Blade Runner Redux - Tesla Cybertruck!

[freebeard]

OTOH those LED headlights are supposed to be indestructible.


Just A Car Guy: park carefully, those headlights are 1900 dollars apiece. Don't let where you're parked be the reason someone hits the front of your Nisan Titan

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

I'm glad Tesla is opening the eyes of people who otherwise might not be aware of how bad government tyranny is even if just on the tiny scale of mandating how you have to see what is behind you car. If you start to realize that the government's ideas are often flawed maybe you start voting for people who promise to reduce the size and power of it.

Since you opened the topic...

People put so much emotional energy into the Executive branch of the federal government. If the federal government were properly sized, say 10% for sake of argument, then the presidency would represent 1/3 of 10%, or about 3% of the total government.

Both parties are on an arms race to grow federal authority when all government should be as limited as possible, and especially the higher and more abstracted out they get.

If we gave back more authority to local governments, we wouldn't have to care so much if Mickey Mouse were elected POTUS.

[freebeard]

If we gave back more authority to local governments, we wouldn't have to care so much if Mickey Mouse were elected POTUS.

Agreed the locus of power is the county, and the Constitution is structured such that the President could be a plow-hand for four years without causing damage. ...However, and it's a big however, The Mouse is an incorporeal entity. It's right there in the name. Thankfully unpossible.

The real battle between the (not Constitutionally defined) parties is in the courts. Particularly the Ninth and one District in East Texas [IIRC].

Story: In the 1980s sealed beam headlights were Federally mandated except in Oregon and Washington states.

So I was running Hella H-4 with Halogen bulbs in my VW panel van. I could pull up along side buses or big trucks with their ovals of yellow light in their lane, hit the high beams, and put wall-to-wall white light across both lanes. Panzer vor!

edit:
No sooner did I post this than Youtube wanted me to see this analysis of Disney's past, future and reach.

[aerohead]

I stumbled across a citation from May,1993.I believe it's either from AUTOWEEK,or WARD's Automotive.
The article credits an assembly plant paint shop with 30-50% of the overall cost of the factory,approximately $500,000,000.Phosphating,baking,electrode-position primer submersion (E-Coat),baking,primer-surfacer robotic sprayng,basecoat robotic spraying,baking,clear-coat robotic spraying,and baking operations can be skipped by Tesla,which constitutes the most expensive 'component' of contemporary automobiles,according to at least one messenger (I believe it was from Hundai,America,on Modern Marvels,QUEST Channel-8.4,DFW,Texas).

[ldjessee00]

And with wraps being inexpensive these days and about as durable as modern automotive paint... I was considering bed lining all the underbody and panels of my next vehicle, so the stainless steel is fine with me.

[Piotrsko]

By any chance is the attach hardware stainless also? IIRC, 1018 is sacrificial to stainless.

If the attach hardware is stainless, I can see that costing as much as the paint processes. Stainless bolts are hella expensive.

[ldjessee00]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

By any chance is the attach hardware stainless also? IIRC, 1018 is sacrificial to stainless.

If the attach hardware is stainless, I can see that costing as much as the paint processes. Stainless bolts are hella expensive.

The stainless steel hardware might cost the same as the cost of paint, but it will not take the HOURS that painting does, and time is money.

Being able to leave off the hours of painting, baking/drying, painting clearcoat, baking/drying... That will be huge for them to be able to increase volume output of vehicles.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Piotrsko

By any chance is the attach hardware stainless also? IIRC, 1018 is sacrificial to stainless.

If the attach hardware is stainless, I can see that costing as much as the paint processes. Stainless bolts are hella expensive.

Stainless bolt prices vary exponentially and in a completely random way

I work in the industry and some rather large stainless bolts might be pennies compared to other smaller stainless that might be $10 a pop

This variation is almost 100% demand related.

Classic we never did so it’s expensive so no one wants it situation.

If an industry was standardize to a specific size of stainless you would see the cost drop massively on that size to within parity of grade 8 coated hardware

Even in volume to this day metric hardware is always at least 20% more expensive than a similar SAE and metric hardware IS NOT STANDARDIZED
Hence the increased cost.

[Xist]

Someone posted that Teslas were made with only five types of fasteners or something. That should keep a number of costs down.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

Someone posted that Teslas were made with only five types of fasteners or something. That should keep a number of costs down.

I've often thought it's silly how many custom parts there are for vehicles. Why are there so many brake pad/rotor combinations? How many differently designed steering wheels do we need? How about wheel diameter, width, offset...

There should be some reasonable number of standard parts, like 10, that manufacturers choose from, with these parts adhering to some standard so they can be utilized across platforms. A size #4 brake pad would fit on any vehicle that uses size #4, for instance.

I understand manufacturers wanting to differentiate themselves from other brands, but they don't even standardize within their own brand. A Honda Civic steering wheel isn't going to work on an Accord. Why not?