Written by / Zhang Linyu
Editor/ Zhang Nan
Design / Zhao Haoran
Tesla's expansion of its factory in Lingang, Shanghai, first came out on March 1, 2021.
On that day, the official website of the Shanghai Land Exchange Market hung up a land transfer announcement, located in the Lingang Heavy Equipment Industrial Zone of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, close to the Tesla factory, with a total area of 461,400 square meters, and the access industry type was new energy vehicle manufacturing. The land is said to be used for the expansion of Tesla's existing factory.
On May 3, foreign media reported that Tesla mentioned the construction of a new factory in a thank-you letter to the relevant shanghai government, but so far, Tesla officials have not confirmed whether this is an expansion or a new factory.
Tesla currently has a total of 6 factories, of which 4 are vehicle manufacturing, located in Fremont, California, Austin, Texas, Lingang, Shanghai and Berlin, Germany. The other two are factories that produce batteries and energy equipment, the former in Nevada and the latter in New York.
In terms of area, the Austin, Texas plant is the largest, more than 10 million square meters, more than 10 times the current Shanghai factory; the second largest factory is Berlin, a total of 3 million square meters; the third is the Fremont factory in California, which is Tesla's earliest factory, with an area of 1.5 million square meters; the smallest is our Shanghai factory, 860,000 square meters.
In terms of the pace and speed of the car, the Fremont plant in California and the Shanghai factory are on a par with each other, with a Model Y rolling off the production line in an average of 45 seconds.
In 2021, the Fremont plant produced 8,550 models per week, delivering a total of 444,600 vehicles throughout the year, and the Shanghai plant produced more than 10,000 vehicles per week and delivering 484,100 vehicles throughout the year, which together supplied almost the entire Tesla market last year. But with the opening of the Berlin and Austin factories this year, the whole situation will be different in the future.
While production will take time to ramp up, the first phase of the Berlin plant aims for 700,000 units, while the Model Y single model set by Texas has soared to 1 million units. In the future, after the potential of these two plants is released, the actual production capacity will be greatly increased.
Tesla aims to grow sales by 50 percent a year to reach 20 million vehicles by 2030. Tesla will sell 936,000 units in 2021, and at a 50% basis, the target for this year will be close to 1.5 million. Of the four factories, Berlin and Austin are still on the slopes, and it will not be so easy to achieve the set goals in the remaining 7 months, and this year's burden may still fall on the Fremont and Shanghai factories.
Musk said at the open house of the Berlin plant on October 9, 2021, that it is easy to design prototypes, and it is very difficult to achieve the target production capacity when it comes to the actual mass production stage.
Although the time of construction of these four factories is in order, it is difficult to compare who is higher and who is lower in terms of technological advancement. Each factory is based on the situation of their respective factories and the models produced, in the stamping, welding, painting and final assembly of the traditional four major processes have been optimized, in each link has adopted a multi-layer design, effective use of the vertical space of the plant, the use of lifts, conveyor belts and other automated logistics, make full use of the efficiency of land use.
Traditional automobile factories with people as the core to build and organize production lines, machines only take over a part of the suitable work, while Tesla is the machine as the core, a high degree of intelligence and automation is an important feature of all its factories.
All four OEMs are equipped with one-piece die casting machines, and the number of configurations depends on different capacity targets. The one-piece die casting machine saves the individual stamping and welding process and time of some parts, but the subsequent maintenance costs may bring high maintenance costs to the user, which is a negative benefit brought by the new technology.
In a sense, the Tesla factory is a product of this era, in the context of technological progress as the dominant force, the size and efficiency of the Tesla factory has become the best paradigm, and Elon Musk himself has become an idol figure in the current industry.
How to measure the efficiency of a factory
Tesla's Shanghai factory was once photographed with the Model Y offline for only 45 seconds, does this mean that it is more efficient than traditional car factories?
