What did Toyota learn from disassembling Tesla?

Editor? |? Gebangning

Produced? |? Bangning studio

It is often outsiders who subvert traditional industries.

Late at night on March 5, Tesla announced that the prices of Model S and Model X in the United States would be lowered by $5,000 and 10000 respectively. This is the second time this year that the electric car manufacturer has reduced the prices of these two models.

According to Tesla official website data, the Model S four-wheel drive has dropped by 5.2% from $94,990, and the current price is $89,990. The model grid decreased by 4.3% from $ 1 14990, and the current price is $ 109990. The Model X four-wheel drive has dropped by 9. 1% from 109990, and the current price is 99990. The Model X grid has decreased by 8.3% from $ 1 19990, and the current price is $ 109990.

Among them, the Model S grid and the Model X grid are 26,000 dollars and 29,000 dollars cheaper than those at the beginning of 65438+ 10, respectively.

Tesla's dynamic pricing is unique. In the automotive industry, manufacturers usually change the manufacturer's guide price only when the model is iterated, while Tesla sells cars directly to consumers and often adjusts the pricing. In June 5438+10, Tesla just cut prices sharply to boost sales. The price adjustment of Model S and Model X is somewhat unprepared.

Tesla's frequent price cuts come from its declining costs.

1 In March, at the Investor Day held at Tesla's Austin, Texas factory, CEO Elon Musk and other leaders emphasized production efficiency and cost reduction.

Musk believes that people's desire to own Tesla is very high, and the limiting factor is their ability to buy Tesla. If Tesla can make cars more affordable, the market demand will be more "crazy".

Sakry Kirkhorn, chief financial officer of Tesla, said that the company has cut costs by half from the early Model S and X to the second-generation Model 3 and Y.. The company plans to cut the cost of the next generation car by another half.

Recently, Toyota car engineers conducted a disassembly study on Tesla Model Y, and its executives later bluntly said that this car is simply a "work of art".

This disassembly not only declassified the key technology of this popular American-made pure electric crossover, but more importantly, it also shattered the conceit complex of this Japanese automaker.

Hidden under the Model Y metal plate is an ingenious and simple chassis structure-its advanced manufacturing ability is enough to envy all established automobile manufacturers.

"It is simply a work of art to take apart the Y-shaped body and present it to us." A Toyota executive couldn't help exclaiming, "This is unbelievable."

For many years, the outside world has been reluctant to believe that Toyota does not want to invest heavily in pure electric vehicles. After all, the Japanese carmaker invested in the Prius hybrid early on.

Although Toyota has been producing cars for nearly a century, it has been controversial in the process of transforming into electric vehicles-not only falling behind in the development of pure electric vehicles, but even lobbying to slow down the deployment of electric vehicles and spread wrong information about electric vehicles.

Toyota bZ4X, the world's first pure electric vehicle, was recalled due to safety problems, which will seriously delay the project's plan for the next two years.

Obviously, Toyota's high-level engineering team, while expressing their appreciation, also realized that as the world's largest automobile manufacturer, Toyota needs to realize the "Great Leap Forward" in the new era of electric vehicles.

At present, Toyota is preparing for this leap with the new thinking of "giving priority to electric vehicles". Many executives talked about Toyota's new strategy in an interview with Automotive News.

The new strategy not only forces this large company, which is sometimes conformist, to work faster and more flexibly, but also forces it to rethink the basic process of "designing for manufacturing". Toyota Motor has established a good reputation of high efficiency by virtue of "Toyota Production System".

The new team led by Koji Sato, the new president of Toyota Motor Corporation, is developing the next generation platform redesigned for pure electric vehicles launched in 2026.

Three key figures

Executives and engineers familiar with Toyota's new strategy told Automotive News that the plan aims to combine the best breakthroughs of Tesla and other companies with Toyota's safety, quality and reliability to provide significant cost and performance improvement.

"In order to provide attractive pure electric vehicles to more customers, we must simplify the car structure and give priority to pure electric vehicles. We must completely change our way of doing business, from manufacturing to sales to service. " Sato Hengji said, "The time is ripe, and we will accelerate the development of pure electric vehicles in new ways."

Hiroshi Sato is an experienced engineer and currently leads the racing departments of high-end brands Lexus and Toyota Gazoo. He promised that Toyota will adhere to the diversified power system strategy advocated by Akio Toyoda. In addition to pursuing electric vehicles, Toyota will continue to produce iconic hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles.

For example, Lexus has set the goal of achieving pure electrification in the world by 2035, and will sell 6.5438+0 million electric vehicles worldwide in 2030. In the same period, Toyota's overall goal is to sell 3.5 million electric vehicles worldwide.

To achieve this goal, Toyota needs to speed up the climb. Sato's increasing attention to electric vehicles has given the board a new sense of urgency.

In fact, this change began long before Akio Toyoda announced that he would be transferred to the presidency in June+10 this year and handed over the day-to-day operation to Hiroshi Sato.

Since the beginning of 2022, engineers from technical centers in North America, Europe and China have been pushing the vision and demand of the next generation electric vehicle platform. Akio Toyoda appointed Shigeki Terashi, a legendary figure in the R&D department, to resume the work of electric vehicles.

As a former executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corporation, Shigeki Terajima, 68, is responsible for overseeing a wide range of business from powertrain and electric vehicle development to advanced research and development and supply chain.

Henderson Sato led the "Next Generation Electric Vehicle" team to North America for a three-week deep dive of Japanese electric vehicles. After visiting the Chicago Auto Show, they went to the Toyota Motor Proving Ground in Folleville, Michigan, to test drive their competitors' electric cars.

