant amount of time on Twitter.
Tesla's approach to sales involves word of mouth and customer satisfaction rather than traditional advertising.
Musk emphasizes the importance of product love for generating word of mouth and sales growth.
Tesla is working towards making their cars more affordable through high volume production and economies of scale.
The car industry is described by Musk as 'insanely competitive', highlighting the challenges Tesla faces.
One of the top five most frequent trade-ins for the Model 3 is a Prius, indicating a shift towards electric vehicles from traditional cars.
Musk discusses the possibility of an even less expensive electric car in the future, potentially achievable in three years.
The importance of design and technology improvements alongside scale for making electric cars affordable is underlined.
Tesla has multiple product ideas but is focusing on executing them with limited resources, such as the Model Y and Semi.
Musk expresses excitement about the upcoming Tesla products, including the Model Y, Semi, Pickup Truck, and the Next Generation Roadster.
The Tesla Roadster is positioned as a 'halo car' aiming to outperform gasoline sports cars in every metric.
Track Mode for the Model 3 is introduced, offering an expert user mode for adjusting various car settings for enhanced performance.
Musk explains the aerodynamic challenges of side mirrors and their impact on a car's range.
The Tesla Master Plan is discussed, including the progression from the Roadster to the Model 3 and beyond.
Musk reflects on the strategic decisions at Tesla, balancing between focus and diversification of models.
The transcript concludes with Musk's outlook on Tesla's future direction and the challenges of managing a diverse product line.
Transcripts
[Music]
what's up guys i'm qbhd here and just
got back from sunny california where we
spent some time with
possibly the busiest man alive elon musk
but he was super generous with his time
and we did this sort of a sit-down chat
at the tesla factory and then also did a
sort of a factory tour which will be a
separate video coming soon but a ton of
things we could have talked about since
we were at tesla at that time basically
our topics ranged from talking about
tesla products to our love for tesla to
tech and the future
all wrapped into one so this is that
chat
thanks for watching enjoy
all right first of all thanks for uh
taking the time sitting down on your
very busy schedule i'm sure good to see
you yeah good to see you
uh this is a this is a really
interesting place to be we're kind of in
like a bird's eye view of seeing a
couple a couple different things
happening behind us in the factory these
occasionally move which is cool those
are empty door carriers so like they
were carried doors to cars to get
assembled and then they're on their way
back to pick up some more doors nice so
uh i think most people know you as the
boss the face of tesla uh the decision
maker
for those who just for some context what
is your
how do you spend time at tesla what do
you do uh yeah that's a good question i
think probably a lot of people
don't realize i'm like basically
in the factory in design or engineering
meetings or production
um so
that's like
89 of the time i think sometimes people
think i spend a lot of time on twitter
sure
i don't know what gave why why they
would think that
that's crazy um but uh actually it's
like that's like almost nothing um
most of my time spent um at least the
last several months especially going
around the factory
um and then working on say uh the paint
shop the body shop where we weld up the
body
um
the uh
final assembly where we put all the
parts together
um and and then if i'm not here i'm
either i'm at the gigafactory in nevada
okay so
p100d owner
undefeated in stoplight races for a
while now uh rich over here in audio
okay
model three pre uh pre-order okay
waiting for his and brandon behind the
camera also waiting for model three okay
what what version are you waiting for
long range
long range and
and what color okay that is a that is a
good combo i got blue uh rear wheel
drive nice nice okay
cool so my question is
how aside from making great products how
do you get people excited about tesla
there's a lot of people i know and that
i talk to who are just intrigued and
interested and excited about tesla as a
company the thing i really focus on at
tesla is like we really put all of our
money into an attention to trying to
make the product as compelling as
possible so um
because i think that really the way to
um sell any product is through word of
mouth so if
one somebody gets the car they really
like it they and and actually the key is
like to have a product that people love
um and and generally people
that um if they're party or
touring friends or whatever um you'll
talk about the things that you love
but you know if you just like something
it's okay you're not gonna care that
