【原版杂志阅读】22期 Day 15：Who will rule the Teslaverse? part 2

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Electric cars
Who will rule the Teslaverse?

The race to make the car of the future is hotting up 

At the moment Tesla is the “apex predator”, says Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley, a bank. It has been manufacturing EVs at scale longer than any other carmaker and sells more of them. Its elevated share price translates into the lowest cost of capital in the business. A growing offering, with a lorry and pickup soon to hit the road, will widen its appeal. It attracts the best engineers and possesses in Mr Musk, love him or loathe him, a leader with messianic zeal. 

Mr Kumar puts Tesla two to three years ahead of rivals in battery technology. Its batteries have a higher energy density, which means better range and lower costs. On September 22nd Mr Musk presented plans for new production capacity and fresh battery technology. Together, this would extend Tesla’s cost advantage. 

The firm’s edge is even more pronounced in software. Rainer Mehl of Capgemini, a consultancy, calls Tesla cars a “shell around the software and applications inside”. Thanks to vertically integrated manufacturing, systems have been interlinked from day one. As Olaf Sakkers of Maniv Mobility, an Israeli fund, explains, big carmakers have outsourced almost all their technology apart from internal-combustion engines to suppliers, and focused on assembly and marketing. This makes for a “bird’s nest of complexity”, says Mr Sakkers. Tesla’s software and mechanics are seamless by comparison. 

All this software means Teslas improve with age, thanks to regular “over-the-air” updates with new features, bug fixes and even performance upgrades. This makes up for a sometimes shabby finish and questionable reliability. Other big carmakers are five years behind, says Luke Gear of IDTechEX, a consulting firm. 

Tesla also seems to have mostly put what Mr Musk has called “production hell” behind it. As Philippe Houchois of Jefferies, an investment bank, notes, a reputation for delivering models late and over budget has become one for being ahead of time and on budget. A rapidly built new factory in Shanghai began shipping in December and “gigafactories” are under construction in Berlin and Texas that will boost capacity from 700,000 units to 1.3m in 18 months, says Credit Suisse, a bank. Tesla cheerleaders talk of 3m-5m new Teslas annually by 2025, out of a global total of around 85m cars. Mr Musk eventually wants to make 20m a year.

一、词汇部分

1. loathe /ləʊð/ v. 极不喜欢；厌恶

• 联想：low-日

2. vertical /ˈvɜːtɪkl/  adj. 竖的；垂直的；直立的

• 词根：vert-转

• 后缀：-ical 形容词后缀

3. integrated /ˈɪntɪɡreɪtɪd/ adj. 各部分密切协调的；综合的；完整统一的

• 词根：integr- 整体（inter-group)

• 后缀：-ated 形容词后缀

4. shabby /ˈʃæbi/ adj. 破旧的；破败的；破烂的

• 联系：傻X

5. complexity/kəmˈpleksəti/  n. 复杂性；难懂

• 词汇：complex 复杂的，综合的（com + plex—plic-)

• 后缀：-ity 名词后缀

二、文章讲解

1. At the moment Tesla is the “apex predator”, says Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley, a bank. It has been manufacturing EVs at scale longer than any other carmaker and sells more of them. Its elevated share price translates into the lowest cost of capital in the business. A growing offering, with a lorry and pickup soon to hit the road, will widen its appeal. It attracts the best engineers and possesses in Mr Musk, love him or loathe him, a leader with messianic zeal. 

1）have been doing sth 现在完成进行时（持续做某事）

2）At scale  规模化

3) any other carmaker(any other + 可数名词单词）

4）A….and B  —(功能类似—结构类似）

5） with 复合结构作状语：with + 名词/代词 + 非谓语动词

2. Mr Kumar puts Tesla two to three years ahead of rivals in battery technology. Its batteries have a higher energy density, which means better range and lower costs. On September 22nd Mr Musk presented plans for new production capacity and fresh battery technology. Together, this would extend Tesla’s cost advantage. 

