TruckElectric

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Tesla Inc.’s new factory in Austin, Texas, won’t build only the Cybertruck: State filings suggest the company also plans to make batteries on site as part of an ambitious strategy to further integrate its supply chain.

“The facility is proposing to operate a cell-manufacturing unit to produce the battery packs that are installed in the vehicle,” says an 188-page air-quality permit application filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The documents Bloomberg reviewed were filed between July and September.


Tesla Cybertruck Tesla Seeks Approval for Battery Production at Texas Gigafactory 1000x-1

Telsa’s Cybertruck
Photographer: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk announced during the electric-car manufacturer’s quarterly earnings call in July that Tesla had chosen Austin as the site of its next plant. In addition to building the Cybertruck, Semi and Roadster, all of which are still in development, the company’s second U.S. vehicle-assembly factory -- after its flagship plant in Fremont, California -- also will make the Model Y crossover for East Coast customers.

The environmental permit application was first reported by the Austin Business Journal.

At last month’s “Battery Day” event last month outlining its technology goals, Musk said Tesla will continue to buy battery cells from existing suppliers including Panasonic Corp., LG Chem Ltd., and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. but also has begun making its own cells on a pilot production line in Fremont. It will ultimately produce only about 10 gigawatt-hours of batteries each year, whereas a full-scale Tesla battery-cell facility will have a capacity closer to 200 gigawatt-hours, Musk said.

The filing with the Texas regulator in July was part of a permit-by-rule registration process allowing the company to construct equipment for use at the manufacturing facility. GHD Services Inc. submitted the registration on Tesla’s behalf.

Tesla’s senior vice president for powertrain and energy engineering, Drew Baglino, did not respond to requests for comment by voice mail or email.

Tesla currently makes the S, X, 3 and Y models at its Fremont plant and manufactures batteries at its gigafactory near Reno, Nevada. But the Austin factory, which Musk estimates will be completed before another plant under construction in Berlin, appears to co-locate battery production with vehicles.

SOURCE: BLOOMBERG Hyperdrive
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j4ypal

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" But the Austin factory, which Musk estimates will be completed before another plant under construction in Berlin..."

That part kinda suprises me. I had not seen or heard Elon say he thinks Texas will be done before Berlin... Looking at both sites drone footage I don't see how Texas can be done before Berlin either.

Don't get me wrong, it will be great if Texas can be done ASAP but the timeline mentioned there doesn't seem realistic.
 
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TruckElectric

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" But the Austin factory, which Musk estimates will be completed before another plant under construction in Berlin..."

That part kinda suprises me. I had not seen or heard Elon say he thinks Texas will be done before Berlin... Looking at both sites drone footage I don't see how Texas can be done before Berlin either.

Don't get me wrong, it will be great if Texas can be done ASAP but the timeline mentioned there doesn't seem realistic.
I saw that as well and just dismissed it as inaccurate information.
 

j4ypal

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I saw that as well and just dismissed it as inaccurate information.
Probably, but I was thinking Bloomberg articles have got to be fact checked seriously before publication no?
 
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TruckElectric

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Probably, but I was thinking Bloomberg articles have got to be fact checked seriously before publication no?
You would think so. But I think I would have seen it somewhere else to verify it since it doesn't seem right. Giga Berlin is several months ahead in their construction and moving along quickly so there is no way Austin can catch up.

Also it could be a misquote from Elon which in even the best publications can occur.
 


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Yep... a picture is worth a 1000 words!
" But the Austin factory, which Musk estimates will be completed before another plant under construction in Berlin..."

That part kinda suprises me. I had not seen or heard Elon say he thinks Texas will be done before Berlin... Looking at both sites drone footage I don't see how Texas can be done before Berlin either.

Don't get me wrong, it will be great if Texas can be done ASAP but the timeline mentioned there doesn't seem realistic.
Is the battery portion of the factory going to be prioritized in Austin and be completed relatively quickly vs the auto line in Berlin that might be more complex of a line to build out and thus take longer?

Possibly Bloomberg is just looking at the dates on the permits to get the dates.