"45 seconds off the production line of a car, does not necessarily mean high efficiency, this just shows that the factory's production beat is 45 seconds a time, which is more related to the design and investment of the production line at that time." Tesla most likely used the 80JPH production line, which is a 45-second beat. An expert in the field of automotive manufacturing told Automotive Business Review.
The full name of JPH is Job Per Hour, which refers to the amount of work per hour. In an automotive plant, 80JPH means 80 operations per hour, or on average, 45 seconds.
"To measure whether a factory is efficient, you can't just look at the value of JPH, or its efficiency." The expert said.
In fact, five years ago, SAIC-GM's two factories in the south and north districts of Wuhan were much more efficient than Tesla's Shanghai factory today. In 2017, SAIC-GM's sales exceeded 2 million vehicles, and in order to meet the high demand in the market at that time, the two plants achieved a car rolling off the production line every 30 seconds.
In addition, the Beijing Hyundai No. 1 factory, which has been acquired by Ideal Automobile today, sold more than one million in the whole north in 2016, and in that heyday, the factory's exit rate was basically less than 60 seconds per car.
The speed of today's Tesla factory has been achieved by traditional car companies before.
"Analyzing the efficiency of an automobile manufacturing plant, we mainly look at the six aspects of single JPH investment, operating costs, processing depth, capacity utilization, asset-heavy investment risk, and the necessity of moderate production of flexible wires."
JPH investment mainly refers to the input costs related to the production line; operating costs refers to the cost of bicycle manufacturing; the depth of processing mainly examines the self-made rate of the oem, which is all purchased, which is self-made assembly; high-frequency production lines mean higher costs and manpower input, which the risks generated are also one of the indicators; In addition, not all factories are suitable for flexible production, because the cost of flexible production lines is higher than that of a single production line, for explosive models, there is no need to use flexibility, but in case it does not become a blockbuster, A single production line also has the risk of capacity emptying.
Regarding whether the Tesla factory has really subverted the manufacturing methods of traditional car companies, or whether the integrated die-casting machine has brought revolutionary changes, the essence behind these questions is to ask: Is the Tesla factory a cost-effective and efficient manufacturing base?
"We can't simply evaluate the high and low efficiency of a factory, if we want to evaluate, we have to measure it across the value chain. In addition, different enterprises have different considerations at different stages, and each decision is a double-edged sword, which will have a positive and negative effect, with advantages and disadvantages. Another professional in the field of manufacturing said.
Musk describes himself as an engineer, but he is also a great marketing guru. Not only did he successfully market his model, but now he has successfully molded his factory into another important product. At the open days of the Berlin factory and the Austin, Texas factory, many fans described the day as a trip to Disney.
AutoMotive Business Review has collected information about Tesla's 6 major factories, and the following is a specific introduction.
Tesla's 6 factories
01
Fremont, California plant
Production capacity: 600,000 units
Start of construction: 2010
Completion: 2012
Site Area: 1.5 million square meters (590,000 square meters of actual land for factories and offices)
Tesla's Fremont plant, California's first, was first a general assembly site for GM, built in 1962 and then in 1984 as the site of NUMMMI, a joint venture between GM and Toyota. Tesla went public in June 2010 and bought the Fremont factory in October, which was largely abandoned by Toyota and GM.
The Tesla team first felt that the Fremont factory was too big and the price was not cheap, and their most ideal venue at that time was in New Mexico, planning to build a new factory, but finally gave up due to lack of funds.
Musk spent $42 million on the land and plant, another $17 million for the manufacturing equipment in the original plant, and then bought a hydraulic stamping machine from Detroit at a low price. Because the production is a pure electric model, the original production line needs to be transformed. At that time, the California government provided support for the renovation of the factory.
The entire factory is 1.5 million square meters, but the actual factory plus offices has a usable area of 590,000 square meters. After two years of renovations, the first Model Y was delivered in June 2012.
After the first models were delivered, production capacity was 15-20 units per week in August 2012, climbed to 200 units in November, and 400 units at the end of December. In May 2014, 700 units could be mass-produced per week.
