Tesla Employee

Shared account current/former employees sharing inside scoops. Intent is to be truthful not biased.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@Tesmanian_com Inventor, Engineer, Founder - with enough money you can buy any title you want.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@kkmistry @Tesla My understanding was that soldering quality was a major contributor among others, that let to other subsequent failures.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@Cadillac_Spills The example above was intentionally mislead that their product would continue on future models and was a the core product to the plant. They had actively mobilized resources for this component before the rug was pulled.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

What’s it like being a Tesla vendor?

https://t.co/gtxcgIeLWd

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@agusnox Tesla constantly whiplashed demand on vendors. No way to be sustainable between constant design change and having stock ready to ship. It’s likely Tesla may not know exactly what parts were installed in a given M3 vehicle between 2017-2018.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

Countless stories of layoffs and fights with vendors who bet on Tesla only to be burned. This has resulted in Tesla pushing insourcing parts as vendor relationships have been burned.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

Some vendors were forced to localize to CA and NV at the promise and guarantee of 10k vehicles per week from Fremont. As it stands Tesla is under 6k combined from Fremont and Shanghai 3 years later.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@BonaireVolt @EVENTDRIVEN2020 @Tesla Best of luck to Austin.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@erlichmanr @FenceTesla @agusnox @Tesla The tile is more than just glass. Referencing end product yield.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@erlichmanr @agusnox @Tesla The poor yields are why the product was not actively sold. Cost prohibitive to sell. “Marketing product”.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@Tesla First generation powerwall follows similar logic. Known design issues meant failure more likely than not during warranty period. Hope was to release Powerwall 2 to customers before failures reaches critical mass and along upgrades on older models.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@Tesla Falls back on classic strategy. Build hype for a new product to sustain current business. Lose money on current products to maintain hype. Scramble to achieve next project before hype subsides.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@VickiSalvador @DudeInnovation @RickLokers For hourly workers the pay ends up being fairly lucrative due to significant extended hours of overtime expected during end of quarter rushes in production/deliveries. It was very common for interns to make more during the internships than they would as FTEs.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

Elon and everybody else

A good analogy for working at Tesla is Icarus, and Elon is the sun. As a you advanced at Tesla you move ever closer to the sun, and greater risk of being burned. To note, specific names will generally be avoided, some light digging will make it clear who

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@VickiSalvador @DudeInnovation @RickLokers This is actually not true across the company. Certain areas like Autopilot and Battery Engineering are well compensated but most salary employees are below their competitors (Apple, FB, etc.) Tesla often phrases “market adjustments” to employees as a raise/rewards and promotion.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

@agusnox @Valeo_Group Relationship has been fraught since beginning of Model 3 production. Disputes mostly centered around cooling tubes for battery packs and HVAC production. Combination of Tesla’s performance (production ramp), part quality, design changes, and costing. Many failures on both sides.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

Articles related to “refresh” are almost always accurate. Tesla plays them close to the chest for two main reasons. https://t.co/235OGvtxRt

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

Challenge is Tesla is also trying to drop its M3 HVAC vendor (and all products with the vendor) @Valeo_Group.

[Tesla Employee @TeslaEmployee1]

This is often followed by a “promise” to have a chance on future models. Expected changes mostly relate to IP, Seats, HVAC systems to match M3/MY. Tesla relationship with its HVAC/IP vendors is also very contentious, hence the heavy emphasis on denial.