{"id":5388,"date":"2016-08-01T23:22:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T23:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minutes.machine.market\/?p=5388"},"modified":"2016-08-01T23:22:51","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T23:22:51","slug":"inside-the-tesla-gigafactory-the-biggest-factory-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/machine.market\/blog\/inside-the-tesla-gigafactory-the-biggest-factory-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The Tesla Gigafactory, The Biggest Factory In The World"},"content":{"rendered":"

I never understood why Tesla insisted on calling its new battery factory a \u201cGigafactory<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s just a factory, after all, and we already have a word in English for that\u2014\u201cfactory.\u201d But then I saw it up close, and the enormity of it all is mind-boggling. When finished, it will be the largest factory in the entire world and the the biggest building in the world by footprint. Here\u2019s why Tesla needs it.<\/p>\n

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(Full Disclosure:<\/strong> Tesla wanted us to see the Gigafactory so badly that they invited us and a whole bunch of other outlets, and that was it. We paid our own way. Mostly. Flights from New York to Reno are a pain, so we flew to San Francisco, picked up a Tesla Model X at Tesla\u2019s Fremont factory, and then went on a road trip to the Gigafactory outside Reno. It is not a short drive.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Tesla is betting its entire future, in large part, on Gigafactory 1. It will churn out the batteries necessary for the Tesla Model 3<\/a>, which is the car that\u2019s supposed to make or break the company, and for which Tesla already has hundreds of thousands of orders despite first deliveries still being more than a year away.<\/p>\n

But if there are no batteries, there will be no car. And with no cars, there won\u2019t be much of a company left to speak of.<\/p>\n

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Tesla Model 3. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And even then, there\u2019s an enormous question raised here: Tesla\u2019s making thousands of cars already, so why does it need the largest factory in the world just to build a few more?<\/p>\n

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The reason is that Tesla\u2019s planned annual production of cars, powered by lithium-ion batteries much like the ones in your laptop and cell phone, will exceed the entire global production of batteries in short order. With a problem like that, the only solution is to build a new battery factory. A big one.<\/p>\n

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Production of battery cells starts in a few weeks, but the building itself isn\u2019t even finished yet. It actually won\u2019t be finished for a long time. As it stands, only 14 percent of the work is complete, but already it contains 1.9 million square feet of floor space, on an 800,000 square foot footprint. When it\u2019s done, it\u2019s supposed to contain over 10 million square feet of floor space.<\/p>\n

Some battery production has actually already started, in the form of Tesla Powerwalls and Powerpacks, which are meant for stationary energy storage for a home or a business.<\/p>\n

A Powerwall is a bit like an enormous battery hanging out on your wall for whenever you need it, for power outages or even just smoothing out energy consumption. One Powerpack, in turn, is 16 Powerwall batteries in a stack, and the energy stored inside can power a typical American home for three days, Tesla says.<\/p>\n

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A robot making Powerwalls inside the Gigafactory. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When production is fully up and running at the 14 percent that\u2019s been completed,which is planned for 2018, it will make batteries for up to 500,000 cars a year. And 500,000 cars will require more batteries than the entire global production of batteries in 2014. Each small battery cell\u2014which they wouldn\u2019t let us take photos of\u2014looks a lot like a shiny metal shotgun shell.<\/p>\n

But at the Gigafactory, two different ideas are constantly competing for space. On the one hand, production needs to be up and running as soon as possible. On the other, Tesla needs as much capacity as possible. Because of that, there are odd features that you don\u2019t find on many buildings. Most of the exterior walls, for example, are temporary.<\/p>\n

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Gigafactory front.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The final building, with a completion date that is still to be determined, will make batteries for 1.5 million cars. As you\u2019re reading this, on a hot late July day of 2016, more than 800 construction workers are scurrying in two daily shifts to get everything ready.<\/p>\n