much but if you get the reactions from
the highs and the lows yeah you gotta
make sure you really you're gonna
you're gonna talk you know and and then
that'll generate work turns word of
mouth and that's basically how how our
sales have have grown like we don't
we're not spending money on advertising
or endorsements or
uh and um so anyone like buys our car
they just bought it because they they
like the car and you know it's like it's
genuine um no discounts i actually even
pay full retail price for my own cars
okay um yeah and um yeah and we're
really focused on trying to make the
cars more affordable which is real
really tough like in order to make the
cars affordable you really
um
you need high volume see the economy's a
scale and because the other car
companies make a lot more cars than we
do they got way better economies of
scale so as we're gradually able to
build up um and do do more cars higher
volume then we can
volume force progressively like less
money and then make um
make the cars available to white wide
range people but it's super honestly
like the car industry is like a super
this is like super competitive it's like
one of the
it's like
insanely competitive so far i think i
read a really interesting or i think i
heard it actually from an earnings call
but something interesting you said is
one of the top five most frequent
trade-ins for model 3 is a prius right
yeah uh which starts at you know 20
something thousand dollars and they
obviously have massive economies of
scale do you think there's room i mean
tesla has model three model s and road
stirring up is there room for
possibly an even less expensive
quality electric car experience um yeah
absolutely um i think i think in order
for us to get to like let's say
ultimately
getting like a 25 000 car um
that that's uh that's something we could
we could do but it's probably
if we really work really hard i think
maybe we could do that in three years
does it come with time and scale or just
yeah it's a bit of both yeah cause like
the the key to making things affordable
is is like designing it is it's like
design and technology improvements as
well as scale so if you think of like
say um phones
um like the very earliest like the
earliest cell phones like
i'm probably like dating myself here but
uh like the original wall street
where the guy's like walking down the
beach and he's got like the it's like on
a giant phone he's carrying like a
briefcase kind of thing they're massive
like massive massive phone yeah and like
all i could do is phone yep
yep and like had like 30 minutes of
battery life and that kind of thing
um now
at that time
uh in the absence of technology
improvements like no amount of money no
amount of scale could have made that
phone affordable that'd be a lot of
engineering iterations a lot of design
iterations um
and we're probably i don't know on the
30th version of a cell phone or
and and with each successive design
iteration uh you can add more capability
you can design you can integrate more
things you figure out
better ways to produce it
so it actually gets better and cheaper
but it's like it's like a natural
progression of any new technology that
it takes multiple versions and a large
volume in order to make it affordable
gotcha is there anything
in the near future of tesla that you're
really excited about
yeah there's a lot of things actually um
we're really like we've got definitely
way more product ideas than we
have resources to execute we're just
talking about this uh with with my team
uh just like hey guys what you know what
should we focus on and now in the past
we've only done one car at a time um and
but as
you know as we go into the future we've
got to like
basically figure out how to walk and
chew gum
it's like it's like okay how do we do
two products at the same time but still
have enough resources that both products
are great right um and so we're gonna
you know we're gonna try to do you know
two products um one of them for sure is
is like the model y you know sort of
compact suv um comparable price point to
the to the model three uh then there's
uh the semi the pickup truck and the and
the next generator yeah like addiction
roast is kind of like dessert we got to
talk about that yeah yeah
it's super exciting but it's like and i
think there's definitely some value to
doing it to show that an electric car
can be faster than a gasoline car in
every way yes so i think there's like
you know because it's still this sort of
like halo effect of of of the gasoline
sports cars because like in terms of top
speed they're still have the best top
speed yeah so that halo effect that i
was gonna basically
every metric possible seems like really
ambitious like there's a lot of things
that people
people like me kind of accept that like
i love my electric car but i i know it's
not going to put down lap times 30 laps
in just because there's yeah so
rejection exactly we got to work on that
yeah in fact
