Gigafactory Texas on 18 November 2022! This is where the Cyber Truck and Model Y will be built!
Early flight with a lot of looks into the Casting Machine section where we see significant changes and a completely new foundation area for the larger IDRA 9,000 Giga Press underway (No, I did not see the actual Giga Press arriving today, sadly). Also, we spend some time getting an extensive look at the changes near the west main entrance, including, what appears to be the start of removal of the stairs as well. The front doors have coverings and a temporary fence to protect them from all of the major construction nearby.
Timestamps:
Drone flight overview: 0:06 to 1:06
4-month west main entrance progress check w/ discussion & illustrations: 1:07 to 3:09
Inside views of the Casting machine Structure: 3:14 to 7:46
Drone flight footage & infographics: 7:47 to 28:27
In the video intro, we look back at the last 4 months of progress around the west main entrance and discuss how this area changed on a month-to-month basis. We see significant changes, but also what appears to be significant plan changes with concrete application, then demolition and the construction of a new wall on the berm area with landscaping. Another major design change appears underway, with an interesting design being saw-cut around the main stairs. I present an outline of how this section may appear and ask viewers for ideas on what this may indicate or represent.
Here are a few additional highlights from today’s video:
More progress at the electrical switchyard this morning, including steel assembly on the south end, and what appears to be preparations to pour more concrete into the center section of one of the two large transformer foundations. Crews are also preparing the last two footings to support large circuit breakers, and nearby, foundations are nearly ready for the assembly of two more of the steel “A-frames”.
Just south of the Martin Marietta batch plant, we see the new pond now has a gray liner installed, and not wasting any time, this pond is being used to help drain out a nearby pond by the GeoPier construction site. At that pond, crews are busy preparing to fill it in to reclaim more land area near where the new structure will be constructed.
In the west cathode plant construction site, se wee some GeoPier work continues while the large yellow crane with drilling rig attached is busy making test bores. Nearby, the soil strength testing rig, which was previously used on the south end of the building where the concrete lot is being removed. The testing rig beams, mounts and shoring have all been relocated and appear being made ready for use. This is to determine what kind of soil strengthening is needed ahead of construction start.
West side steel assembly for HVAC plant continues, along with pipe manifolds being assembled nearby. We see cranes hoisting YORK HVAC materials up onto a loading platform and then into the 3rd floor!
On the south end of the building, we see the concrete removal has progressed rapidly, and now there is just one remaining section. Crews are busy saw-cutting the rest of this section into squares, and then these will be removed and transported to one of several temporary storage locations around the entire Giga Texas construction site.
At the east small parking lot, we see electrical conduit trenching and installation, preparing what appears to be two large Supercharging stations on the west side of this parking lot. This appears to be the replacement for the original concrete lot on the south end which is now nearly completely removed.
Thank you for watching and I hope this has been informative, educational, and entertaining for you. If you would like, please consider supporting me via Patreon (link is in the description of this video and in the video itself) so I can continue to make and share these incredible videos.
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Be sure to check out additional Texas Gigafactory footage on these channels:
@Jeff Roberts
@Brad Sloan
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. Primary song is “Royal” by Slenderbeats and the ending song is “Mr. Sunny Face “ by Wayne Jones
Drones used are DJI Mavic Mini and Mavic Air 2.
Drone flight over Giga Texas is with permission of Tesla and CEO Elon Musk
36 Comments
This is a new version of today's video, now processed into 4K. Sorry for the issues with the initial version.
it's frustrating to see all that demo work on the concrete!
I think the entrance area on the west side will have more stairs further from the doors than the existing. I think it will also include permanent ramps.
I think they're cutting the weird angles to make the first incline of the ramp more inviting and approachable.
Also, they may create areas where cars can be parked for display. Imagine a couple Cybertrucks out front.
Thanks Joe.
Updated after watching the HD video. Changes **
3:26. Casting. South east. Columns fitted with the strengthening collar here also. This area was being set-up for giga-presses, then part demolished https://youtu.be/7Mia2VlUO40?t=148
Concrete floor made good, https://youtu.be/NSG87SyP3i0?t=5185:56. Casting. **Small bridge crane over the DMG Mori machines is picking up a load.
6:39. Casting. New small bridge cranes installed. In the next bay west (right) is a new structure, plant platform perhaps. Assuming the 9000t gigapress location has been shifted from the east side, then its plant needs to follow. Structure is likely what was being fabricated at the new workshop near the WOW yard.
7:32. Casting. New gigapress footings. Design change? No cast-in machine base as seen in the earlier footings. What can be seen is a trench for utilities/services. Compare to the earlier foundations showing both, https://youtu.be/tlPOYd7kw8w?t=879
10:12. Switchyard/Substation. Hadn’t noticed before, the pads are offset from each other. West pad north by 2’ 0.6m or so. Otherwise seem identical.
16:26. MM Batch Plant pond. Over the last 2 years waste water from the MM batch plant wash out pits (murky green water) has been seen draining into the pond at 15:43, or dumped directly into the flooded gravel pits. Environmental concerns may have caught up with them. **New (evaporation?) pond indicates the batch plant isn’t going anywhere soon, as does some new material hoppers. Brad’s video shows water being pumped into the pond from the batch plant, likely directly from the washout pits, https://youtu.be/L7WS8jnGngI?t=756
17:56. Cathode. Small out-building. Floor has been ground, **sweeping away the grindings, before sealing/painting the floor.
