Just thought I would take some time to reflect on my experience working at Tesla and thoughts for it going forward. I joined Tesla back in early 2010 following 9 years contracting in the BIW Engineering Department at Honda in Marysville Ohio. The downside of contracting for so long is that there is little room for growth, as a “Catia Jockey” the work you are doing on day 3000 is pretty similar to what you were doing on day one. It never bothered me until it did. I was attracted to the job at Tesla due to the mission, the ambition and the CA location (at that time in Hawthorne, LA). The electric performance vehicle concept was exciting compared to the quite dreadful seemingly unserious efforts that had come before. The Roadster showed what was possible, but I considered taking that to a mainstream Executive Sedan level was a big step up in expectations. I honestly thought that the project would last 2 years or so, then the company would just fold, like so many others did, due to simple cash starvation. Meanwhile it would be a great learning experience and a chance to explore the West Coast. I actually thought my interview went dreadfully and I came away from it incredibly disappointed with myself. Anyways, perhaps due to pre-Christmas generosity, I did get the job. After driving across country (a Roadtrip I heartily people do at least once..) I started at Tesla in February. When I arrived, the Model S was scheduled to launch late that year or early the next, so I was expecting to be mainly part of the finish up and launch crew. I was quite shocked to discover how little of the actual design was in place and the incredible amount to be done. Clearly a launch 12 months out was not going to happen… One other thing I soon realized was how much the electric drivetrain could influence and liberate the overall architecture of a vehicle when it is designed from scratch. As a Body Engineer I was somewhat of the opinion that I didn’t care if the vehicle was powered by gas, electric or potatoes.. it would make little difference. That was quite wrong.. The Body Team then was very small (still is really…), but the other teams were even smaller. I was working on the Dash/Cowl and Front End Structure (with Alexi handling the related Castings and Extrusions at the time), but you can’t develop a structure without a package to go around. Since there was an extreme lack of Engineers to cover the work from other teams, I along with a few others (mainly some great contractors..) developed the entire early front end content. All the Frunk and underhood trim / Leafscreen content, early (but not final) Wiper and Front End Module packages. Plus, randomly the Rear Fascia (can’t remember why..). There is more of my personal design content in the the original Model S vehicle than any other vehicle I have ever worked on. It was not perfect, for sure, but I remain incredibly proud of what we all achieved. (Time for a break, to be continued…)
David Fleet
2mo
Lessons I personally learned from Model S:- 1. How much can be achieved by a such small team in a such a short time, when that team is really excited, eager and motivated. 2. Not to constrained to conventional ways of thinking particularly when some of the fundamental rules of the game have changed. 3. Avoid the micromanaging of a team if you really need to get things done, but regularly timely reviews are useful. 4. No Design time is ever wasted, even if it eventually thrown away. Sometimes you don’t know what you want until you see what you don’t want. 5. The tendency of a Team with a tight schedule and budget will be to Over-Engineer, because they may have only one shot at getting it to work. Failure items will get fixed but over-engineered (over complicated and over cost?) areas are much more likely to remain. Hence the unfortunate need for later cost down measures. These do tend to remove unnecessary process complications and also improve quality at the same time. Don’t be too “precious” over your initial designs.
David Fleet
2mo
5. Sometimes what you do not know can be a big strength. I do not believe Elon was really aware of what he was getting into with Model S (or Model 3 later..), if he did he may not have done it. In a small team chat, back when that sort of thing was possible, I did ask him if he understood. He referenced his learning from Roadster to say “yes”, but to me that really meant “no”, after all the Lotus Elise on which the Roadster was based was hardly a good example of a quality build. A leap up to the Mercedes level is a huge jump which we never really achieved. Anyways not knowing and being extremely driven (or stubborn) and willing to risk everything he had saw it thru. Anyone else would have given in or never tried in the 1st place. Much respect to Elon for that..
David Fleet
2mo
6. Keep it fun. 7. Remove work barriers where possible. With this small entire engineering team, flexibility and coordination between design departments is essential to get things done, but also Manufacturing inputs are key to success. Early MS bodies proved difficult to build accurately and some of those cut lines deserved greater push back.
David Fleet
2mo
Anyways, enough on this post. I’ll continue some other time with Model X and onwards on a repost when the inspiration hits me. Cheers.
David Fleet
2mo
(Lot’s of words and not much comment capacity, my apologies for the awkward break up of this post.. )
David Fleet
2mo
8. One of the best things I enjoyed at Tesla was the “all hands on deck approach to work”. As much as I enjoy the Design work, after the “CAD Jockey” experience at Honda, I really enjoyed the other work aspects at Tesla. From Prototype Build Support to Launch and Ramp Support with many long shifts and nightshifts involved it was all so varied and (mostly..) exciting, intense and fun. One of the main reasons I never (voluntarily .. ☹️) left was that none of the other Companies seemed to offer so much opportunity. Even other startups often seemed more rigidly structured.
Steve Bannasch
2mo
Alexi, Axel and Imran. Great working with the entire team. What an accomplishment!
Milosh Copic
2mo
Those were fun times!
Nick Lewis
1mo
At the beginning of 2010, right after I'd finished up a 3 year consultancy at Volvo in Sweden, I got a call from Aaron Hoyos talking about an exciting job in California. Within days, I'm interviewing with Rick Haas and Peter Rawlinson. Next thing I know I'm working in a small office in Hawthorne next to SpaceX with a small team of guys. It was fun, but it was also fast pace and challenging. Elon was in the office quite often, and was very hands on with the earlry model S design. It was hard work, but very rewarding. Very good memories.....
Automotive Design Engineer
2mo10. As much as Mr E. now disparages and hates on California, I think he forgets about Tesla’s (and SpaceX for that matter) origins. I do not believe either Company would have succeeded or been as encouraged anywhere else, certainly not in Texas. Many politicians were vocally very critical and hostile of both Companies intentions and stated missions. Tesla certainly would not have attracted the staff so readily to other locations. The initial customer support for Roadster and Model S/X/3 in CA was huge. Now that Tesla is a success (and hopefully continues to be, but is not guaranteed..), other places bend over backwards to offer incentives and waivers. A “Race to the bottom” I think that is often referred to.