Two things define manufacturing competitiveness: economies of scale and technology. If you maximize your level of technology and maximize your level of scale, this is obviously going to be the most competitive situation. That’s why plants are so freaking giant.378
Our plant in Texas starts from actual rail cars of raw materials coming in. We form the battery cell and the battery pack, build the motor, and cast the parts. We also have introduced a major innovation, which is to cast the entire front third and rear third of the car as a single piece. I got this idea from toy cars.
I wondered, “Toys are cheap! How do they make toys?”
“They just cast them.”
I was like, “Well, can you build a casting machine big enough for a car?”
They said, “No one ever has.”
“Are we breaking any laws of physics?”
“No…”
“Well, let’s just ask them.”
There were six major casting machine suppliers in the world at the time. Five of them said no and the sixth said maybe. I said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”379
Prototypes are easy and fun. Reaching volume production with a reliable product at an affordable price is excruciatingly difficult.380