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Teardown Expert Sandy Munro Says Tesla, Rivian Will Make EVs Mainstream

Legacy automakers had a blast since the early days of the 1900s. The brilliant yet wicked Henry Ford democratized the automobile with the Model T, this philosophy was picked up by other companies, and that’s how the horse and carriage have been replaced by the internal combustion-engined automobile in a matter of decades.
Sandy Munro on The Past, Present, and Future of EVs 13 photos
Photo: Munro Live on YouTube
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Sandy Munro, the teardown expert that has more than 30 years of experience with automakers and tier 1 suppliers, uses this analogy to explain that electric vehicles will be the end of fossil-fuel vehicles. The transition has already started, but as you will find out from the video presentation at the end of this story, it’ll be a slow burn.

Tesla and Rivian are the driving forces behind EVs going mainstream according to Munro, and it’s easy to understand why. The Plymouth-based startup will deliver 100,000 electric delivery vans to Amazon by 2030, and retail customers are well catered for by the R1T pickup truck ($69,000) and R1S utility vehicle ($72,500).

Palo Alto, however, has the upper hand because Tesla has a broader manufacturing footprint and more experience at making EVs efficiently in terms of cost and speed. Elon Musk expects production to exceed 500,000 units this year, and not even Volkswagen can compete with that figure.

Even though it’s in a better financial situation, the German automaker doesn’t have the manufacturing know-how of Tesla when it comes to batteries and electric vehicles. The intricacies of supply chains are also worth highlighting, and suppliers will have to adapt to EVs as well according to Munro.

Sandy also highlights how the ICE squad is losing money on their electric vehicles while Tesla prospers because it has focused from the get-go on EVs. The most interesting quote from the presentation about the current state and the future of the automotive industry, however, is the following:

“If you’re on board a ship, you have an anchor. And if you get into a storm, you can toss that anchor overboard. The anchor will hold you in place and keep you from swamping the ship. It’s a good thing. However, if the ship starts to sink, you probably don’t want to hang on to the anchor."

Reading between the lines, it’s time to adapt or risk falling behind like the horse and carriage did when the Model T democratized the automobile.

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Editor's note: Tesla Model Y pictured in the gallery.

About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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