In mid-2016, Tesla fell into delivery hell because of insufficient capacity climbing. The Roadster, Model S, and Model X were delayed in delivery, and the Model X was delayed for a year and a half.
2016-2017 was a dark period for Musk himself, which was related to the delay in the production of the Fremont factory and the inability to deliver the car, which directly led to the financial performance not meeting expectations, and Tesla was on the verge of bankruptcy.
At that time, Tesla produced its own seats, and the factory location was more than 10 kilometers away from the main installation plant. Many of the unique components of the Model S, including battery modules and drive units, are manufactured in-house. Compared to other traditional auto assembly plants, Tesla's first factory was highly integrated at the time, and most of it was done in-house at Tesla's factory, including stamping and machining.
In 2021, the Fremont plant will produce 8,550 vehicle models per week.
02
Shanghai plant
Production capacity: 500,000 units at present, the target is 900,000-1 million units
Start of construction: early 2019
Completion time: End of 2019
Site Area: 860,000 square meters (the total construction area of the first phase of the factory is 157,000 square meters)
The Shanghai factory is Tesla's first overseas factory. On May 10, 2018, Tesla established a wholly-owned company in Shanghai, and on July 10, Musk flew to Shanghai to sign a project investment agreement with the relevant parties of the Shanghai Municipal Government.
On October 17, Tesla officially announced that the company and the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Land Resources officially signed the "Land Transfer Contract", tesla Shanghai factory for 973 million yuan to acquire 860,000 square meters of industrial land in Shanghai Lingang for 50 years.
On January 7, 2019, the plant officially started construction, and 10 months later, construction was completed and production began. At the end of 2019, the Model 3 began to be delivered. It was at this delivery ceremony that Musk danced happily.
At present, the Shanghai factory produces Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, which are two separate production lines and non-flexible production. At the end of 2019, the production cycle was 18 Model 3s off the production line per hour, and about 1,000 were produced per week. Two years later, in 2021, a Model Y was rolled off the production line in 45 seconds, and it was basically more than 3,000 vehicles per week. Production capacity at the beginning of 2021 climbed to 250,000 units, and a total of 484,100 units were delivered by the end of the year, close to the target of 500,000 units.
An important significance of the establishment of the Shanghai factory is to cultivate the local supply chain, at present, according to Tesla officials, the localization of parts has been completed by 90%, and the ultimate goal is 100% localization.
The second phase of Tesla's Shanghai plant, with an area of 460,000 square meters, is located near the existing plant, and the entire plant aims to achieve a production capacity of 1 million vehicles.
03
Plant in Berlin, Germany
Production capacity: Target 700,000 units at this stage
Start of construction: 2020
Completion: 2022
Land area: 3 million square meters
In 2015, Tesla began to discuss building factories in Europe, when more than a dozen countries in Europe tried to invite Musk. Government officials from France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Germany, portugal, etc. all crossed the sea to find ways to please Musk, and the final result was that Germany won.
In November 2019, Musk announced that the Location of the German Factory would be 35 kilometers southeast of central Berlin. The plant took two years to build, during which time there were various obstructions from environmental groups.
Finally, it was completed in March 2022 and the delivery ceremony of the Model Y was held, but before that, the Berlin factory was opened for public viewing. The factory covers an area of 3 million square meters, which is more than three times the size of the first phase of the Shanghai plant. The company will invest EUR 5 billion and aim for a production capacity of 700,000 units in the first phase.
The Berlin plant was expected to create 12,000 jobs at the earliest, but the number of employees fell to 8,000 due to the optimization of production lines and the use of more advanced manufacturing processes. According to the local labor agency, about 2,500 employees are already working at the Tesla factory at this stage, which means that at least one production line is close to full capacity.