Then, they went to the North American headquarters in Plenot, Texas, and then went to the electric car ground zero in California.

The current situation in California highlights the challenges Toyota faces. For a long time, Toyota has dominated the new energy vehicle market in the state, and the best-selling passenger car is Camry. But last year, Tesla Model 3 won the California car sales championship, and Model Y replaced Toyota RAV4 for the second year in a row, becoming the best-selling crossover.

Analysts have predicted that Tesla is expected to replace Toyota and become the best-selling brand in the state within one or two years.

In order to better solve the problem of electric vehicles, Sato Tsukiji is reorganizing the leadership.

The second key role is Takahiro Shidao, who will take over as CEO of Toyota ZEV Factory on April 1. ZEV factory is an independent research and development center, specializing in the development of electric vehicles.

Toyota hopes that the future development of electric vehicles will be independent of traditional products.

The third key figure is Tai Kato Kato, the chief engineer of the joint venture between Toyota and BYD. At present, BYD has surpassed Tesla to become the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer by sales.

Tai Kato Kato returned to Toyota as the president of Automotive R&D Center after cooperating with BYD to develop pure electric vehicle bZ3 for China market. Predictably, he will learn a lot from BYD's experience. BYD helped Toyota launch bZ3 in two-thirds of the time needed to develop a new car.

In addition, Masanori Kuwata, Chief Compliance and Risk Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation, will be the core of the team. Kuwata will be responsible for the electrification of the Lexus brand, which is the first brand to deploy the next generation electric vehicle platform.

In order to develop a more efficient and economical production process, Sangtian will become an executive of Toyota Kyushu Lexus Manufacturing Center.

▍ Disassemble Tesla

Tesla's dismantling made Toyota realize that its famous expertise designed for manufacturing industry really prevailed in many aspects. Toyota also found that the appearance of the latest version of Model Y has not changed, but the interior has been completely transformed.

Tesla adopts integrated die casting technology to cast the front and rear of the car into two huge modules, thus eliminating countless parts and brackets. The latest Tesla battery layout is like the floor itself in structure, instead of putting the battery in the frame between the axles.

According to Toyota's preliminary estimate disclosed to Automotive News, Tesla's method reduces at least hundreds of parts and the weight of 220 pounds (100 kg). At the same time, it improves the battery life and reduces the overall cost.

"This is a completely different manufacturing concept." A Toyota executive said. Another executive said, "We need a brand-new design platform for electric vehicles."

Caresoft Global is a Michigan-based engineering company dedicated to digital and physical benchmarking and cost reduction. The company believes that pure electric startups such as Tesla have a significant first-Mover advantage because they think about engineering challenges from scratch.

For example, Tesla replaced the traditional 3.5 mm thick power system cooling hose with a 1.5 mm thick hose made of lower-cost materials. This can be done because the coolant of electric vehicles is not as hot as the coolant of internal combustion engines, and there is no need for high pressure to prevent boiling.

In some vehicles analyzed by Caresoft, each vehicle saves at least $25, with a decrease of 1 1. For the same reason, Tesla's suitcase uses the front engine compartment as the trunk space, and hides the inverter and other components under the back seat.

Traditional automobile manufacturers such as Toyota and Nissan, even in the latest electric vehicles, still fill parts in the old engine field, which may miss the opportunity to surprise customers with new functions.

When talking about the innovative ideas of electric vehicle manufacturers, Mathew Vachaparampil, CEO of Caresoft, said: "This is the eyes of outsiders, and outsiders usually subvert traditional industries with better ideas."

Battery cost is another battlefield.

BYD is particularly competitive in the field of batteries, in part because it produces its own batteries. BZ3 adopts low-cost lithium iron phosphate battery, with a cruising range of over 370 miles in China.

This battery is designed for bZ3. However, Toyota believes that BYD's standard battery pack does not meet the high safety and durability standards pursued by Toyota.

A Toyota executive familiar with the new strategy said: "In terms of manufacturing costs and batteries, we can't immediately compete with companies such as Tesla or BYD. If BYD battery is tested according to the life of 65438+ 10,000 kilometers, we will test according to the life of 200,000 kilometers. "

According to a source, Toyota delayed the development of the next generation of special electric vehicles to some extent in order to ensure proper battery capacity before its launch. It is expected that in the next few months, Toyota will announce the establishment of a new global cooperative relationship with an international battery manufacturer.

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Toyota plans to produce electric vehicles in Kentucky as early as 2025. The company will upgrade its existing factory, starting with the production of 654.38+00,000 crossover vehicles per month. This means that its annual output is about 6.5438+0.2 million vehicles.

▍TNGA platform oil and electricity dilemma

Compared with Tesla platform, Toyota's current e-TNGA platform looks a bit outdated.

The architecture supports bZ series electric vehicles, including Toyota bZ4X crossover and Lexus RZ, which is the evolution of TNGA platform. The TNGA platform was first prepared for diesel locomotives and hybrid electric vehicles on 20 15.

Manufacturing e-TNGA requires more separately forged and cast parts, as well as supports and fasteners. According to Tesla's method, these can be shaped into a whole. Another limitation is that Toyota's existing layout cannot accommodate a larger battery between the axle and the side member.

Followed by manufacturing engineering.

When the TNGA platform was first launched, it was a cutting-edge achievement. Tools and machinery for producing cars based on TNGA platform are still installed in Toyota factories all over the world, and the cost is quite high.

However, these production equipments are aimed at diesel locomotives and hybrid vehicles, as well as the new e-TNGA bZ variant vehicles. According to Toyota sources, a big question is to what extent these production lines can be reused for new dedicated electric vehicle platforms.

This article comes from Bunning Studio, author Hao, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.