Thanks Joe. Plenty to see today. 6:42. North east Battery. Inside under the green sheeted wall. One of the stainless steel silos seen previously in the east side storage area. 7:25. West side Battery. Bottom of stair. Crate marked Zeppelin. 8:50. West side Main Entrance. White frame. Fitted a bottom track for the fixed glazing panels and sidelights. 3 pairs of pivot doors in between. Glass can’t be far away. 9:26. GA roof. PV panel brackets being stockpiled in various locations towards Paint/BIW. We might know in the next few days how the panels will be set out. 10:05. West side GA. Footing excavation for an external stair. 10:10. West side GA. 10 dock levellers installed. 10:30. West side GA. Inside, but for stuff stacked on the floors it’s empty. Apron, excavation for a stair and a pedestrian ramp. Likely similar to that at 8:09. 10:36. West side, south end apron. Edge boards set up for concrete against the building. Quite a change in elevation there between the corner and the stair. 11:12. South end GA. A disaster unfolds in the doorway. 12:05. South east storage. Bottom right. In addition to the steel sections stacked inside seen in Joe’s 12 Jan video, more steel being stockpiled across the road. Thinking a big excavation in Stamping, and all this steel associated with the shoring. 13:09. Stamping roof. Stockpiling insulation boards and rolls of membrane to build the roof transition ramp. 14:38. South east open space. Bulk removing of earth and trailers. 17:01. East side. Spoil dump, comes and goes. Not been properly cleared for anything else. 17:42. East side storage. PV panel stockpile numbers unchanged. 18:10. East side storage. Silos that were stored have gone, likely to Battery. 19:35. East parking. Quite a depth been removed. This area was well prepared originally, I wonder why the need to remove such an amount of fill and gravel. 22:00. North east Casting. Electrical vaults. Excavator there I’d say primarily to replace the lids on the vaults. The height of the vault was built up with concrete around the top. 23:44. Roof GA. Top left. PV panels brackets stockpiled. 24:54. North end Paint. Green sheeted walls have been given a finish coat of an acrylic render or paint. Suggests some permanency. 25:47. North end. Model Y. Most the firewall seems to be missing/not installed. I wonder if that’s another change to the structure associated with the cast front end and the structural battery pack. 26:30. North end Battery, apron. Rebar laid for the apron in front of the loading platforms. Interesting to see how long the platforms remain. Temporary stair installed in the last couple of days might indicate the removal of the stair on the west side.
19:35 My guess is that the final design was not completed until recently and the temporary parking did not have to be puddle free. You ideally like to have at least a one percent slope on finished blacktop to help eliminate water puddles. So to gain enough slope over long runs the areas near the drain inlets had to be lowered.
@@bobcallahan2322 Thanks Bob. I had a similar thoughts, but couldn’t quite think it through to your logical conclusion. I was thinking only 1 quite high crown across the entire gravelled parking area, and that now needn’t be as high once it is paved. Also had a thought that the road level might have been changed from what was planned, and that the parking area was being excavated to something nearer the same. So many unknowns. A set of drawings of this area would be good. Interesting that they are using the black PVC (or whatever it is) pipe through this section. If they start running branches in PVC that might indicate a long term plan for a building. Or just using excess pipe.
Zeppelin do installation of various manufacturing lines including plastics and rubber shape moulding , the placing of crates means it could be for plastic part of the factory next to battery plant.
With all of the diesel-fired lifts needed to facilitate the final construction details, I am now more understanding of the delay of sealing up the building, leaving plenty of windows off till all the machinery is out.
Maybe tesla needs to invest in a factory to build electric construction equipment, I mean most of the equipment driving inside is small or could use electric battery for ballast, I am suprised they are not using electric vehicles inside.
Interesting that there's more paint shop stuff coming. Along with more stamping machines and casting machines, that suggests they're building out an entire parallel manufacturing line before the first one is even going. They must be planning a super aggressive production ramp.
I think you're right on. You wouldn't install the second or third round of production lines until you have the kinks worked out of the ones you've set up for initial production. Not an issue in the casting cathedral as the 6100 iDRA presses are nothing new to Tesla. The structural pack Model Y and upgraded paint shops are different enough that you wouldn't build ten of them until you've worked out the first one or two.
