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Tesla’s Elon Musk details Model Y manufacturing improvements, insight on design
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently revealed improvements the all-electric car maker has made to its production process for the Model Y crossover SUV. In an interview on Ride the Lightning podcast, hosted by Ryan McCaffrey, Musk discussed lessons learned from Tesla’s prior transition from the Model S to the Model X as applicable to the Model Y, as well as decisions made from the vehicle’s outgrowth of the Model 3. He additionally provided some insight on the design decisions behind the Model 3, which also carry over to the Model Y’s design.
Musk and McCaffrey’s discussion about the Model Y production process began with the question, “What are the biggest lessons learned from the Model 3 program that you’re applying to the Model Y?” However, Musk indicated that a more relative learning comparison came from Tesla’s design of the Model X and its departure from the Model S.
“The Model X ended up being a radical departure from the S…with the Model Y, we wanted to avoid the technology bandwagon we had with the X. It should have been easy going from S to X, but instead, it was hell because of so many new technologies…It would be too risky to the company to do that with the Y,” Musk explained.
I'm celebrating episode 200 of Ride the Lightning, my weekly @Tesla podcast, in THE BEST way possible: a 1-hour interview with @elonmusk himself! 🥳 I can't wait to share our conversation with all of you! It airs this Sunday, June 2 @ 9am ET/6am PT on major podcast services. 🚗⚡️ pic.twitter.com/V0nFrU03Ir
— Ryan McCaffrey (@DMC_Ryan) May 30, 2019
The Model Y crossover needed to address the flexibility expected of vehicles in its class such as cargo capacity, seating for 6 or 7 people, and more ride height than a sedan. Tesla addressed these features while also keeping in mind the effect on battery range a larger vehicle might have, according to Musk.
“We tried to make the car as similar to the [Model 3] as possible except in the case where a change was necessary to achieve SUV functionality…[all] while still having a low drag coefficient and not increasing the frontal area too much,” he detailed. Overall, Musk concluded that CdA (automobile drag coefficient) and mass of the Model Y only affect 8-10% of the battery range when compared to the Model 3.
The design of Tesla’s Model Y and lessons learned from Model 3 production also led to some manufacturing improvements for the electric crossover. Musk detailed how the Model Y underbody was switched to aluminum casting instead of stamped steel and aluminum pieces, which greatly simplifies the moving parts involved in making the vehicle.
This change effectively means that initially, using two castings to make the structure will take the process from 70 parts to 4 (castings plus joiners), and once the “big” casting machine comes into operation, the process will have brought the process from 70 parts to 1 (casting only). Using casting over stamping reduces the weight of the Model Y, improves MHB (heat produced), lowers cost due to the smaller number of parts necessary, and significantly drops capital expenditure on robots.
As for the manufacturing location of the Model Y, Musk said the decision was not quite final, but the default place was Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, with the runner-up being Gigafactory 1 in Sparks, Nevada. Producing the Model Y in Fremont would be the fastest way to bring the crossover SUV into production, according to Musk. “One choice isn’t natural over other,” he said. Freemont is producing the Model 3 and the two vehicles share 75% of their components, but Gigafactory 1’s location has a lower cost of living, meaning an overall better value for Tesla.
The similarities between the Model Y and Model 3 being what they are, Musk also discussed with McCaffrey some of the design decisions that initially went into creating the Model 3. In response to the question, “What’s the toughest design decision you had to make on Model 3?”, the CEO cited two primary factors that went into the midsize sedan’s creation: the touchscreen and the nose design.
Reducing the number of screens from two in the Model S to one in the Model 3 came with some pushback, Musk explained. However, he felt that owners would prefer an open view of the road, and everything needed while driving could be fit onto one screen.
This background brought up community rumors about a heads-up display (HUD) being included in Tesla’s vehicles. On the subject, Musk set the record straight – there was never any plan to include a HUD, nor will one be added in the future. He simply doesn’t like them, and the move to self-driving makes them pointless. “We discussed it, but I’ve tried various heads up displays and found they were annoying,” he said. “We felt the car would increasingly go to self-driving…As things are approaching autonomy, why project things you don’t even care about on the screen?”
Something that customers do care about, though, is the look of their car. Musk detailed the difficulties in making an attractive design for the Model 3, which wasn’t easy thanks to the lack of a front grill on the vehicle. “You don’t want to have the nose to look like Voldemort…You’ve got to get some character or it does not look good.”
Also mentioned was the decision to reduce the width of the Model 3 to 185 cm over the 195 cm of the Model S to help sell more cars in Japan. The country’s parking machines only accept cars up to 195.4 cm wide, which leaves very little wiggle room in the manufacturing process to meet. The change to 185 cm meant that any Tesla Model 3 could fit in any parking garage in Japan.
The Model Y is set to begin production in 2020, and reservations are currently open on Tesla’s website.
Listen to McCaffrey’s full Ride the Lightning podcast interview here.
Elon Musk said he is planning to give “every one of his SpaceX shares to every kid in America” in 2027, stating that “this will be the first of many.”
SpaceX went public earlier this year, and its stock price has been relatively stable since leveling off shortly after its IPO. Based on its current price, it’s a gift of just over $10 billion to children across the United States.
It appears to be closely related to President Donald Trump’s bank accounts for children, which were set up earlier this year as Trump Accounts.
