During the confinement decreed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Tesla had to close its factory in Fremont, halting vehicle production for about a month and a half. Despite this setback, the firm has taken advantage of the stop to update the factory and make improvements to the production lines. Now some of the modifications carried out have been disclosed.
Tesla has requested the necessary permits to install new robots from the specialized company MINO Automation in the facilities. These will possibly be used to increase the production rate of the new Model Y. A vehicle whose demand could exceed that of its successful brother Model 3 according to the estimates of numerous experts and Tesla itself.
The Fremont factory currently has a production rate of 490,000 units per year. The new increase in capacity will raise this figure to 600,000 units by the end of the year (that is, 11,000 vehicles per week). Some of which 500,000 will correspond to the Model 3 and Model Y, the most affordable models of the company.
To this, we would have to add Giga Shanghai, which currently has 150,000 units per year. Although it will be updated in the short term to reach 250,000 at the hands of the new Model Y. The company’s objective is that its Asian facilities reach a production rate of 500,000 units a year in the medium term. A figure close to that of Fremont.
Nor can we forget Giga Berlin, which will start operating in 2021, with its objective also to reach 500,000 units manufactured per year. Shortly after that, a fifth gigafactory will join, which is likely to be located in Austin, Texas (hence the name Giga Austin). This means that by 2022 Tesla’s production capacity will far exceed one million units a year.