@@stevehockey4 How do they handle paint? One line per color, so they never have to switch colors? Single or a few colors in batches? Could be adding paint for another line or just more paint for the first line. Work things out with white and black, then add by expected demand.
Really nice video today Joe. That sunrise was epic! The inside shots through the windows are very interesting. Thank you for the continued great content.
Hey Joe! Thank for the continued coverage of the amazing progress at GigaTexas. I am sure you have been asked but wondering if you know what and in what location the next major construction spot will be?
Thanks Michael. Most likely the battery cathode plant on the east side and across the highway where the foundation was started and all the materials are slowly accumulating.
Thanks for your always interesting videos. With the Tesla plant winding down I sure hope we see some activity across the highway on the Starlink factory.
The "temporary filtration system" seems to me to be something necessary, because of the exhausts from bobcats and other vehicles still being used inside the building for construction. I'm no expert, but it seems logical. Thx again for the updates and video.
Steven, Joe is referring to the pumps that will clean the cooling water lines for the HVAC system, not the air ducts. Actually we do not know what lines they are cleaning but they will use a liquid indicated by the centrifugal pumps and filters.
Concrete around building is almost finished. Cement is one of the ingredients in making concrete. Still a lot more to come, lots of the asphalt or macadam paving was temporary. Some has been replaced with concrete, in fact.
A couple of big picture things have surprised me. First, the additional buildings have not been started yet. There is lots of site prep, even frames have been delivered. I wonder why there are no foundations, site work or other progress. Second, the rework on the south end of the building. There are some modifications that are simply changing temporary grading or drainage during construction, but now it seems almost endless. Was there a complete rethinking of what was being built in this area? The modifications are continuing at a point in the construction that one would expect the grading to be completed. I welcome your interpretations of what is happening on these fronts.
Been thinking about this over the last few weeks, there is one part near the pond that they have been grading for three weeks so far and do not seem finished.
Thanks for todays video. Also had this very interesting reply to a question I sent to Wu Wa today. Hello! Yes, Tesla has been rumoured to build a second factory in China for some time, but from the looks of it, there should not be a second factory built because it is not necessary for Tesla, Tesla would rather expand the size of its current factory because its supporting parts factories are already very well established around the Shanghai factory, and the Shanghai factory is very well located. Other cities in China are incomparable. So there you have it.....MAXIMISING Giga Shanghai location rather than a second plant elsewhere in China.
Wuwa showed in this week's videos that model 3's were running at 1.1 per minute and model Y's at 1.8 so he shot 10 minute videos and 29 cars emerged in total. Just a snapshot but nearly 3 per minute! The drivers had to run back into the factory to hop into the next one.
As always you do the best coverage of Gigafactory. Thanks, I am sorry that I don't type more, It is really hard for me to work with my hands. Because of my stroke
Thanks for the video, great job. This job has a long way to go! You will not see scale car production for 8 to 12 months. The work is moving slow, man power is minimum for a job that size. I spent the last 33 years running work just like this. The pains taking work is in the setup of the production lines. Texas has never been known for the speed of it's work pace. I am looking to buy a model Y with the castings and battery platform from this plant. I guess i will be waiting for some time.
Agreed, I have said March for customer cars delivery, but when I see the amount of equipment being delivered I feel like it could be q2 or even q3 at a push, I have searched but find no announcements of when customer production will begin, I would still rather buy from China for build quality, maybe Berlin too. But it all depends on what electric cars are available when I win the lottery.
Joe, 21:05 CEDINSA supplied much of the HVAC equipment in paint originally. They are based in Spain. This equipment probably came from their Mexico plant as the already installed equipment did. This may be an upgrade or addition to the original design.
Its my guess that they may be installing additional paint lines now that the initial ones are up and calibrated. Either that or these are replacements or upgrades for components that are not satisfying requirements in the finished test cars.
@@stevehockey4 Steve, they initially installed two parallel paint lines. They start on the bottom floor headed north and at the north end of the building are lifted to the second floor and head south for drying and inspection. I doubt that they have room for more lines.
