Tesla's Texas Gigafactory opens
45 seconds to build "a car"?
This is the "Tesla speed"??
Let's take a look at it together
Tesla's Texas Gigafactory was officially opened
On April 7, 2022, US time, Tesla's Texas Giga Texas groundbreaking ceremony was held - "Cyber Rodeo".
Located in Austin, Texas, the plant covers an area of more than 12,000 acres, with a volume of about 9.57 million cubic meters and a plant length of about 1,166 meters, equivalent to the length of 15 blocks in North America combined. This is the largest Tesla Gigafactory to date.
In the display area of the factory, several new Tesla models were exhibited:
▲ 250mph Roadster supercar on 4.2s
▲Model Y
▲ Cybertruck, which is expected to be produced next year
There is also tesla bot, a Tesla robot that was previously released.
The sense of technology inside the factory is also full!
At present, Tesla has 6 gigafactories on three continents in Asia, the United States and Europe, namely:
The Fremont plant in California, which started operations in 2010, is mainly for the production of Model S3XY models.
The Nevada Gigafactory, which started operations in 2016, mainly produces battery cells (18650, 2170), battery packs, motors and powertrains;
The New York Gigafactory, which was put into operation in 2017, mainly produces solar-related products and supercharger piles;
The Shanghai Gigafactory, which was put into operation in 2018, mainly produces Model 3 and Model Y, is Tesla's first overseas factory;
The Berlin Gigafactory, which will be put into operation in 2022, mainly producing Model Y and 4680 batteries;
The Texas Gigafactory, which will start operations in 2022, will primarily produce Model Y, Cybertruck and successor products.
With the completion of the six gigafactories, Tesla's production capacity will increase significantly, and the newly opened Texas and Berlin factories are expected to double Tesla's annual production. According to Reuters, Tesla's total production capacity may reach 2 million vehicles / year.
Except for "big"
What else is so great about this gigafactory?
Tesla has long referred to its gigafactory as "the machine that makes machines." The "Giga Texas" completed this time is currently Tesla's most advanced and efficient "machine", and it is the culmination of its manufacturing capabilities.
So, where exactly is TA super? It lies in its innovative changes in production processes, manufacturing processes and production efficiency.
Factory layout as dense as "chips"
First, let's take a look at Giga Texas' innovations in the factory's production process, one of the major changes is that the layout of the major workshops in the factory area is more compact and intensive.
Unlike the decentralized production floor layout of traditional car companies, Giga Texas integrates all aspects of production into a single oversized factory.
▲Comparison of the layout of the production workshop of Tesla's California factory and the Texas factory
As you can see from the factory floor plan, every inch of the Texas factory is used to the fullest compared to the California factory.
Giga Texas is equipped with a cell production workshop as well as a structural battery assembly workshop, where cells no longer need to be packaged into modules but can be placed directly on the vehicle chassis.
Here, Tesla's new 4680 battery and CTC chassis can be directly entered into the next assembly link from the production line, which greatly saves the consumption of logistics on efficiency.
In addition to the innovation of the workshop layout and production process, Tesla Giga Texas also pursues extreme efficiency in the manufacturing process.
"Integrated die casting" manufacturing process
Giga Texas uses integrated die casting technology, eliminating the need for repeated welding of multiple parts and the body in one piece through giga Press, the largest die casting machine in history. A die-casting can be produced in just 16 seconds, while a car can be produced in 45 seconds.
How to understand "integrated die casting"? Let's first understand "die casting".
In automobile manufacturing, "die casting" is to inject molten metal into the mold and then finalize the mold release, while "integrated die casting" is a larger-scale single body "die casting", which can die-cast larger automotive structural parts at one time. In this way, multiple parts of the vehicle can be formed in one piece, without the need to manufacture different parts separately and then weld them.
In the future, Tesla will further apply "integrated die casting" in the chassis structure and other parts, and 2-3 large die castings will completely replace Tesla's car body composed of 370 parts. This will greatly reduce the cost of the vehicle, increase production efficiency, and improve the performance of the vehicle.
With the help of efficient layout, integrated die casting and 4680 battery supply, Musk has set a production capacity target of 1 million units per year for the Texas factory! Starting with the Texas plant, Musk set an even more ambitious sales target: to achieve a global market share of more than 20%.
TA, TA, TA, one after another!
Currently, the Made in Texas Model Y has been delivered to the first users. Next year, the Cybertruck electric pickup will officially land. Semi electric semi-trailer trucks, the new Roadster and other models will also be mass-produced after Cyberruck.
Cybertruck details are exposed
This Cybertronck is quite eye-catching in terms of shape design, with a silver-gray body color scheme. The overall shape is angular, simple and very avant-garde.
The front glass of the car has a huge wiper that can almost cover the entire front glass; the rearview mirror adopts a traditional design and is more mass-produced.
The headlights are semi-enclosed through the front of the car, and there are multiple dot-shaped headlights under the through-type headlights, which can selectively light up the area.
Humanoid robots are coming
In 2021, Tesla announced the "Tesla Bot" project on Artificial Intelligence Day, and the Tesla humanoid robot, now renamed Optimus, has new news. Speaking at the Cyber Rodeo event in Texas, Musk said: "We are expected to start producing the first version of Optimus next year.
so...
Will all of these Flags that Musk has set up come true?
Let's wait and see
END
(Materials from: Tesla Tesla, Dallas Consumer Guide, First Electric Vehicle Network, Ideal Life Lab, XEV Institute, Finance, Kick Car Gang, Car Cloud, Electric Planet News, etc., comprehensively organized by CHINAPLAS, please indicate when reprinting.) ）