Adressing a crowd of around 1,000 in an indigenous Texan outfit (Not stereotypical at all!), Elon Musk marked the opening of Tesla’s brand new facility called “Giga Texas” located in Austin, TX.
The city of Austin was chosen after a strong case was put forward by legislators of both states of Texas and Oklahoma. The facility would be the fourth in Tesla’s impressive lineup of factories. The company already has manufacturing setups in Shanghai, California and more recently started, Berlin.
Musk claimed that this would be the biggest car factory in the US in terms of Area, and will also be leading the US in production volume when fully ramped up. The facility has its uniqueness in the fact that unlike Tesla’s other facilities, which have separate complexes for different manufacturing tasks, The Giga Texas brings all the manufacturing process under one roof.
Tesla will also be manufacturing battery cells at the facility itself, although considering the massive raw material shortage and high demand caused by the pandemic, it does seem to be a daunting undertaking.
The factory will be manufacturing the Tesla Model Ys primarily, and according to Musk’s claims, will be producing the 2019 release Cybertruck next year. The company aims to produce around 500,000 units of the Model Y annually at the Giga Texas. While addressing the Cyber Rodeo event, Musk said “The Model Y line will be the highest capacity line I think of any line in the world. In fact I’m confident it will be. Half a millions units a year in a single factory of one product is the biggest dang thing in the world. This will be the highest volume car factory in America.”
The event, which Musk hosted in a Texan cowboy hat and sunglasses (for an indoor dark event, someone’s got to be fired over this), had a buzz around it. Since it was named “Cyber Rodeo”, the crowds were expecting a Cybertruck update. The Cybertruck launch was a comedy of errors on its own. While the Cybertruck did make an appearance at the event, significant details were not revealed.
Musk also promised a self driving “dedicated robotaxi” which would look futuristic. “Massive scale. Full self-driving. There’s going to be a dedicated robotaxi,” Musk said to a beaming crowd. Tesla has been pursuing the dream of autonomous vehicles since a long time, and has made considerable strides towards achieving it.