Elton, do you think the CEDINSA equipment is the start of construction of a third paint line like you've seen before? Alternatively, the CEDINSA website also has a reference for the design and installation of "rework booths" for automotive paint shops incl. BIW. Equipment deliveries for the rework option seems also possible and feels about right on time. When the assembly line(s) start moving continuously (imminent?) there need to be a route for quality rejects to be recycled and reworked?
great work Joe! i almost always just watch the summery to get the new updates but watched the whole video today. really enjoy the music selection, very calming. keep up the great work!
@ 8:31 two blocked of loading docks that are numbered. One for sure will never be used as a loading dock, since it has stairs in front, and a stairwell inside. Another numbered but blocked off loading dock being used for stairs @ 9:47
Maybe the numbers don't necessarily designate loading docks. "Back up to W48 and wait there until W50 is free." "Entry to the building is via the stairs at W47".
It's not impossible that these concrete exterior and metal interior stairs at 8:31 are temporary or Phase 1 items. We've seen them rip out plenty of things that seemed permanent at one time or another. Very possible that they are in place to provide a required second fire egress point from the engineering offices while the other immediately adjacent areas in Battery and GA2 are still active construction sites and off limit to people that don't have an active construction role for safety reasons. Your 9:47 stairs are the same ones from 8:31
Hi Joe, I wonder if you can determine from looking at the numbers above the listing bays, if they indicate that the originally built then sealed loading bays will be opened up in future. I'm assuming if that is the plan they will have accounted for them in the numbering?
Regarding the solar panels on the roof. I think Tesla might do something TRULY unique with the panels to spell out TESLA or make the logo. The first clue is the initial set of panels facing west. For optimal efficiency, the panels should face due south, at an angle above horizontal matching the local degree of latttude. However, placing the panels 10º-15º flatter doesn’t have a huge impact on the overall efficiency. The effect is also reduced at lower latitudes, such as Central Texas as compared to say Maine or Montana. I believe that Tesla may angle the panels in different orientations so that the RELFECTION off the panels makes the intended design. The entire roof can still be a large, continuous field of solar panels, but the design is noticeable in the variations of light reflecting off the panels. It’s kind of like how designs and patterns are made in MLB outfields. It’s all the same grass, but the light reflecting off different sides of each blade of grass is what makes the overall design apparent.
I agree, the intake is filtered and the exhaust has heat coming out which forms vapor in the cool morning air. These appear to be the HVAC heat removal ducts and just below is the compressor and condensing units to cool the building.
At 25 deg external temperature there really should be no steam escaping but we do not know what processes are in the building. I also wonder when what I believe to be a temporary power supply to the stamping press area will be removed, the two green boxes at the southern end. Also, the Cedinsamex figure quoted seems incorrect as 350,000 m3/h is 98 m3/s and at a face velocity of 2.5 m/s over the internal components would give an area of 39m2 or size of 6.25m x 6.25m or about 50ft square and those units look much smaller than that.
Joe, isn’t the spacing on that grid of survey markers in the new south gravel area about the same as the factory piling grid? I was convinced it was temporary parking, but now I’m thinking footings are imminent.
As they do not have a staging area for loading cars for delivery I suspect this will be one large temporary staging area. Would be silly to expand when 70% of the factory is not fitted out or started being fitted out, they should only expand in a few years time.
14:16 I wonder if they'll remove those power lines that go to the green junction boxes there close to where the new graded gravel pad is being put. If they're planning to take the plant another 500 feet on this end they're going to have to remove them I guess?
@@jamescoppe yeah, I’m guessing it was a temporary power line until the massive electric connection was built to the north of the plant. They will probably cut it over soon and take this smaller power line out…
Those are transformers which take the high voltage from the transmission lines down to a lower voltage. hey were originally there to power the press area during the early days, may or may not be used as the entire system is finished.
It's possible they were temporary to get started as others have stated. I can confirm from Google Earth that the last pole and the two transformers would fall within a perfect 500' extension to the building. While it's not unheard of to have pad-mount transformers inside a structure, its more likely they are eliminated or relocated.