I’d think that the battery plant in Texas would be a prerequisite before the CT or Semi lines could be completed so it might be done quickly first so more of the remaining kinks could be worked out. But if there are no CT, Roadster, or Semi’s being built in Berlin then can just build out the lines as soon as the buildings are up.
 

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The factory in Berlin needs more parts to be functional than the Texas plant: The Texas plant can start with batteries from Fremont and Nevada. Texas's pace of groundworks is also faster. I hadn't heard Elon say this, but others have pointed out they both have timelines to begin production about the same time, despite one starting six months after the other.

Secondly, Bloomberg does not fact check their pieces before posting them. They've posted a bunch of garbage this year.

-Crissa
 
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Found this:

Sep 11, 2020 - 11:48 am Tesla Giga Berlin & Giga Texas well underway

The Gigafactories under construction in Texas and Berlin have been making progress despite the final permit for the site in Grünheide, close to the German capital still pending. Brandenburg state minister Jörg Steinbach is confident however to be able to grant final permissions before the year’s end.

++ Kindly find updates below. ++

A hearing to recapture the 406 objections is set for 23 September in the town of Erkner. However, when the state of Brandenburg may grant permission to go ahead with Giga Berlin as a whole is “closely linked to the development plan procedure,” Steinbach explained when speaking to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

Besides the estimated date for the environmental permit, Steinbach also commented on job creation the state expects through the Tesla factory. The minister estimates up to 40,000 employees could be working at Giga Berlin in the next ten years, depending on the market situation. For the first 6,000 of the planned 12,000 jobs, according to the state government, the skills required are available – both in production and administration.

The state of Brandenburg announced that a total of 406 objections had been received in the approval process by the deadline on 3 September. The authorities say they will discuss these objections on 23 September starting at 10 a.m. in the town hall of Erkner.

Only objectors will be allowed to participate in the discussion due to limited seating. At the meeting, the objectors will explain their objections again and may question the authorities and the applicant – i.e. Tesla. However, no decision will be made at this meeting.

Tesla says they continue to assume that it will be able to adhere to the timetable it has set itself, despite possible adjustments to the plans for the environmental permit. According to Gigafactory boss Evan Horetzky, the opening of the plant in Grünheide should “definitely take place in the first half of 2021”. Currently, the factory is about 20 per cent ready, a press meeting on site this week revealed.

As Teslamag writes, a “large ancillary building for drive production is almost ready”, and countless concrete pillars have been set for the main building. In some cases, the walls of the main building are already built with concrete elements and roof coverings. However, the elaborate interior work and installation of machines are still pending.

Cybertruck production could already start in May 2021

The machines will be unique as reported. According to documents of Tesla in Grünheide, there will be eight of the new colossal die casting machines for Model Y production that allows casting the car’s rear frame in one piece. In August, Tesla received the first of these machines at its main plant in Fremont.

The use of such large casting machines should not be limited to the rear frame. In June, Elon Musk had already stated in a podcast interview that the body of a Model Y should in future consist of only four parts instead of 70. In the long term, it could even be made entirely from a single casting.

During his visit to Grünheide, Musk was impressed by the speed of construction, and Horetzky (who has already worked on Gigafactory 1 in Nevada and Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai) also praised the construction method with the prefabricated concrete elements, which makes an “incredibly high construction speed” possible.

But things could go a little faster at Giga Texas: According to reports, test production of the Cybertruck could start as early as May 2021 at the Austin factory, whose construction began well after Grünheide. The Tesla Motors Club had leaked screenshots from a Tesla presentation for the city of Austin containing the information.

And last, a look to Giga Shanghai, where Tesla appears to consider exporting electric cars made in China to other markets in Asia and Europe as well, Bloomberg reports. Their undisclosed sources said Tesla could start mass production of the China Model 3 designated for foreign markets in the fourth quarter. Persons close to the matter also named Australia, New Zealand and Singapore as export destinations. Bloomberg further suggested, the export plans might root in domestic competition in China becoming hotter. Tesla China declined to comment.