From the outset, the Berlin plant will clearly use the Model Y as its main model. After the ramp-up of production capacity is completed, the target beat is the same as that of the Shanghai factory, and it is also a Model Y that goes offline in 45 seconds, and it will take time to reach this peak. Overall, the total number of factories in Berlin in 2022 will not be very impressive, because in the second half of October, because the 2170 battery switched to 4680, the factory will stop production for 3 weeks.
04
Plant in Austin, Texas
Production capacity: Target 500,000 units at this stage
Start of construction: 2020
Completion: 2022
Completion time: about 11.11 million square meters
When Tesla chose Nevada to build a battery factory in 2016, it almost chose Texas at the time.
The Texas factory has now become Tesla's global headquarters and is currently the largest factory in tesla's series, with a total cost of $10 billion.
Construction began at the end of July 2020 and production of the Model Y began in August 2021 before the plant was completed. On April 7, 2022, the factory officially opened its doors.
The Texas facility has been experienced in personnel training, partnering with local Austin Community College to launch a 14-week vocational training course that began in August 2021.
Unlike the Fremont, California factory, the Texas Gigafactory adopts a chip-like layout design, the internal building complex is highly concentrated, reducing the material movement time between buildings, basically the raw materials come in from one end of the plant, and after a series of processing, the finished car will come out from the other end of the plant, which is a highly efficient production closed loop.
In addition to the original four major processes of stamping, welding, painting and final assembly, the Texas factory also added battery assembly links. Tesla's Texas factory design plan is clearly assigned to the battery production area for the production of 4680 batteries. According to the plan, the Texas factory will also become Tesla's largest battery factory in the world.
The plant will produce the Model 3, Model Y, Cybertruck and the electric Semi.
In the first phase, the Texas plant aims to produce 10,000 vehicle models per week with an annual output of about 500,000. The future goal is to achieve an annual production of 2 million units.
05
Nevada plant
Start of construction: 2014
Completion: 2016
Land area: 180,000 square meters
The Nevada factory is Tesla's lithium battery factory in partnership with Panasonic and encompasses the entire battery lifecycle, from raw materials to finished products to recycling. Tesla's earliest use of the 18650 and later 2170 batteries were both produced here. In addition, Tesla's home energy storage devices Powerwall and Powerpack are also produced here.
The biggest feature of this factory is the internal energy self-sufficiency, through the combination of solar, wind and geothermal energy, to ensure the supply of the entire plant area.
Panasonic has its own battery production facility at this plant, and as of December 2018, there are 11 battery production lines. These production equipment areas are only accessible to Panasonic employees. Panasonic has increased its investment in the Nevada plant to produce 4680 batteries, adding a new production line in 2021, and so far, panasonic has 14 production lines at the Nevada plant.
In 2019, Panasonic occupied half of the floor space at its Nevada plant. In early 2021, Panasonic's business here was profitable for the first time, and a research and educational institution was established in the nearby city of Renault.
06
New York factory
Start of construction: 2014
Completion: Late 2016
Site Area: 360,000 square meters (factory and office area is 110,000 square meters)
The New York plant is a production base for photovoltaic cell supplier SolorCity, a business that Musk bought for $2.6 billion in 2016, and the company has been included in Tesla's energy segment. SolorCity's two founders, Peter Rive and Lyndon Rive, are Musk's cousins.
The New York factory was formerly a steel mill, and the land ownership was owned by the New York State Government, which SolorCity leased.
Construction of the plant began in 2014 and was completed between 2016 and 2017. The factory covers a total area of 110,000 square meters and currently employs 7,000 people.
After its completion in 2017, the factory worked with Panasonic to assemble products using imported Japanese photovoltaic cells; in 2018, it began producing individual solar cells; and from 2019 to early 2020, it launched solar rooftop photovoltaic panels.
In May 2020, Panasonic ended its partnership with the New York plant for the joint production of Solar Cell 2, and completely withdrew from the plant by the end of September, in part because the share of the entire solar cell business in the United States was relatively small. After that, the New York plant produced charging equipment for other supercharging network operators.
This article was originally produced by Automotive Business Review
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