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The black outline is what\u2019s been completed so far. It\u2019s only 14 percent of the finished product, but they\u2019re getting it up and running now. By 2018, 1\/3 will be finished, producing batteries for 500,000 cars a year. When fully built (they\u2019re not saying when that is), it will have capacity for 1.5 million cars. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even with all that, the sheer size of the thing is hard to convey in words.<\/p>\n

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Tesla broke ground on the factory in June of 2014, and already it\u2019s more than a mile long. But with output ramping up, there\u2019s no construction slowdown. Outside the already-existing walls, massive cranes lift huge steel beams into place:<\/p>\n

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Construction continues apace. The crane lifts three massive steel bars at a time in the interest of speed and efficiency. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the sections adjacent to the already-existing building, construction workers lay rebar on the ground to make the factory floor:<\/p>\n

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Inside the part under active construction. Those guys were laying rebar for the floor. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the outside, those same sections almost make it look like a computer image that hasn\u2019t quite finished rendering yet:<\/p>\n

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As you can see, it\u2019s still under construction, but production of small-scale production has already started of Powerwalls and Powerpacks, which are basically stacks of Powerwall batteries with mostly industrial and commercial uses. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But when you get in close, you can see how colossal it is. That crane, sitting right next to it, is not in any way small:<\/p>\n

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Photo for scale. That is not a small crane next to all of it. X-bracing will be painted red. It\u2019s for earthquake resistance. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ability of the place to make you feel tiny in comparison doesn\u2019t change on the inside, either. For reference, this big logo was nearly 40 feet high:<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On what will soon be the main production floor, equipment seems to just stretch on forever.<\/p>\n

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Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There was much they wouldn\u2019t allow us to take photos of, including 38-foot high battery production machines which seemed to stretch for nearly 300 feet in length, though Tesla refused to tell us how large they actually were.<\/p>\n

Everything seems to smell of paint, glue, or epoxy. There are massive dry rooms, intended to keep the humidity down to less than one percent. Storage facilities with hundreds if not thousands of racks await battery packs and an army of robots to create and move it all.<\/p>\n

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Production will be heavily automated, as depicted in this mockup. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And all of it, just to build one car. For now.<\/p>\n

Tesla\u2019s second Master Plan<\/a> hints at pickup trucks, semis, and a full range of vehicles. If all of it works.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still plenty stacked against it, and plenty of things that could go very wrong. What if people start canceling their Model 3 orders? What if people stop buying Tesla\u2019s already existing cars, the Model S and Model X? What if the entire financial world suddenly realizes the even bigger chutzpah needed to have a start-up, and one that still only employs 15,000 people, build the world\u2019s biggest factory? What if the suppliers can\u2019t deliver? What if the Model 3 is beset by production slip-ups and delays, as its predecessors were? What if it\u2019s just not any good?<\/p>\n

What if it\u2019s all just a huge gamble, and it\u2019s more risky than anyone is willing to admit?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an endless list of questions that could be asked. But for now at Tesla, the only answer is full speed ahead.<\/p>\n

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Mockup of final product. Image credit: Tesla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Tesla Model 3. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Tesla Model 3. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Truck. Photo credit: Michael Ballaban\/Jalopnik<\/figcaption>
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I never understood why Tesla insisted on calling its new battery factory a \u201cGigafactory.\u201d It\u2019s just a factory, after all, and we already have a word in English for that\u2014\u201cfactory.\u201d But then I saw it up close, and the enormity of it all is mind-boggling. When finished, it will be the largest factory in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nInside The Tesla Gigafactory, The Biggest Factory In The World - MachineMarket Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cranemarket.com\/blog\/inside-the-tesla-gigafactory-the-biggest-factory-in-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside The Tesla Gigafactory, The Biggest Factory In The World - MachineMarket Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I never understood why Tesla insisted on calling its new battery factory a \u201cGigafactory.\u201d It\u2019s just a factory, after all, and we already have a word in English for that\u2014\u201cfactory.\u201d But then I saw it up close, and the enormity of it all is mind-boggling. 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