Sponsored

RivianXpress

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Threads
89
Messages
778
Reaction score
1,432
Location
West Coast
Vehicles
R1T, Sprinter, TE300i, R1250GSA, KTM 500, 790
Occupation
Retired Engineer
https://apple.news/AR4rdQibuRb6KgPmCpH_Z0Q

Tesla loses top manufacturing engineer behind battery production to electric pickup maker Rivian

Tesla has lost one of its top manufacturing engineers behind its battery cell production, Victor Prajapati, to electric pickup truck startup Rivian.

Victor Prajapati
Prajapati joined Tesla from solar module manufacturer First Solar, where he was manager of manufacturing engineering, back in 2017.

He came to the automaker just as Model 3 production was starting and the company was entering some dark times, which CEO Elon Musk referred to as “production hell”.

According to Prajapati’s LinkedIn profile, he led an important project that managed to get Tesla out of production hell:

“Managed one of the critical bottlenecks for Model 3 production during “production hell” ramping the line from <10 cars/week to 3,000 cars/week following an S-curve, managing a team of highly talented engineers and working with all of Tesla resources.”
More recently, the engineer became a senior manager in charge of the cell manufacturing engineering.

At Battery Day last year, Tesla announced that it is producing its own 4680 battery cells at a pilot production line in Fremont, California with a lot of new manufacturing processes developed in-house.

Here’s a list of some of Prajapati’s accomplishments at Tesla:

  • Helped build the Cell Manufacturing Engineering division at Tesla
  • Lead team to deliver 3 manufacturing lines (protoype, pilot and full production)
  • Lead the acquisition of Hibar
  • Built a manufacturing engineering team at Tesla to interface with Panasonic to quickly analyze the pareto of bottlenecks on the manufacturing line, once identified provide line side support to get to root cause and relieve bottlenecks.
Now we’ve learned that the engineer has left Tesla to join electric vehicle startup Rivian as their new Director of Manufacturing Engineering last month.
Sponsored

 

LoneStar

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2020
Threads
78
Messages
1,572
Reaction score
3,496
Location
San Diego
Vehicles
'23 R1S Launch Ed.
Occupation
engineer
Clubs
 
Nothing but good news here!
 

Sully151

Well-Known Member
First Name
Chris
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Threads
17
Messages
465
Reaction score
1,203
Location
Santa Margarita
Vehicles
2008 Jeep JkU
Occupation
Theater arts
I am guessing there is less and less chance Rivian will be allowed to use Tesla Superchargers.
 
OP
OP
RivianXpress

RivianXpress

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Threads
89
Messages
778
Reaction score
1,432
Location
West Coast
Vehicles
R1T, Sprinter, TE300i, R1250GSA, KTM 500, 790
Occupation
Retired Engineer
I am guessing there is less and less chance Rivian will be allowed to use Tesla Superchargers.
I'm thinking that giving enough cash to Tesla will open up access to it's Superchargers.

It's gotta be hugely expensive to build out your own network, not to mention the time involved. Something I don't see Rivian doing unless they are again in super stealth mode!

As a Rivian owner I'd happily pay 2x what Tesla charges me (avg - 27 cents per kW) for the occasional times I'd use the SC network..
 

CommodoreAmiga

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2020
Threads
39
Messages
4,104
Reaction score
7,706
Location
INACTIVE
Vehicles
INACTIVE
As a Rivian owner I'd happily pay 2x what Tesla charges me (avg - 27 cents per kW) for the occasional times I'd use the SC network..
At those prices it'd be cheaper to use EA DCFC. Do you find you travel often in locations where Tesla has supercharges but other charging networks don't have a presence?
 

Sponsored

OP
OP
RivianXpress

RivianXpress

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Threads
89
Messages
778
Reaction score
1,432
Location
West Coast
Vehicles
R1T, Sprinter, TE300i, R1250GSA, KTM 500, 790
Occupation
Retired Engineer
At those prices it'd be cheaper to use EA DCFC. Do you find you travel often in locations where Tesla has supercharges but other charging networks don't have a presence?
I need at least 150 kW for trips to the Mojave Desert and Death Valley. There aren't any in the areas I need but there are Tesla Superchargers at Inyokern and in Bishop. There are no destination chargers in a few of the areas I visit and a 50kW charger won't cut it.
 

slawwach

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Threads
1
Messages
150
Reaction score
225
Location
TN
Vehicles
Jaguar I-Pace, Hyundai Santa Cruz
I need at least 150 kW for trips to the Mojave Desert and Death Valley. There aren't any in the areas I need but there are Tesla Superchargers at Inyokern and in Bishop. There are no destination chargers in a few of the areas I visit and a 50kW charger won't cut it.
EA has a charger in Bishop.
They also have one at Coso Junction, 30 miles from Inyokern. Both are 350kW
 

Gshenderson

Well-Known Member
First Name
Greg
Joined
Sep 28, 2019
Threads
13
Messages
1,229
Reaction score
2,768
Location
Park City, UT / Kemmerer, WY
Vehicles
2015 Tesla S 85D, 2019 4Runner TRD Offroad, R1T
At those prices it'd be cheaper to use EA DCFC. Do you find you travel often in locations where Tesla has supercharges but other charging networks don't have a presence?
Yes. As mentioned previously, WY, the Dakotas and much of MT continue to be black holes for everything but Tesla Superchargers (which you’ll find about every 100-150 miles across all of I-80 and I-90). If I could charge my Rivian at the SuperCharger in Evanston, WY, it would completely alleviate my need for 400 mile battery pack. West Yellowstone would be a big help as well for my trips to MT, but I could take a longer and less scenic route that would put me through existing non-Tesla HDFC chargers.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
RivianXpress

RivianXpress

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2020
Threads
89
Messages
778
Reaction score
1,432
Location
West Coast
Vehicles
R1T, Sprinter, TE300i, R1250GSA, KTM 500, 790
Occupation
Retired Engineer
EA has a charger in Bishop.
They also have one at Coso Junction, 30 miles from Inyokern. Both are 350kW
Yes, but nothing in Ridgecrest or near Death Valley that I could find. I dirt bike with buddies in Ridgecrest and DV at least twice a year and even driving to the Inyokern SC or Corso for an hour wouldn’t be ideal.
Sponsored

 
 




Top