Will Tesla Expand in China, Or Head the Export Route?

Let me make a guess: Chinese made Teslas were of higher quality than one's made in the failed state of Kalifornia.

@kendahl: I think it's just the entry level Models that come with the Li-Fe lithium iron batteries. Hopefully the Texas cars are as good or better than the Chinese cars. It's weird saying that. I also expect Texas and Berlin to get rid of the production pressure on Fremont. Hopefully they can slow the lines down a bit on all of the plants. Texas will be a gradual ramp-up. They're already producing front castings for the Model Y. Full vehicle production is set for the fall, but they'll probably keep ramping up parts production until then

@Inside Looking Out you mean they were built in a real factory?

LiFePo4 batteries (like those used in the Chinese Teslas) have great longevity+durability+safety, but they they're heavier and have shorter range regular lithium batteries. For customers who don't do American-style road trips, LiFePo4 batteries are a great choice. They'll likely last many years longer than the long-range batteries we require here in the United States.

@Luke42 It might be interesting to see what improvements we get in LiFePo4 with some of the 4680 technologies like tabless. LiFe tops out at 160Wh/kg now and I wonder if it could be pushed to the low 200's maybe. I think Sodium-Ion could be pushed into the 200's as well and that's an even better technology. I think if we can get these other technologies to the upper 200's with today's Lithium-ions and a range in the 300's, it would be a good combination for low-end EVs. In fact, my current bet for vehicle technology for the 2030's is solid-state sodium-ion. https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/new-material-is-next-step-toward-stable-high-voltage-long-life-solid-state-sodium-ion-batteries

Inside Looking Out: The YouTube review I watched concluded that quality was similar. The Chinese cars were better in some respects while the California cars were better in others.

@mcs One of my favorite unfounded hypotheses is that the single and dual motor Cybertruck will use LiFePo4 4680s, and the tri-motor will use the high-nickel 4680s. Perhaps the battery might weigh the same for both short and long-range variants. I have absolutely no evidence to support this, I just happen to like the idea.

@mcs One of my favorite unfounded hypotheses is that the single and dual motor Cybertruck will use LiFePo4 4680s, and the tri-motor will use the high-nickel 4680s. Perhaps the battery might weigh the same for both short and long-range variants. I have absolutely no evidence to support this, I just happen to like the idea.

Gotta build the vehicles close enough to the customers that currency fluctuations, and tweets from incompetent world leaders don't wreck your business. Trump and his fans never understood that international trade is a 2-way street, and their actions to restrict imports also restricted exports. Trump's policies encouraged business to move production overseas to deal with the uncertainty and trade barriers in some cases. Tesla doesn't want their business destroyed by trade barriers, so it makes sense to place factories around the world just-in-case Increasing American manufacturing is much more complex than raising taxes on imports and being rude on Twitter. Of course, people like me told all y'all that years ago. We were right. Businesses are gonna do whatever they have to do to guard against the risks presented by a return of the policies of the previous administration, and/or by similar political movements worldwide.