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Factory pickup details

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I got the email yesterday that my car was ready! :biggrin: I didn't get the email until 9:00 at night because I was on an airplane.:frown: Working with two different Tesla employees on their cell phones, they scheduled me for an 11am pickup. :biggrin:

Now I'm trying to figure out the details.

How long does the tour take?
How long does the demo of the car take?
Does the car demo happen before or after the tour?

I assume it's relatively easy to figure out where to go when you get to the plant?
I can still bring 3 people with me to the tour?

thanks,
Derek
 
Congratulations.

1 hour for the tour
Then, get delivery. About 1.5 hours for delivery - depends on customer's comfort level with the Tesla tech.


Drive into the main gate (gate 5, I think).. Go straight to the main lobby. The meeting area is to the right of the lobby, down a few stairs and up a couple of stairs. It seems like everyone would know where to direct you if you get lost.


Yes, up to 4 folks on the tour... Its great
Have fun!
 
The gate signs are easy to follow, you won't select the wrong entrance. When you pull up, tell the guard you're there for a delivery, he'll point you to the main entrance (nice red TESLA overhang, difficult to miss). And you'll be taken care of from that point on.
 
The gate signs are easy to follow, you won't select the wrong entrance. When you pull up, tell the guard you're there for a delivery, he'll point you to the main entrance (nice red TESLA overhang, difficult to miss). And you'll be taken care of from that point on.

Well, I ended up in the 'other' entrance where the test drives/rides were, near the chargers. An employee badged me in but the guards were a bit confused and it took a second before they realized what I was there for. ( I did get to talk w/ a QC engineer for 5 or 10 minutes, which was 'special')


Bonnie - I guess I should add that we were driving for 6 hours and 300 miles in rain before we arrived and it was just getting dusky out (signs, what are those:wink:). I think it might be hard to miss the service area but I was familiar w/ the other door.
 
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Answers to my own questions for the record:
Yes, the tour happens first and lasts about 1 hour.
Yes, the walkthrough is about 1 hour.
If there's nobody at the main gate, it probably isn't so easy to find where to go. First of all, don't go to the service center, go right from there to get to the main gate. After you turn left into the main gate, you do need to shift right a bit [divide by 2]. Several of us missed that and parked too far North.

The tour left maybe 15 minutes after the scheduled time.

They weren't counting guests at my tour. I think Tesla should make it clear via email that there's a limit to how many guests you can take. One gentleman brought 10 people with him (11 total). I asked how many cars he was picking up, and he looked at me strangely: "One". The tour guide commented on how it was the biggest tour group she had ever seen. (well, yeah, that's what happens when 5 people picking up cars results in 25 people on a tour because no email told us we were limited). I felt silly for being a party of 2.

They didn't seem picky about the age of guests. There was an infant, lots of teens, and a 10 yr old. [Amusingly, I thought the 10 yr old asked some of the more insightful questions.] The tour is all on foot and it does involve a handful of stairs. Nothing significant, but notable for some of the less mobile. The tour is very low key. We were allowed to walk where we wanted as long as we were with the tour group and not in the way.

One group arrived two hours late for their pickup, and it seemed that Tesla thought this was typical. They might not have gotten the tour, but I'm sure they got their car.

I loved the casual feel for the tour, but I have a feeling it's going to end badly some day when some 6 yr old with inattentive parents either hurts himself or somebody's car.

Anyway, I loved the tour.
 
I think my walkthrough was more like 30 min but I'd already read the owners manual :).

An hour sounds about right for the tour. And figure up to 30 min (but probably more like 15) for wait time.

From what I saw, the folks at the factory really try and be flexible wrt people's schedule. Some folks skip the tour. Others if they get there late, get a walk-through first, then tour second.

It can get pretty chaotic :). They had snacks and drinks to help keep the kids (and adults) occupied though :).
 
I'm thinking of doing the factory pickup/tour, but would be flying in from Las Vegas and spending the night across 880 to the southwest at the Marriott. Could I just walk north up Fremont Blvd. and then east into the complex? I presume that before I got near anything of value someone would ask me what my business is, and I could get directions.
 
I'm thinking of doing the factory pickup/tour, but would be flying in from Las Vegas and spending the night across 880 to the southwest at the Marriott. Could I just walk north up Fremont Blvd. and then east into the complex? I presume that before I got near anything of value someone would ask me what my business is, and I could get directions.

So you walk up Fremont towards Industrial. You don't have to walk all the way to Industrial though as there's a clearing in the bushes and the fence goes away maybe halfway towards there. So you can shortcut through to Kato Rd, then walk down south till you see the big TESLA logo on the wall of one of the buildings. There should be a booth by the entrance too. Just walk past that and into the attached small building which is where the lobby is. It was pouring when I went in December, so I took any shortcut I could get while walking there.
 
They sent me a link to a video showing all the car features last week. It required a password and went through all the car features, so I think they are trying to cut down this walk through time. It isn't a public video yet but is quite good in giving a detailed overview. Not that I remember every detail.

Picking up my car this week!