Gigafactory in Texas

[Cyber]

Daily updates on the Gigafactory Austin build. The commentary isn't great, but it's fun to see the progress.

https://www.youtube.com/user/peterdog15/videos

Sponsored

 

[alan auerbach]

I know people in Texas can buy Teslas through an almost painless process but Tesla could still use this factory to make a point.

Could you tell us more Ty? I heard that Texas law required new vehicles to be bought from a dealer.

 

[TyPope]

Could you tell us more Ty? I heard that Texas law required new vehicles to be bought from a dealer.

The process is almost the same as it is here in Nebraska. You buy it online just like everyone else. For us, since Tesla can't we went and picked up our Model Y in Kansas which is a 90 mile drive which was nice because we got a good checkout of the Model Y on the way back. From what I've read, Tesla just closed down all the physical delivery locations in Texas so the process will be a little different going forward. It could be really odd because you could buy one in Texas from Tesla and they'd ship it to you from California. However, I don't know how they'll do that if you order a CT from the Texas plant. Surely Texas won't make Tesla ship the CTs across state lines.

If anyone has insight on how Tesla would sell a CT given the current state of laws, please chime in.

 

[Crissa]

Surely Texas won't make Tesla ship the CTs across state lines.

I have no idea, but Republican schemes are all over the place. Having the factory there ought to split them, except it's mostly Dems from around Austin.

??‍ Politics. It's in everything.

-Crissa

 

[FutureBoy]

Surely Texas won't make Tesla ship the CTs across state lines.

I have no idea, but Republican schemes are all over the place. Having the factory there ought to split them, except it's mostly Dems from around Austin.

??‍ Politics. It's everything.

-Crissa

Of course, once FSD is fully working, you could take delivery virtually in whatever state Tesla wanted and they could just set FSD to drive itself to your desired location. If the documents are all signed virtually and Tesla delivery personnel never cross into the state............... Essentially you take delivery online and then "summon" the vehicle to where ever you are.

 

[Ehninger1212]

The process is almost the same as it is here in Nebraska. You buy it online just like everyone else. For us, since Tesla can't we went and picked up our Model Y in Kansas which is a 90 mile drive which was nice because we got a good checkout of the Model Y on the way back. From what I've read, Tesla just closed down all the physical delivery locations in Texas so the process will be a little different going forward. It could be really odd because you could buy one in Texas from Tesla and they'd ship it to you from California. However, I don't know how they'll do that if you order a CT from the Texas plant. Surely Texas won't make Tesla ship the CTs across state lines.

If anyone has insight on how Tesla would sell a CT given the current state of laws, please chime in.

I am not sure how this process will work for Tesla. They most likely already have some sort of work around for driving out of state and then back again, that just seems ridiculous.

Also, they have not closed down physical delivery stations as these are just the Tesla service centers. Maybe they aren't delivering from them but I don't see why that would have stopped? Where did you read this?

 

[alan auerbach]

To those who know Tesla construction and watch the Austin drone footage, what purpose for:

-the vertical concrete pillars at the north end (about nine of them, each 2'-3' square and about 30' high)

-the steel frames at the south end (I thought sales and/or admin offices, but the new second floor looks twice as tall as needed for that)

 

[Ehninger1212]

To those who know Tesla construction and watch the Austin drone footage, what purpose for:

-the vertical concrete pillars at the north end (about nine of them, each 2'-3' square and about 30' high)

-the steel frames at the south end (I thought sales and/or admin offices, but the new second floor looks twice as tall as needed for that)

There is a lot of criteria that goes into selecting structures.. but usually it boils down to cost. So it is possible Tesla construction team decided certain areas would be cheaper, faster and more efficient to be made out of certain materials.

It is also possible that the local Steel and pre cast concrete vendors could not supply enough (quickly) to create the whole building. so they went with a hybrid system.

 

[Crissa]

Yeah, different spaces have different costs. The big poles give lots of head room, but are more expensive than the girder grid. Every place you see a deeper trench is a spot where some heavy equipment will be. From elevators to megacastings, each machine needs specifc head soace and moorings.

We're getting to see hints of the layout of the actual factory as they build these in to give more or less space as needed from the ground up.

-Crissa

 

[TyPope]

To those who know Tesla construction and watch the Austin drone footage, what purpose for:

-the vertical concrete pillars at the north end (about nine of them, each 2'-3' square and about 30' high)

-the steel frames at the south end (I thought sales and/or admin offices, but the new second floor looks twice as tall as needed for that)

The big cast beams are for gantry cranes (those cranes that move back and forth across a structure). Most likely, they'll be used for moving casting parts around. There will be about 48 of them when they finish the "big pit" area. The big pit is most likely for an isolated base for a heavy piece of machinery. They'll line the big hole with rubber type of spacers and then install a huge block of concrete in the hole. The machine that is being isolated will be mounted to the huge concrete block so that when the machine is in operation, it doesn't shake the whole foundation. At least, that's what Joe Tegtmeyer reports in his drone coverage. He is pretty spot-on and does a lot of research in construction. I've learned a lot from watching his drone footage about every other day.

 

[Crissa]

I think the double-deep footings are for the gantry cranes. You can see more rows of them over on the west side building.

The pillars are probably so that there's extra head space around the casting machines more than anything. That'll let them maneuver fairly large equipment in and out of there.

And of course more gantry cranes, but I think it's head room there for tall machines and access to tall machines. They'll need enough space to move in and out the machines as they wear out.

-Crissa

Sponsored