Model Y - Gigafactory Texas Production

[Yelobird]

Hi it is in section "Model Y vin 422 build Quality" I stared, , posted by Bree at 9.15 am this morning.

Yeah pretty sure he’s wrong Or I suspect his list of “Y” improvements includes the proposed soon/future YAWD model which is not All Y’s.

 

[ZenRockGarden]

Do we have any confirmation that front-mega-cast is even a thing at Fremont? All I see is a fairly isolated claim from one guy with a MYP coming....

 

[towndrunk]

F450 here with delivery in about 2 weeks. I'd love to see front casting. Hope it's true.

 

[Ron J.]

I do not read the post from Bree in the other thread as saying he has first hand knowledge that Fremont built MYs have front mega-castings. The MY AWD from Austin does and that makes including that in his list of MY improvements since 2020 valid (more or less) even if Fremont MY-LR and MY-P vehicles do not have the front mega-casting yet.

 

[djgarrett21]

I do not read the post from Bree in the other thread as saying he has first hand knowledge that Fremont built MYs have front mega-castings. The MY AWD from Austin does and that makes including that in his list of MY improvements since 2020 valid (more or less) even if Fremont MY-LR and MY-P vehicles do not have the front mega-casting yet.

Agree, don't read his post as having a source for Fremont front castings.

I believe Tesla is using front castings in their Berlin factory as well (with 2170 cells).

 

[ZenRockGarden]

Clearly Tesla is moving to full front and rear castings - it's a more efficient process for them. But has Fremont got there? Not at all clear.

 

[Yperformance]

Sunday we will see.

 

[Ron J.]

Clearly Tesla is moving to full front and rear castings - it's a more efficient process for them. But has Fremont got there? Not at all clear.

It has been reported by more than one source that thousands of front castings have been seen on-site at Fremont for the past several months. That would indicate that at some point Fremont's production line will be updated to use both front and rear mega-castings. I guess the real question in when will the transition happen. BTY I'm scheduled to take delivery of a MY-LR tomorrow with a VIN of F436xxx, but I'm don't anticipate it having a front mega-casting.

 

[CRIMSON_DATE]

It has been reported by more than one source that thousands of front castings have been seen on-site at Fremont for the past several months. That would indicate that at some point Fremont's production line will be updated to use both front and rear mega-castings. I guess the real question in when will the transition happen. BTY I'm scheduled to take delivery of a MY-LR tomorrow with a VIN of F436xxx, but I'm don't anticipate it having a front mega-casting.

They will likely be producing the SR+ as well at some point . Remember that GT was not suppose to be sending cars to the West coast

 

[qwert]

It has been reported by more than one source that thousands of front castings have been seen on-site at Fremont for the past several months. That would indicate that at some point Fremont's production line will be updated to use both front and rear mega-castings. I guess the real question in when will the transition happen. BTY I'm scheduled to take delivery of a MY-LR tomorrow with a VIN of F436xxx, but I'm don't anticipate it having a front mega-casting.

Did you take the delivery? Curious to see if you were able to verify that it has front mega casting or not

 

[Yperformance]

It has been reported by more than one source that thousands of front castings have been seen on-site at Fremont for the past several months. That would indicate that at some point Fremont's production line will be updated to use both front and rear mega-castings. I guess the real question in when will the transition happen. BTY I'm scheduled to take delivery of a MY-LR tomorrow with a VIN of F436xxx, but I'm don't anticipate it having a front mega-casting.

Hi, How was the delivery? Getting mine build 442 next week . Hope it went well.

 

[RoyT]

FACTS
Both Fremont and Austin have been producing FRONT, as well as REAR, Megacasts for months.
Evidence in Fremont is the thousands of castings stacked on the lot in the vicinity of the GigaPress machines. See YT Fremont drone overflight videos.
They've been rolling the Rear castings inside for use. The Front castings have been stacked outside.

This is also true in Austin. Rear castings have been being made since August; Fronts started in October.
Evidence for this is available from the Joe Tegtmeyer videos, to which I'm a subscriber.
Castings in Austin are stored inside the cavernous building (next to steel stampings of doors, hoods, etc in production frames).

OPINION
All available evidence points to Battery Pack delays resulting in the build-up of parts, and Tesla's reluctance to use their 'backup plan' of 2170 packs with castings.
The most compelling evidence is indirect - there being no word of BATTERY PACK TESTING STATUS.
It's the packs, ALONG WITH the batteries, that count most. The integrity of the v2.0 chassis relies on the pack as a structural element.
All that said, Tesla would have proceeded with 2710 packs if they thought 4680 packs were too far from production-ready.
Why? Because Tesla stands to gain tremendously from the production time + cost benefits of using the 4680 structural packs.

IMHO, Tesla does not want to further complicate their logistics (supplier, shipping, delivery, service) by building different versions at different factories.
I use as evidence the deliveries this last 10 days of dashboards, interior, and other parts to Austin from Fremont.
What a mess if they start using different / different.

I speculate that Fremont will be doing a brief shutdown of the MY line in January to re-fit for MY v2.0 chassis production. Might already be happening.
Evidence? Final construction of an all-weather causeway between the MY chassis fab building and the newly completed MY Giga 4.5 Sprung Structure (tent).
Efficiency improvements all around.

Further evidence? Tesla's Fremont Logistics Lot has bunches of MS and MX going out, and less than usual EoQ MY.
100K vehicles are worth 2X 50K vehicles on the balance sheet. Good time to convert the MY lines.

