Tesla Model 3 Praised By German Engineers After It Was Taken Apart And Tested
It looks like the Tesla Model 3 has piqued the interest of automakers in Germany. One German car manufacturer has purchased a used Model 3 at about four times the regular price of the new mass-market Tesla vehicle, Electrek reports. But there was an important purpose behind the purchase: the auto company bought the car so that they could test its performance and take it apart.
According to Electrek, the news of the purchase was reported in a German newspaper called Suddeutsche Zeitung. The news outlet says that the car was put through some rigorous tests for over a week before they disassembled the vehicle. After their examination, the German engineers praised Tesla’s new product.
They had good things to say about the car’s engineering.
“Each sub-assembly system was put to the test, but the testers were especially impressed by the power electronics,” the article in Suddeutsche Zeitung said, as reported by Electrek. They went on to describe the power electronics as “fully integrated,” “modular,” “easily accessible,” and “clever.” The article also states that engineers from other German car companies agreed with their assessment.
There were also compliments on the car’s design. The engineers found that the vehicle’s interior had an appealing minimalist design. Praise for the Tesla Model 3’s minimalism extended to the powertrain.
We drove a Tesla Model 3 around New York with @MKBHDhttps://t.co/Ov0AaxyJ4C pic.twitter.com/QZ7Fepy7Tt
— The Verge (@verge) February 16, 2018
“There is initially only one engine, only one forward and reverse gear, only one driven pair of wheels, only one cooling circuit for the entire system,” they said.
This recognition of the virtues of the Tesla Model 3 stands in sharp contrast to an assessment made by a Detroit engineering firm that regularly dismantles vehicles to review them. The CEO of the firm, Sandy Munro, says some of the vehicle’s flaws are so severe that it’s like “a Kia in the 90s.” As the Inquisitr previously reported, he made these comments in an interview with the Autoline Network.
Most of his criticism centered around the Model 3’s supposed safety faults. Munro calls Tesla’s engineers “electronics snobs” because he says that they failed to include mechanical failsafes for some of the electronic features. He points out that the car has a mechanical lever that’s designed to be used to open the car door if the vehicle loses power. But those levers are alongside the front seats and not the back. In an emergency, back-seat passengers would have to yank the seats forward to escape the car from the trunk.
Munro also says that the frunk isn’t easy to open manually which becomes an issue if the car’s electric power is lost during an accident, for example. He continues by pointing out that the rear trunk is heavy as well so it isn’t easy to close.
A Tesla Model 3 owner’s recent crash may confirm some of Munro’s concerns. Jalopnik reports that a Reddit user with the ill-fated username “Model_3_Crash_Dummy” wrecked his Model 3 recently. Luckily, he and his passenger were able to walk away from the crash but he noted that the car had some safety issues that were concerning. For example, the tablet controls the glovebox but the screen broke during the crash, making accessing his insurance documents more difficult. In response to the story, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that they are working on a software update that would automatically open the glove compartment when the Model 3 makes a sudden stop.
Adding software feature to open glovebox automatically when car comes to a stop after a crash. Will look at bonding a thin plastic sheet to the front or back of screen.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 16, 2018
