No JIT isn’t a euphemism for s… (shit) and yes we have been extolling the virtues of Tesla after being somewhat lukewarm about the whole electric car thing. Our issue isn’t so much with range anxiety, it has a lot to do with the poorly conceived ideas… such as Nissan Leak. Our main concern has always been to do with battery technology and recharge times, therefore convenience.

But in the last two years the electric car “thing” has progressed at a more rapid rate than one can remember. Recharging times are getting steadily quicker and range is increasing. Great. But battery technology is still way too inefficient. But over time new battery technologies will be developed for sure.

So we’ve been saying that if you are considering buying an electric car then you should put Tesla at the top of your list. Why? Despite build quality issues, Tesla leads the way it’s as simple as that. One area where Tesla doesn’t lead the way is build quality. It’s getting better but still not the best for what is a premium product.

However, it appears Tesla’s build quality issues are rather self-inflicted as opposed to lacking in production techniques. Rich Rebuild YouTube bought a Model X and it had very basic build issues, panel gaps that required realignment, etc. Remember the Model X starts at £82k.

One can only conclude that Tesla is adhering to the JIT principle. Just in time (JIT) manufacturing is a workflow methodology aimed at reducing flow times within production systems, as well as response times from suppliers and to customers. 

JIT manufacturing helps organizations control variability in their processes, allowing them to increase productivity while lowering costs. What this means is Tesla is simply not spending enough time on each build process be it Model 3 or Model X. Not spending enough time aligning the doors for example.

Why? because they want to manufacture as quickly as possible, not necessarily to lower costs, most probably to keep up with demand. If they did spend more time on each process Teslas would cost a little more to buy. Maybe £5k more per vehicle.