Posted on 02/15/2022 11:12:21 AM PST by Red Badger
VIDEO AT LINK......................
As Tesla's Gigafactory Texas manufacturing plant is getting closer to its grand opening— expected to take place before the end of this quarter—a video taken by a drone during a 360-degree flyover of the site serves as a reminder of how massive the electric vehicle plant is.
Shot by Joe Tegtmeyer, a drone operator who has been following the progress on Giga Texas since the beginning of construction work, this flyover video helps viewers appreciate the true scale of the factory.
You realize this is a giant building when the cars and even the semi trailers around it look like ants in comparison; or when you learn that circling the building once took 50% of the drone's battery charge, as Joe later acknowledged on Twitter.
What's also impressive is the number of cars parked outside, suggesting there's some intense activity happening inside the plant.
Unlike the Fremont site, which was built originally to produce internal combustion engine vehicles, Giga Texas is fully optimized for producing EVs and will likely snatch Fremont's title of North America's most productive car plant once production ramps up.
With an average production of 8,550 cars a week last year, Fremont overtook Toyota's facility in Georgetown, Kentucky (8,427 cars a week), BMW's Spartanburg plant in South Carolina (8,343) or Ford's truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan (5,564).
As with the Giga Berlin plant, the Austin, Texas facility will produce Model Y electric crossovers at first. However, whereas the Made-in-Germany Model Y will feature 2170 cells, the Texas-made version will pack the new 4680-type cylindrical battery cells, as confirmed by Tesla executives during the Q4 2021 financial report.
As a result, the Tesla Model Y will be company's first vehicle with a structural battery pack design.
Further down the line, Giga Texas will build the Cybertruck electric pickup and Semi electric truck, although there are no firm production start dates for any of these vehicles. During the latest earnings call, Elon Musk said there will be no new vehicle introductions in 2022, adding that they "hopefully" will happen in 2023.
“That’s some impressive construction going up so quick.”
Tilt-up concrete goes up pretty fast. The part that takes time is fitting out the plumbing, electric, HVAC, etc.
That sucker is almost 4000’ long.
Close to 4000’ long. 5.3 million square feet.
Right back at you, my FRiend.
Wow! Almost a mile.
If I was Elon, I would have sprung for the extra 1280 ft.
That article also states the data for Tesla was obtained differently than any of the competitors. It also included the 1st year of the Tesla Model 3, and intro’s are dicey for most mfgr’s. Consider what happened to Chevy Tahoe / GMC Yukon ratings when they introduced merely a rework, not a new vehicle, of the Tahoe / Yukon in 2015. Then consider what would have happened to Chevy / GMC 2015-2016 ratings if Tahoe / Yukon sales were as big a % of their total as the Model 3 is for Tesla. (Ok, granted it’s a low bar overall.)
The Tesla ratings are also stated to be improving, tho’ data is not presented.
It also matters what the problems were. Drive train failures on the road are much worse than glitches with infotainment. No clues are given. Ownership surveys seem to give Tesla high marks (see your linked article.)
All in all, I’d have to do a “Spock” and say “insufficient data”. And granted I’d probably just buy a used Kia IF it had the functionality I needed (which includes significant towing and off road capability.) IF prices come down, that is. For now, it is “repair the Outback and the Tahoe”...
;-)
The Pentagon is “only” 3,700,000 sq. feet.
Question(s) ..... is this facility enjoying a robust tax abatement and if it is, what’s the time frame?
Travis Co., TX offered $14.7 million back in 2020, TX state offers were much larger...might total in the billions. The county’s deal seems cheap for 5,000 jobs coming to the county instead of elsewhere. The state not so much, although many many companies are offered “deals” by government to relocate. Guess you have to figure the “cost per job/new revenue” for the Tesla deal vs. other deals government has made.
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/tesla-tsla-tax-breaks-texas-gigafactory-cybertruck
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/tesla-giga-factory-austin/
Best article but “paywalled”:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Tax-break-program-to-cost-Texas-1-billion-a-year-15507765.php
That’s done with vacuum tubes and transistors!............No wonder it needed its own nuclear reactor!............
Don’t know. It’s Texas, probably didn’t need it................
I want the maintenance contract!...................
Transitioning to the Nuke plants and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline?
Only way to sustain the electrical grid.
That is preposterous. A lie. Mass produced goods are cheap TO THE CONSUMER even made in the USA!!! What we are talking about are degrees of cheapness and profit margins. A protective tariff would FOPRCE all manufacturing back here on an even playing field.
The only losers are bean counters and international stock holders too who I say F them all.
Foolish and in fact stupid post.
Did you get fired by the hated bean counters? I would think it is likely.
No, you are one of the fear mongers that say “if screw drivers were made in the USA they would cost $10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.00”
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