A few weeks ago we had steam/smoke coming out of some roof vents....they seems to have gone quiet, in some ways starting seems to be further away, guess we will see tomorrow
Hey Joe, thanks for the video. But a question about your comment on the red Model Y body not having a floor section and thus indicating structural battery design. But even with the skateboard design (the current manufacturing process for all Tesla’s), the white body structure does not have a floor. During the “marriage” stage, the body is lowered on top of he skateboard and attached to it. What am I missing???
I am intrigued about the roof membrane material and it’s toughness. It really must be awesome stuff to withstand all the activities we seen occurring on top of the finished surface. All it takes is a small tear or nail hole to cause a leak. Anyone have any opinion on the roofing material and it’s durability?
I suspect when roof installations are finished they will do a final covering that is waterproof and self cleaning. Amazing how many vehicles they have driving on the roof but all seem small and light
I don't remember seeing AIDA stamping presses in the berlin tour or shanghai vids. I wonder if they are for a different model vehicle? Lots of haze over Austin, hopefully Tesla can fix that.
@@JoeTegtmeyer thx. Re-watched.. I’m all for it since I’ve got a Mod Y LR on order set to arrive in Mar-Apr. Really digging that Y with the cut out floor!😃
If Elon wants to have some fun with the Tesla Austin plant, he could put some grid fins, flaps and a nose cone on the larger exhaust stacks to make them look like mini Starships landing on the roof. (23:50)
Does anyone know how many destination chargers there are on site at Giga 4/ Giga Texas? (Also the power of the destination chargers?) Are there plans for superchargers on site? Does anyone have any guesses as to how long it will be until the whole roof is covered with the solar panels? Also does anyone know how much power can be generated from the solar panels and the subsequent percentage of the power for Giga Texas they will provide?
There are 96 level 2 chargers in the West employee lot. It looks like there may be 48 more to be installed in the new North lot. There are 12 Level 3 Superchargers in the contractor lot area, and an additional few dozen scattered level 2 chargers that have been mounted to the sides of the Tesla Team construction trailers which are being relocated out of this lot. That's all I know of at the moment.
17:42 I wonder if anyone has a picture of GigaTexas from downtown Austin. Seems like you would be able to readily see it from some of the higher floors of those skyscrapers.
Austin over double the footprint. The image on Google Earth Pro for Tesla Nevada was last updated in August 2019. I don’t know if the factory has been extended since. Using Google Earth Pro’s ruler feature, it’s possible to measure a polygon to get the area of the image shown that is under roof. 178,500 metres sq, converts to 1,921,358 sq ft. Tesla Austin is not shown complete on Google Earth Pro either, but there are some publicly available dimensions that give a calculated 392,866 metres sq, converts to 4,228,774 sq ft.
Is that supercharger location at 19:54 open to the public or just giving priority parking for construction workers who have Teslas? But that wouldn't make sense to put fast charging for those who will be on site all day, so perhaps it's there for when someone from Tesla isn't planning to stay around for a while.
I'm betting they will go away eventually. Perhaps elsewhere on the property. They are the modular 4 bangers which are very easily and quickly installed and moved.
He has a lot of work and family commitments that took him away from drone flying, but I think he is planning on returning at the end of the month or by mid-Feb.
Can someone explain how the roofless & floorless Model Y can have sufficient tortional rigidity & resonance. I know that my large wagon needs it's excellent suspension, variomat dampers, it's comfortable, rattle and squeak free. I drive many miles on poor roads and it's great. I hear Model 3 and Model Y have hard suspension, I wonder how the forces are designed. Great cars, nothing I'd want to drive with those large wheels and suspension.
The bottom of the stamped portion of the vehicle is mated to the new structural pack chassis. This "surfboard" chassis is extremely rigid, with a honeycomb-like structural battery pack and two giant monolithic castings anchoring each end. When the body is mated to the surfboard it will be even more rigid than the previous Model Y design and use far less individual pieces, welds, and fasteners to do so. Sandy Munro himself is going to fall over dead based on reduction of welds and fasteners in the new design alone.
I hope he does not have a heart attack, from previous videos he seems to have been pressuring auto manufacturers to do the front and rear body connecting to a central core, but nobody took notice of him until tesla.