Update 20 September 2020: Evan Horetsky, responsible for the construction of the German Gigafactory at Tesla, has confirmed further details on the above mentioned Giga Presses. The special machines are to help cast parts of the Model Y in one piece. Horetsky now confirmed that not only the rear frame of the Model Y is to be cast in one piece, but also the front frame. However, Tesla won’t cast the complete structure in one piece. When asked by Teslamag why the company was installing eight machines in Grünheide, Horetsky said that Tesla wants to be able to cast many parts there very quickly.

Source: elective.com
 


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You would think so. But I think I would have seen it somewhere else to verify it since it doesn't seem right. Giga Berlin is several months ahead in their construction and moving along quickly so there is no way Austin can catch up.

Also it could be a misquote from Elon which in even the best publications can occur.
Or Elon misquoted himself. LOL!

Or maybe Elon has access to more info than we are aware of. :unsure:;)
 

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I see a few possibilities:
1) misquote as the Austin factory will take less time, but they both finish next year
2) misquote as battery factory will be finished first in Austin, while vehicle manufacturing and paint shop will be done first in Berlin
3) In trying to spout a stream of information to a reporter, Elon misspoke. Happens to the best and smartest of people
4) Facts were generated to be later corrected.
5) several small misguotes, misheard, misunderstood, and added up to 1 bad fact/quote.
6) rainbows and unicorns are sprouting up in Austin and definitely the facility will be done there before Berlin.
 

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Building in heart of VW land was always going to come with risk. Me thinks there's going to be lots of delays in Germany. Lots of hands needing to be greased,(no pun) before the shop opens up for business. Christ, they where delaying for paper mill trees. Lots of incentives to delay Tesla as long as possible over there. It'll get real political pretty soon. Texas will probably be producing CT's before berlin is making Y's.
 

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As seen: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-submits-4680-battery-cell-production-gigafactory-texas/

Tesla submits filings for battery cell production at Gigafactory Texas
(CREDIT: JOE TEGTMEYER)

ByMaria Merano
Posted on November 9, 2020
Tesla has filed papers hinting that Giga Texas will have its own cell facility when it enters operations. The update comes as recent flyovers of the Gigafactory Texas site revealed how busy the facility’s construction area has become as of late.
Recent documents filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) references Tesla’s plans for cell production in Giga Texas’ future. The Austin Business Journal was able to confirm with TCEQ spokesperson Brian McGovern that the Tesla documents did indicate plans to manufacture cells at Gigafactory Texas.
During Tesla Battery Day, the EV automaker revealed its homegrown 4680 cells, which are expected to both improve performance and range while reducing production costs. Tesla already has a pilot cell manufacturing line located in Fremont for its 4680 cells. The company also confirmed that it planned to install a cell production line in Giga Berlin in the future.

Tesla noted that the first vehicles made in Berlin will use 4680 cells from the Fremont Factory until the cell production line in Germany ramps. Tesla’s timeline for Giga Texas’s cell production line might follow Giga Berlin’s schedule.
“What it looks like from what I’ve seen of the building plans and the permits … is the cell manufacturing isn’t the first stage. I think they would more grow into that as they get the Cybertruck or Model Y production up, and they can see that the demand is legitimately there to have that battery or cell manufacturing facility,” speculated the senior automotive analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence Kevin Tynan.

For now, Tesla’s main goal for Giga Texas would be to finish building the facilities for Cybertruck and Model Y production. Tegtmeyer tweeted pictures of the Tesla logo embossed into concrete slabs entering Giga Texas’s construction site this Sunday, November 8. He discussed the Austin Gigafactory’s progress further in his video.
It seems like everyone working on Tesla’s Austin-based factory has found renewed vigor after Elon Musk praised their progress. Tegtmeyer’s photos and video reveal that the facilities for Model Y production are well underway as the casting site has already started taking form.
Tesla believes Giga Texas’s buildout is right on schedule. It is slated to start Model Y production by Summer 2021. At the second annual East Austin Growth Summit, panelists discussed the possibility of Tesla exceeding its job estimates for Giga Texas. The electric manufacturer stated its Austin Gigafactory could bring 9,000 new jobs into the state in its proposal. However, panelists at the East Austin Growth Summit estimated that Tesla would bring up to 15,000 jobs into the state with Giga Texas.
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