According to two Tesla employees and Tesla's internal letters, in order to achieve the delivery target in the fourth quarter of 2021 and respond to the global chip shortage, Tesla (TSLA. US) removed one of the two electronic control units in the bogies of some Chinese-made Model 3 and Model Y cars.
However, Tesla did not disclose the decision, which has affected tens of thousands of cars shipped to customers in China, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany and other parts of Europe.
Tesla employees said the reduction would not pose a safety issue because the part was a secondary electronic control unit and was mainly used to support backup functions. It's unclear whether Tesla will make similar changes to cars made or shipped to the U.S.
By using less scarce chips and quick rewriting software, Tesla has done a better job of dealing with supply chain issues than most automakers.
Tesla expects that the chip will continue to be tight in 2022 and will not ease until next year. The company's chief executive, Musk, said on last month's earnings call that chip shortages are not a long-term problem, and that chip supply problems this year have eased compared to 2021, and batteries are expected to become a new bottleneck in 2023.
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