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Highlights From Tesla Gigafactory Press Conference Featuring Musk, Straubel, Panasonic VP

• http://insideevs.com, by Steven Loveday

Earlier this week, CEO Elon Musk, along with CTO J.B. Straubel and Panasonic VP Yoshihiko Yamada participated in a very telling press conference.

Tesla Gigafactory – July 2016

Topics covered included the Gigafactory, of course, but also Panasonic's role, battery format, the Model 3, and Autopilot, among much more.

Below are some highlights from the lengthy conversation.

Gigafactory

Musk:

"The factory is the machine that builds the machine. It actually deserves more attention from creative and problem solving engineers than the product it makes. What we're seeing, if we take a creative engineer and apply them to designing the machine that makes the machine, they can make 5 times as much headway per hour, than if they work on the product itself."

Panasonic's Role

Yamada:

"I used to be in charge of components five or six years ago. At that time our relationship with Tesla was one of supplier and customer. A conventional business relationship . . . But since we started discussion on the Gigafactory that's completely changed . . . We are not the simple buyer and supplier relationship."


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