The expression "production hell" referred to by Elon Musk a few months ago seems to be even the most suitable to characterize the start of production of the Model 3. After having promised more than 1500 units by the end of September, only 260 were still out of line. production – in 2018 the goal is to produce 500,000 Tesla.
The delays are due to “bottlenecks” in the production line – some of the production subsystems, both at the plant in California and at Gigafactory in Nevada, despite being able to handle the large volumes required by the Model 3, are taking longer to activate than anticipated.
Tesla reports however that there are no problems with the production line or the supply chain – the Model 3 is already produced on its assembly line. This statement contradicts recently published articles that justified the few units produced with the apparent fact that the Model 3 was being manually produced.
Tesla noted that these claims are wrong and misleading, and stated that the Model 3 production line is fully installed and functional. However, and as with all lines of automobiles on the planet, there are manual processes that coexist with the automatic ones.
Elon Musk ended up releasing a short film of the Model 3's assembly line, revealing precisely one of its most automated areas. At the moment, and according to Musk, the line operates at just a tenth of its normal speed.
The reason for the slowness is due to the need to ensure, according to Musk, "consistency in construction, so that a person can stop the robots in time, in case something goes wrong". It's definitely “production hell” and one that is set to continue in the coming months. But Musk is confident that production can increase significantly during the last quarter of the year.
As with the first 30 units produced seen in the presentation, the Tesla Model 3 are still being handed over to company employees, who are serving as "beta-testers", or test pilots, to check for possible construction errors or mounting.
The first deliveries to regular customers are scheduled for the end of this month of October.