Just hours earlier, Anthropic had announced the establishment of its Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, “a new wholly-owned entity dedicated entirely to public benefit.” Musk responded by stating he recommended “giving the shares directly to the public,” and that he would be doing it that way.
Just a little bit later, Musk said children across the U.S. would be getting a share from him:
Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America.
This will be the first of many.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
There are roughly 70 million children, meaning someone under the age of 18, in the United States, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Musk’s ownership of SpaceX stock shows he has around 849 million Class A shares of SpaceX stock, according to filings with the SEC.
Elon Musk revealed in a post on X that “Permits were impossible to get,” explaining the fate of The Boring Company’s most ambitious East Coast proposal.
The comment responded to a query about what became of his July 20, 2017 announcement that he had “just received verbal govt approval” for an underground Hyperloop connecting New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., capable of carrying passengers from the Big Apple to the Nation’s Capital in just 29 minutes.
The Boring Company receives verbal ‘approval’ to build NY to DC Hyperloop tunnel
The 2017 post, which envisioned city-center stations and multiple elevators in each city, sparked immediate scrutiny. Local and state officials in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and D.C. said they had no knowledge of any approval. A White House spokesperson confirmed only “promising conversations” about the transformative infrastructure.
Musk clarified shortly after that there was “still a lot of work” to do for formal approvals.
@cybrtrkguy Permits were impossible to get
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2026
Limited progress followed, as Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s administration issued a conditional utility permit and supported work near Fort Meade. In 2018, Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary permit for site preparation and excavation on a vacant lot at 53 New York Ave. NE in the NoMa neighborhood, which The Boring Company said could become a station.
A draft environmental assessment for a D.C.-Baltimore segment was released in 2019. Yet, by April 2021, the company had removed the project from its website, and the Federal Highway Administration reported receiving no indication of further interest. Communication with Maryland officials had ceased.
The full corridor would have required coordination among the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, the Federal Highway Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service, and other agencies.
Environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act, utility clearances, and approvals for novel infrastructure added to the overall complexity of the project and its approval.
Speculation on the permitting barriers centers around a few factors, but a multi-state, multi-level route involving unproven high-speed vacuum-tube technology inherently triggers exhaustive safety, environmental, and engineering reviews that can stretch for years, even for conventional projects.
There are also other elements, of course, like officials who may face political exposure if a privately funded, untested system encountered anything such as cost overruns, delays, or safety issues. On the outset of this project, there were limited things such as engineering plans or demonstrated technology maturity, which also added to the potential skepticism.
The East Coast vision for Boring Co., once framed as a privately funded revolution that could reshape Northeast travel, quietly ended without construction of the promised network. Musk’s recent statement frames the outcome as a regulatory impasse, unfortunate but not unexpected.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to his social media platform X on Sunday to remind everyone that the Roadster’s true meaning is not about company growth or adding dollars to shareholders’ pockets. Sometimes, you just do things because you can.
Following the Roadster’s epic unveiling event last Thursday, skeptics and critics of the company or the project itself came out to say that the vehicle is a pointless project because it is not geared toward growing the company, delivering supreme margins for profitability, nor does it contribute to the big picture of Artificial/Super Intelligence.
But that’s just the thing: Roadster is not meant to be some shareholder dream; it’s meant to be a vehicle that people buy just because it is something awesome, unique, and the first of its kind.
Tesla Roadster: Three configs, one can fly, 0-60 in 0.8 seconds
Musk had to remind those who are skeptical about the Roadster’s importance to the company mission that while it is not a major contributor to Tesla’s long-term goals, it is something that is being built just because it can be:
“Optimus and Cybercab will be the vast majority of Tesla’s value. The only things that will scale to incredible size (K2 and beyond) economically are super intelligence, robots, solar power, and mass to space. And, of course, if you have the first two, the rest will follow. But Roadster is super cool, so we’re doing it anyway.”
Musk has said on many occasions that Optimus would be the project that would make up the vast majority of Tesla’s value in the coming years.
Robotics will be a major focus of Tesla over the coming years, especially as Musk believes Optimus will enable work to be optional for humans and will enable what he calls “High Universal Income.”
Optimus and Cybercab will be the vast majority of Tesla’s value.
The only things that will scale to incredible size (K2 and beyond) economically are super intelligence, robots, solar power and mass to space.
And, of course, if you have the first two, the rest will follow.
But Roadster is super cool, so we’re doing it anyway.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 18, 2026
Cybercab will be a passive income opportunity for owners, Musk and Tesla have said for a very long time, as a fleet of self-driving vehicles will operate within a ride-hailing Robotaxi service that won’t require a human driver to be present.
Tesla investors are more than enthusiastic about the company’s future projects, at least from a general consensus perspective. However, it is important to note that the Roadster is a fun and cool project that pushes the boundaries of what people thought was possible for an automobile.
What we saw last week was the first true example of a flying car, and despite the backlash about how it might not contribute to Tesla’s grand ambitions, it’s okay to have fun sometimes, too.
Elon Musk will give ‘every kid in America’ a SpaceX share in 2027
Elon Musk reveals why Boring Co’s biggest East Coast project never happened
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reminds everyone about Roadster’s true meaning
SpaceX reveals how its 1 Million AI satellite network will work and prevent space collisions
Tesla Roadster: Three configs, one can fly, 0-60 in 0.8 seconds
