Tesla has recently submitted a request to the City of Fremont to expand its facilities, thus consolidating the tent that houses a Model Y production line, making a hastily improvised solution fixed in February 2020.
Document BLD2021-05126 includes the request to carry out foundation works and underground service galleries next to the Model Y production line, which will allow GA 4.5 (General Assembly 4.5) to be available in the southern part of the factory of the Californian town.
Even though Fremont’s facilities are extensive, it seems that Tesla is running out of space in its first large factory from which the Model S and Model 3 currently come out, along with the Model X and Model Y SUVs.
Increasing sales and waiting for the new factory in Texas and Berlin to go into production leads Tesla to continue expanding its facilities in Palo Alto.
5/
— Troy Teslike (@TroyTeslike) July 5, 2020
Here are photos of the new GA4.5 tent next to the GA4 tent. The account that posted the photos says it’s OK to reuse.
GA4 was built for Model 3 in 2018 & they used it for Y in Q2 2020. GA4.5 should increase Y prod capacity
Tesla is also working on GA5 which will be indoors pic.twitter.com/zuQa3sB6Et
Fremont facilities are continually evolving, quickly adapting to the needs and technological changes that the manufacturer is making in its assembly lines.
In addition to manufacturing Tesla’s S3XY range, the pilot factory for its new Type 4680 batteries has been installed in California. The old facilities purchased from Toyota do not use the new gigafactories designs, which are being applied in Europe and Texas, proving their effectiveness in operation in China.
For this reason, the arrival of the Giga Press to Fremont, the 4680 structural battery factory, or even the Model 3 and Model Y manufacturing lines pose a ‘Tetris’ style challenge when it comes to meeting all need manufacturer.
The structure under fixed tents, released by the Model 3, in a desperate attempt to solve the “production hell” experienced by Tesla with the start of production of the saloon, seems to have captivated the American brand’s leaders at the time to solve space problems.
Tesla has chosen as a custom in Fremont to mount complete production lines under the light roof of a fixed tent that seems to respond to the needs of organization and space far from being a temporary solution.
All these ‘advantages’ make it possible at the same time to save the millionaire investment that would be involved in building new buildings to house the necessary production lines.
No standard automotive solution could be built in time, so we created a new solution. It is working & has slightly higher quality than the more traditional general assembly line. Perhaps most surprising is that the total cost of production in the Sprung tent is lower.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 27, 2018
Below is the permit filed by Tesla with the City of Fremont for its Fremont facility.
