So I just went on the gigafactory tour and am now waiting for Elon or whoever to give some remarks.
The outside (and inside for that matter) of the factory is under active construction 24x7. They were pouring foundation concrete here as we arrived at 5:30pm.
Various areas inside are still being built and in particular the battery cell process equipment is still being installed. We did see some of the massive ovens and giant racks that go on forever for cell curing. Panasonic was not surprisingly skittish about showing us too much so we did not get to see too much. Mostly it was different stations where an engineer gave a short talk about what the equipment did on a general level.
So, slurry mixing, rolling out slurry into metal substrate, oven, rolling, and then storage racks. Yeah, they missed a few steps and some important details
By the way, the guy who had that idea on seeking alpha that Panasonic wasn't going to have a large initial cell charging and do that step in the model 3 was wrong. I specifically asked a battery engineer about initial cell charging and he said that they do indeed have a large room for that just like in any other lithium ion cell factory.
I also asked him how often do new battery startups with the next great battery bug tesla about tesla using their technology. He said that it used to be that tesla had to hunt these companies down but now they come to tesla. Tesla initially asks to see real test data which knocks out the majority of these companies. He said that literally only two companies gave them cells to test and they didn't pan out. However they are continuing to test real cells of new companies. He said that tesla is keeping tabs on close to 70 battery companies. However, the new model 3 cells will be the latest Panasonic creation.
We then got to see the Tesla energy side of things. Three smallish lines. One was cell tray population and creation which was semi automated. Another line for making power packs and a third line for power walls. I gotta say, it didn't look like they were making tons of product.
I thought it interesting that they haven't yet installed any solar panels on the roof although that is still the plan.
Enough for now.
The outside (and inside for that matter) of the factory is under active construction 24x7. They were pouring foundation concrete here as we arrived at 5:30pm.
Various areas inside are still being built and in particular the battery cell process equipment is still being installed. We did see some of the massive ovens and giant racks that go on forever for cell curing. Panasonic was not surprisingly skittish about showing us too much so we did not get to see too much. Mostly it was different stations where an engineer gave a short talk about what the equipment did on a general level.
So, slurry mixing, rolling out slurry into metal substrate, oven, rolling, and then storage racks. Yeah, they missed a few steps and some important details
By the way, the guy who had that idea on seeking alpha that Panasonic wasn't going to have a large initial cell charging and do that step in the model 3 was wrong. I specifically asked a battery engineer about initial cell charging and he said that they do indeed have a large room for that just like in any other lithium ion cell factory.
I also asked him how often do new battery startups with the next great battery bug tesla about tesla using their technology. He said that it used to be that tesla had to hunt these companies down but now they come to tesla. Tesla initially asks to see real test data which knocks out the majority of these companies. He said that literally only two companies gave them cells to test and they didn't pan out. However they are continuing to test real cells of new companies. He said that tesla is keeping tabs on close to 70 battery companies. However, the new model 3 cells will be the latest Panasonic creation.
We then got to see the Tesla energy side of things. Three smallish lines. One was cell tray population and creation which was semi automated. Another line for making power packs and a third line for power walls. I gotta say, it didn't look like they were making tons of product.
I thought it interesting that they haven't yet installed any solar panels on the roof although that is still the plan.
Enough for now.
