The American electric car manufacturer Tesla plans to move away from the assembly line, which became the norm for car production after its introduction by Henry Ford about a hundred years ago. Tesla wants a different approach, where parts of a car are built simultaneously in specific spaces, and ultimately combined. This was reported by the financial news agency Bloomberg.
According to Tesla, the change could reduce its manufacturing footprint by more than 40 percent. Future factories could be built faster and cheaper.
If the new production process proves successful, Tesla says it could halve production costs. That would be very important for Tesla’s plans to come up with a cheap electric car that could fuel slowing demand.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk called the new production system “revolutionary” and “far more advanced than any other production system in the world, by a significant margin.”
Still, analysts point out that Tesla’s new system is not yet proven and that it may come with inefficiencies and risks. A recent analysis by Bloomberg found that the new modular manufacturing process could reduce costs by a third, not half.
Tesla delivered 1.8 million cars last year, but wants to reach 30 million cars by 2030. To achieve that objective, the car manufacturer needs significantly cheaper cars in its range.