3. The firm’s edge is even more pronounced in software. Rainer Mehl of Capgemini, a consultancy, calls Tesla cars a “shell around the software and applications inside”. Thanks to vertically integrated manufacturing, systems have been interlinked from day one. As Olaf Sakkers of Maniv Mobility, an Israeli fund, explains, big carmakers have outsourced almost all their technology apart from internal-combustion engines to suppliers, and focused on assembly and marketing. This makes for a “bird’s nest of complexity”, says Mr Sakkers. Tesla’s software and mechanics are seamless by comparison. 

4. All this software means Teslas improve with age, thanks to regular “over-the-air” updates with new features, bug fixes and even performance upgrades. This makes up for a sometimes shabby finish and questionable reliability. Other big carmakers are five years behind, says Luke Gear of IDTechEX, a consulting firm. 

5. Tesla also seems to have mostly put what Mr Musk has called “production hell” behind it. As Philippe Houchois of Jefferies, an investment bank, notes, a reputation for delivering models late and over budget has become one for being ahead of time and on budget. A rapidly built new factory in Shanghai began shipping in December and “gigafactories” are under construction in Berlin and Texas that will boost capacity from 700,000 units to 1.3m in 18 months, says Credit Suisse, a bank. Tesla cheerleaders talk of 3m-5m new Teslas annually by 2025, out of a global total of around 85m cars. Mr Musk eventually wants to make 20m a year.

三、段落翻译

摩根士丹利的亚当·乔纳斯（Adam Jonas）说，眼下特斯拉是“顶级掠食者”。它大规模生产电动汽车的历史比其他任何汽车制造商都更久，目前销量也更多。它的高股价转化成了行业内最低的资本成本。它的产品越来越多（一款卡车和一款皮卡即将上路），这将扩大它的吸引力。它吸引了最好的工程师，并拥有马斯克——人们爱他也罢，憎他也罢——这样一位具有救世热情的领袖。 

库马尔认为，特斯拉在电池技术上领先竞争对手两到三年。其电池的能量密度更高，因而续航能力更佳、成本更低。马斯克于9月22日宣布了新产能和新电池技术的计划。这两方面的合力将扩大特斯拉的成本优势。 

在软件领域，特斯拉的优势更加明显。咨询公司凯捷（Capgemini）的赖纳·梅尔（Rainer Mehl）称特斯拉的汽车为“包裹住软件和各种应用的外壳”。由于采用了垂直整合制造，各类系统从一开始就相互连接。以色列基金Maniv Mobility的奥拉夫·萨科斯（Olaf Sakkers）解释说，大型汽车制造商已将内燃机之外的几乎所有技术都外包给了供应商，自己则专注于组装和营销。这就导致了“鸟巢般的复杂”，萨科斯说。相比之下，特斯拉的软件和硬件是无缝连接的。 

所有这些软件能力让特斯拉汽车随车龄的增长而改进，这要归功于定期的“无线”升级，包括添加新功能、修补漏洞，甚至性能升级。这使得人们更容易接受它们有时不够尽善尽美的外观工艺以及可靠性存疑的问题。咨询公司IDTechEX的卢克·基尔（Luke Gear）表示，其他大型汽车制造商在这方面落后了五年。 

特斯拉似乎也基本上爬出了马斯克所说的“生产地狱”。正如投行杰富瑞（Jefferies）的菲利普·霍乔伊斯（Philippe Houchois）所指出的那样，特斯拉延迟交付车型且超预算的名声已变成了超前且符合预算。瑞信（Credit Suisse）表示，一家在上海快速建成的新工厂已于去年12月开始出货，柏林和得克萨斯州的“超级工厂”也正在建设中，这将使特斯拉的产能在18个月内从70万辆提升至130万辆。特斯拉的支持者谈论着到2025年，在全球每年约8500万辆的汽车总产量中有300万至500万辆会是特斯拉。马斯克希望最终每年能生产出2000万辆。