i was actually um
i was just talking to the team i was
like uh you know i think we got some
headroom there yeah um
oh and are we gonna talk about track
mode
yeah sure yeah because i had a very
short experience with trackman with
model 3 yeah so i love so obviously
roadster is going to be yeah that that
halo car and if we're confident it's
going to be an amazing car i hope it's
that car to beat essentially yeah but
then bringing track mode down to model 3
brings that fun experience to a lot of
more people that involved exactly yeah
so so it's kind of like um
you know like uh
like
we're like basically a bunch of nerds
here so um
um obviously
i don't give away yeah but like like the
you know so we're tracking we want to uh
open up a lot of settings it's like you
can adjust settings and it's kind of
like an expert user mode
and and you can sort of um adjust
traction control uh adjust like battery
temperature um uh
um you know breakthrough like you can
basically configure a bunch of things um
and we'll tell you like hey you know if
you do this it's a bit risky like you're
gonna wear out your brakes a little
sooner it's like you might blow a
circuit you know like like
but like it'll be clear like you know uh
but let's see this is the risk that
you're taking yeah it's kind of like if
you have a
graphics card on your computer you can
like go in there and you can change the
settings and you can like overclock
things yeah and like okay but you know
so that's going to be all that will be
in track mode and you'll be able to see
that and mess with it yeah that's cool
yeah be cool and you can like try
different things and wait um yeah it'd
be fun a little more on roadster because
i had a i made a video about it just
after the event i was sad i couldn't be
there but i'm a day one deposit because
i was that excited okay uh but i was
wondering after you made that
announcement one you said i think i
quote plenty of space
what does that mean
oh you mean like it's like like it won't
be cramped inside like you're like
basically
um
if you're if you're a tall dude you'll
be able to sit in there i'll tell you
it's six more and a half okay so i feel
like if you're comfortable in there a
lot of people will be yeah and and then
like my brother's six four so is he
comfortable in it yeah yeah yeah okay
yeah all right and france is like six
three i don't know he's pretty tall and
then my other question was uh the side
mirrors
this has been a theme in in the past
with prototypes and cars that we've seen
before they come out they don't have
mirrors regulatory they have to have
mirrors is there an advantage to
not having mirrors or is there is it
just aerodynamic or is there more to it
now it's it's actually surprisingly um
how the mirrors particularly at high
speeds can have um quite a big effect on
the drag of a car they're like little
air brakes basically like typical car uh
side mirrors reduce a highway range by
around five percent wow yeah that's it's
pretty intense you see in a wind tunnel
like you can see you know when you see
like the sort of smoke trails in the
wind tunnel you can see just how much
yeah they're like they're just like air
brakes to be aerodynamic you actually
want kind of like a teardrop uh
shape so it's like it's it doesn't end
in like a bluff right because it creates
a low pressure zone behind the the
mirror and so you'd have like have a
kind of a almost like a cone behind the
mirror or or
blend it with the body or something like
that okay so it's like they're actually
surprisingly draggy
now a manufacturer is required to have
side view mirrors but i i believe that a
uh
the owner is not like you're i think
you're like okay you can modify things
like at least in the us you can if you
uh
the owner can modify things the rule is
about manufacturing not driving very
much about manufacturers are very
tightly constrained okay um it's
actually one thing that makes it very
hard to to make
a car that
looks good and has a good performance
and aerodynamics because it's like you
got you got all these constraints and
there's so many rules you need to follow
um
so it's very challenging to make a car
uh
look good my other question about
roadster
um
the specs are insane they're
ludicrous some might say yeah uh so the
flat either the only thing beyond later
course is plaid so so 0 to 60 in 1.9
seconds but more importantly i was
interested in is the 200 kilowatt hour
battery and the 600 plus mile range
is are these numbers
assuming an improvement in available
technology
by 2020 or are they something you can
achieve now but
don't have the manufacturing capacity to
or is it somewhere in between
yeah so um
i think it like basically uh it's like
two uh model s uh
3100 packs yeah but
but you're really just doubling the the
internals that the set the cells inside
so there's like a lot of stuff that's
related to the pack and the packaging
and safety and all that sort of stuff
that um
is uh
