From Joe Tegtmeyer.
Gigafactory Texas! This is where Model Y’s, and Cyber Truck production happens and soon, the Next Generation Car!
Great day to fly at Giga Texas today with clear, brilliant skies and no winds! A wonderful way to start the work week. Production seemed to be picking up well for an early Monday for both the Model Y’s and Cybertrucks while the outbound lot was mostly empty which is a continuing trend of using the Friday to Sunday period without production to move all new vehicles off site.
In the video introduction, I discuss the recent announcement by Tesla of their 100 millionth 4680 battery produced, a significant milestone and in just 100 days, they doubled their previous milestone of 50 million in June 2024. To get to this point, a lot of hard work and several critical hurdles and setbacks had to be overcome and now it appears this has been done and production is ramping up quite quickly.
This 100 million production number is across all of Tesla’s manufacturing sites, including Giga Texas and is sufficient to sustain at least 2K Cybertrucks produced per week. However, based on the rapid increase in production and the non-linear way this is being accomplished, it is likely Tesla is now able to approach their goal of 2.5K Cybertrucks per week by the end of this year, and then increase beyond that mark in 2025.
In order to help put into contest the challenges Tesla and their battery cell teams have overcome, I discuss the reporting I did in January of the change to NMC955 (90% Nickle, 5% Manganese and 5% Cobalt) cathode material and how this introduced issues with damaging the calendaring rolls and equipment dur to the hardness of this material. I use some excerpts from “The Limiting Factor” channel where a deep dive and professional analysis of the 2nd generation 4680 cell confirmed my reporting of the NMC955 chemistry and some of the benefits.
Finally, I discuss how this was overcome, with the introduction of the first Dry Cathode 4680 validation Cybertruck in July 2024. Finally, I discuss Tesla’s goad for production into the 4th quarter of 2024 and beyond based on their published financial report for the 2nd quarter.
Timestamps:
Drone flight overview with discussion & illustration: 0:06 to 4:38
Drone flight footage & infographics: 5:00 to 32:56
A few additional highlights in the video include:
At the electrical switchyard, excavation work for the third transformer continues, with rebar being installed now in the excavation area. This is part of the electrical system upgrades necessary to support the new Cortex supercomputer center being prepared to come online in the south extension.
On the east side of casting, the large foundation area continues to grow and get detail work, including new foundations, grade work, bridge rails, Die loading mounts and more. In addition, today we see a very large and heavy-lift trailer had just been unloaded meaning something large was moved into the casting section just ahead of my arrival.
On the south end, the cooling plant pipe cleanout appears finished now as all of the temporary pumps, pipes and systems have been removed and are back in storage on the far west material staging yard. the riser pipes on the west side of the cooling plant have seem to continue test fitting as some that were installed have now been removed, while others seem to be undergoing test fitting.
Finally, work on the Boring Company tunnel continues on both entrances. On the west side, horizontal drilling for the natural gas pipe continues, with the bore apparently drilled under the tunnel now. at the entrance of the tunnel, crews were connecting the electrical conduit to the pipes already in tunnel, extending thought the full length. This will provide power for pumps, lighting and ventilation.
Thank you for watching and I hope this has been informative, educational, and entertaining for you. If you would like, please consider supporting me via Patreon (link is in the description of this video and in the video itself) so I can continue to make and share these incredible videos.
Sources used in this video:
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Be sure to check out additional Texas Gigafactory footage on these channels:
@Jeff Roberts
@Brad Sloan
Video, photos, illustrations, and commentary on this video is by me, Joe Tegtmeyer unless otherwise annotated.
Music in this video is obtained from the YouTube free and unrestricted and royalty-free use library. Ending song is Mr. Sunny Face – Wayne Jones
Drones used are DJI Mini 2, Mavic Air 2 & Air 3.
Drone flight over Giga Texas is with permission of Tesla and CEO Elon Musk