18:14. Cathode. Right of screen. Look like tanks under the white plastic wrap, similar to those seen at 14:16.
18:21. **Cathode. Blue water main, elbows west. Perhaps towards the supply.
22:38. Main entrance. Stairs and landing being demolished also. Total redesign. Doors have been covered up, indicates no change there……..for now.
25:50. Stamping, apron. SPMT* has arrived, other side of the first green tarped AIDA component. **One of the AIDA components already shifted inside as mentioned by Joe elsewhere.
https://youtu.be/eTTzOkkHEAQ?t=455
27:13. South end. Bottom of screen. River road. Open electrical vaults. This should be the end of the powerline replacement. There were 2 permits to put the powerlines underground. One permit for 14 poles to be removed, the other for 15. Presumably 2 different electricity companies. Easy enough to count 29 poles between here and 26:32
*SPMT (Self Propelled Modular Transporter).
Maybe a tunnel under the road to the west entrance?
Unreal! Think Texas think BIG!!
17:00 I think that they removed the bridge between the two structures in order to add the wall panels to the building.
7:30 – One would expect at least two 9K giga-presses; one by itself is inefficient. You need two casting machines to efficiently cast a front structure and a back structure.
23:00 Speculation: There won't be any stairs when they are done. Instead, they are going to build a landscaped mound with pathways that slope gently up to the doors.
Thanks Mr. Tegtmeyer. Outstanding work.
Merci👍👍👍
Wow, you Americans are wasteful. Unfortunately you don't see this removal of thick concrete all over Giga Texas as a problem. This is why you guys have only 4% of the global population but use 40% of the world's resources . It's so sad that you guys are totally obivious to your global impact. Sorry to say this but Americans have a poor understanding of the rest of the world. You mean well but you have all been conditioned from grade school to think the the US is the greatest nation on earth. Please google the facts before you dismiss my comments. Thanks
Why do you keep redoing everything. Don't you have plans?
Seems like someone is getting carried away with the remodeling
What a fantastic job you do, Joe! Thank you!
Thanks Joe, for providing a nice high altitude overview from 12:04 onwards to figure out the best route for an electric corridor from the new switchyard to Cathode. A straight line to the centre of Cathode with all the vaults and conduits seems not possible. Now what?
They seem to be very late getting the casting machine basemat underway. The gigapress left Italy some time ago. They haven't even poured the concrete and that'll take several weeks to dry sufficiently to allow commencing the gigapress assembly.
23:35 The money wasted on landscaping is worrying…
It seems that the temporal ramp to the left and right of the entrance was a trial. Wheelchair customers could not enter, but also rolling / moving goods. So the ramp returns permanently. I think.☺☺
I could be very wrong but the shape of the edges of that remodelled area at the main entrance reminds me of the Doge Coin logo, which will only be seen from above. Some of the work going on is looking more and more self-indulgent and doesn’t exactly advance the production. It breaks my heart to see them lay so much reinforced concrete (with all the attendant CO2) only to take it up again because a billionaire has a whim. What does his board think?
It is possible that the new configuration at the main entrance might allow for some landscaped areas (ie. the jagged cutouts) to soften the look. This would coordinate with the landscape area across the road with the small cyber wall and parking area. Thoughts?
23:19 american construction in a nutshell, fast but without brain
It makes me nuts watching the redo of areas. Why they can't do it once.. Love the videos!!!!!!
Maybe the new entrance design will have some kind of large vehicle display, such as for Semi and Cybertruck.
such a waste of time and material re-doing areas that were previously done. Does anybody at Giga-oops have a game plan?
I would love to have a percentage of cost for all the redo's and redo again. Amazing how much is spent on just the front entrance.
Joe, have you ever considered that Tesla knows about the drone crews and just keeps finishing something and then ripping it away and replacing it so you guys have a reason to keep flying around the building? Imagine they had proper planning and had done these things correctly and completely on the first go. All the cargo doors, entrance, A/C on the roof, solar, etc. You would have zero reasons to keep flying around that building as it would be the exact same every day. Since Elon does not seem to mind the fact that this constantly plan-less tinkering costs a lot of money, it sure keeps you guys busy guessing what might be going on 😃
ty!
Great stuff Joe. All is interesting. From an investor standpoint the most important to me is info relating to production rates. Love seeing transports in each video.
Love seeing trucks getting loaded with cars. Great that they are putting new super chargers in the lots. It would be interesting to know what the charging cycle time is. I am betting 15 minutes to half full. No need for a full charge. That would put capacity at about 100 cars per charger per day if charging is going on 24 hours per day.
I haven't watched since July why is the South concrete being all removed?
Thank you Joe. Great work and thank you for explaining the progress!! 🙏🏼😁Greetings from Germany George
Keep up the great job Joe! I still dont get why they keep redoing the concrete areas around the building, sometimes several times, seems like a huge waste of money or bad planning….
Fun to guess what’s going on at the entrance! My guess would be a paved state of Texas ,because of the shape,with some soft landscaping around the edges.
Very good Joe, thanks. Glad to see YT's issues with the resolution have been resolved. Keep 'em coming lad!
You say “you can see” so many times each video. Lmao