not related to the cell so you can
double the the number of modules inside
and
at with but it would still be like maybe
an 80 increase in the volume of the the
packs like the floor would get four
four or five inches higher if if it was
current technology so but
um
but we would we we think we'll probably
get um
another
maybe 20
10 at least 10 maybe 20 improvement
because we'll use like think about like
an expensive car is we can use the the
state-of-the-art the most advanced
equipment like it's kind of like with uh
with computers like they've come out
with a new like graphics card or
or cpu it's like initially it's
expensive um and so but then over time
that that price drops down and people
like wonder is it like
do you have like automation do you have
people it's like we have both um you
know it's like a cyborg but like
integrated
sidewalk thing yeah actually like one of
the biggest constraints for us is is
like being able to hire enough people
that's what i was gonna ask so like
there's a lot of working man parking
there's a lot of parking here yeah
if you have a lot of robots and a lot of
people in the factory
what do people do that robots can't do
and obviously there's a lot that robots
can do as far as lifting and moving
things but as far as precision maybe
there's things they can do that humans
can't do do you have a ratio off the top
of your head maybe as far as people
versus
machines
um
you know it varies massively depending
upon what part of the production process
um right so
some parts of it are
like 80 to 90 automated and then some
parts of it are like uh only 10 to 20 or
what are those what are those parts that
humans do better than
humans are really good at adaptation um
and rapid evolution and like doing
like little like finicky things like
like that um
like for general assembly like one of
the mistakes we made uh that was like
pretty pretty big mistake was trying to
automate uh general assembly which is
where you put the parts together you
know like some of the things it's like
like trying to connect uh a hose
that's like sort of dangling around i
see and and you're like the robot's like
gonna find the hose
grab it like then connect it to another
hose at that point it's like really hard
yeah like a person can just go all right
they're done gotcha yeah that makes a
lot of sense yeah and it's like when you
see it it's like wow it's super super
obvious
and then we try to have robots do this
and it's like robots like grabbing the
wrong thing and like trying to stick it
over here and it's like oh the the the
hose was here when the rover threw it
was here and so now it like tries to
grab air and then like smashes into the
car
it's like you don't want that we yeah it
was a comedy virus uh tragedy of ours
like personally you could say like this
thing needs to connect to that thing
and and then however they they arrive a
person can figure it out the robot would
be like uh
and then as far as uh tesla's overall
master plan is what it was originally
called so you start with the low volume
high priced roadster then you move on
model s higher volume lower price to
model three as far as i know that's
where the master plan ended
yeah that was like part one yeah i mean
we went model x in there which uh
uh you know it was that wasn't that was
like that was definitely an exercise in
hubris uh the now the x is an amazing
car and it's like um but it's like we
kind of got carried away with the art i
hear it's very difficult to make yeah
we could carry it away without the
carrier with arden technology it's like
obviously you want great art you want
great technology but we did get a little
distracted from our mission which is to
like advance the cores of electric
vehicles um and and it probably delayed
us a little bit with the model 3 as well
so i guess my last question in here
would be just as far as the tesla master
plan
part one coming to an end is it now just
a matter of steering the ship towards
new opportunities you see there's not a
lot of companies making a 35 000
electric car and a quarter million
dollar supercar and a semi truck and
doing them all really well right do you
guys see yourself just keeping a tight
ship and picking your your choices here
and there yeah that's why we um what i'm
saying really like it's it's a it's a
tough strategic call
between focus and like being wanting to
do a bunch of different models like
we we i think we want to try doing
two
at the same time
um like we've only ever done one at the
same time before do two and then and
then um if we get got that if you're
good with that then we could just try
doing three at a time like a lot of the
other manufacturers they'll do
like you know 12 at a time yeah so if
they're way bigger than us weird awesome
yeah i wish you the best of luck with it
and thanks for taking the time to sit
down yeah thanks thank you all right
cool appreciate it
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