Gigafactory Texas on 11 January 2023! This is where Model Y’s are built and soon Cyber Truck production will start!
I tried to fly when I arrived a few minutes ago, but the fog rolled in quickly, so I couldn’t do much with my initial attempt at a video. I ended up waiting about 2 hours until it cleared up enough to fly.
Despite this, I was able to fly for a few minutes and saw a lot of interesting developments that I really wanted to capture once visibility improved. One of the things I was able to see on the north end before it got too bad, was a huge delivery of large IDRA crates arriving at the northeast corner of the casting machine structure. Also, I saw several Model Y test bodies, in both 2170 and 4680 varieties along with several test castings.
After waiting a few hours after my first brief flight when the fog rolled in, I was able to get in a full video and a lot more images on this very busy day with more significant deliveries of IDRA parts for the 9K-ton Giga Press. In fact, as I was driving on the highway back to San Antonio after finishing flying, I saw even more huge IDRA deliveries headed up to Giga Texas, including some on River Road on the west side of the main highway!
In addition, I saw a noticeable increase in production of Model Y’s and as mentioned in the intro, we now know some of these are 4680 versions as well! Model Ys were overflowing on the south end, and the east small parking lot was full as well. the new car transport section was also very busy loading up and taking Model Y’s off site today!
As mentioned previously, I noted several test Model Y test bodies on the northeast corner of casting in both 4680 and 2170 variations! It just so happens the Tesla design studio on their main web page is now offering for sale 4680 versions of the Model Y on their website! I think this is good confirmation of what I’m seeing on the site!
Timestamps:
Drone flight overview with discussion & illustration: 0:06 to 2:24
Drone flight footage & infographics: 2:51 to 23:42
Other sights today include significant progress in and around the battery cathode plant, with the new structure steel assembly moving right along, and footing construction as well as concrete pours coming along quickly as well. the electrical switchyard was busy too, with deliveries of large spools of wire, crews working on the cable tray trenches, and utility crews up at the north end working on the newly installed tall steel power poles.
Finally, on the west side of General Assembly, we see some of the temporary wall panels removed, increasing the number of receiving docks in the area where a new concrete apron is being completed. Also, the west main entry shows a lot of grade work in the area where the large concrete section and stairs were removed.
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Be sure to check out additional Texas Gigafactory footage on these channels:
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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” by Wayne Jones
Drones used are DJI Mavic Mini, Mini 2 and Mavic Air 2.
Drone flight over Giga Texas is with permission of Tesla and CEO Elon Musk