My thoughts on the Tesla’s Battery Day event.

If you watched the Tesla’s Battery Day event on YouTube, reviewed the media coverage of it or read thru LinkedIn post about it, you see the progress Tesla is doing on cell and battery design and processes, anode and cathode materials new alloys, the Model Y giga-castings (I used to call them mega-castings until today), the Model S Plaid, the $25,000 future model. Tesla believes that the giga-castings are the right way to build EVs, in the future all EVs will be made with giga-castings, Musk: “I think it's the way that all electric cars in the future will ultimately be made”. All these announcements by themselves are very interesting, and a lot of effort and hard work has been invested to arrive to this point.

For me, the most interesting part of the Battery Day Event were the last 15 minutes during the Q&A section, where Tesla spills its secret sauce. Drew Baglino (SVP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering) mentions how Tesla operates:

Any existing specification is wrong. Any existing manufacturing method is wrong. Process equipment it's wrong it's just a question of how wrong. Quote Elon Musk yes exactly we're wrong. Just a question of how wrong, try to be less wrong so tell us how, we're wrong and how we could do it better so that we can accelerate and improve as fast as possible.

Elon Musk talks about First Principles Physics, but after watching the Battery Day event,  there is another important aspect about Tesla that any company could implement very easy. The Tesla team is challenging the Status Quo, doing what’s important and not what they were told to do. Resources, Processes, Priorities.

Resources, Processes, Priorities via Jobs: "It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it." -Horace Dediu

Now, everything makes sense.

P.S. If you are interested in some extra reading, follow this link https://www.asymco.com/2013/09/03/whos-buying-whom/