FACT
Wrong! According to the Credit Suisse, "Fieldtrip" with Fremont management 27 May 2022, "At Austin, the front and rear castings (and structural battery pack) of vehicles will be done in one step, whereas at Fremont only rear castings are used". So, regardless of, "drone sightings of piled up castings at Fremont" the use of castings in the front of Model Y at Fremont is not happening. And it makes sense, owing to the radical production line changes that would be required as others have posted. Austin will make whatever engineering changes to the pack or frame to utilize (according to Elon) a 2170 Non-Structural Battery Pack in the Model Y for the near future (until 4680 supplies are sufficient).

 

[ZenRockGarden]

FACTS
Both Fremont and Austin have been producing FRONT, as well as REAR, Megacasts for months.
Evidence in Fremont is the thousands of castings stacked on the lot in the vicinity of the GigaPress machines. See YT Fremont drone overflight videos.
They've been rolling the Rear castings inside for use. The Front castings have been stacked outside.

This is also true in Austin. Rear castings have been being made since August; Fronts started in October.
Evidence for this is available from the Joe Tegtmeyer videos, to which I'm a subscriber.
Castings in Austin are stored inside the cavernous building (next to steel stampings of doors, hoods, etc in production frames).

OPINION
All available evidence points to Battery Pack delays resulting in the build-up of parts, and Tesla's reluctance to use their 'backup plan' of 2170 packs with castings.
The most compelling evidence is indirect - there being no word of BATTERY PACK TESTING STATUS.
It's the packs, ALONG WITH the batteries, that count most. The integrity of the v2.0 chassis relies on the pack as a structural element.
All that said, Tesla would have proceeded with 2710 packs if they thought 4680 packs were too far from production-ready.
Why? Because Tesla stands to gain tremendously from the production time + cost benefits of using the 4680 structural packs.

IMHO, Tesla does not want to further complicate their logistics (supplier, shipping, delivery, service) by building different versions at different factories.
I use as evidence the deliveries this last 10 days of dashboards, interior, and other parts to Austin from Fremont.
What a mess if they start using different / different.

I speculate that Fremont will be doing a brief shutdown of the MY line in January to re-fit for MY v2.0 chassis production. Might already be happening.
Evidence? Final construction of an all-weather causeway between the MY chassis fab building and the newly completed MY Giga 4.5 Sprung Structure (tent).
Efficiency improvements all around.

Further evidence? Tesla's Fremont Logistics Lot has bunches of MS and MX going out, and less than usual EoQ MY.
100K vehicles are worth 2X 50K vehicles on the balance sheet. Good time to convert the MY lines.

Sorry - your "fact" is simply that Fremont has front castings to play with. You have ZERO direct evidence of front castings being in delivered cars which is what you are trying to imply. We'd love to see them in there, but so far, there is not a single example of a Fremont front-casting CAR to look at.

 

[SageBrush]

Sorry - your "fact" is simply that Fremont has front castings to play with.

I don't see the point of negative connotations.
The fact seems to be that Fremont has produced thousands of front castings that have not been put into cars. I cannot say whether that means that Tesla is close to reaching the point where the production line will change to include a front casting, or whether it means that Tesla is having problems getting to where they want to be.

 

[Whatstreet]

I live in Fremont, and I have witnessed the stockpiled castings. I don't work at Tesla, so I don't know if they are front or rear castings or both. There are a lot of them, so they aren't playing. My bet is they will transition over to the same manufacturing as Austin. There will only be one Model Y.

 

[MP3Mike]

The fact seems to be that Fremont has produced thousands of front castings that have not been put into cars.

Did they produce them at Fremont or were they trucked in from Texas? Maybe they are scrap to recycle?

 

[SageBrush]

Did they produce them at Fremont or were they trucked in from Texas? Maybe they are scrap to recycle?

Or perhaps beamed in from Mars ? Inquiring minds want to know !

 

[tangible1]

Sorry - your "fact" is simply that Fremont has front castings to play with. You have ZERO direct evidence of front castings being in delivered cars which is what you are trying to imply. We'd love to see them in there, but so far, there is not a single example of a Fremont front-casting CAR to look at.

All due respect, but front magacastings at Fremont are a FACT.
As evidence, the facility has been making FRONT megacastings for months, and they're on display on the lot. Check the flyover videos.
I'm not implying anything but that Fremont is capable of making MY v2.0 chassis (F+R+46980)
It's inherently obvious that Fremont is not currently making MY v2.0 chassis.

Of course, Fremont is making rear megacastings, and those are currently being integrated to all MY chassis manufactured in Fremont, and has been quite a while now.

 

[tangible1]

Did they produce them at Fremont or were they trucked in from Texas? Maybe they are scrap to recycle?

Very, very early on, there were some front castings trucked in from Fremont. But that was before the 4680 delays became apparent.
Starting late last summer, front megacasts were being made in Texas along with rear castings.
You can review articles in Teslarati that published pics of the early castings made.

 

[tangible1]

FACT
Wrong! According to the Credit Suisse, "Fieldtrip" with Fremont management 27 May 2022, "At Austin, the front and rear castings (and structural battery pack) of vehicles will be done in one step, whereas at Fremont only rear castings are used". So, regardless of, "drone sightings of piled up castings at Fremont" the use of castings in the front of Model Y at Fremont is not happening. And it makes sense, owing to the radical production line changes that would be required as others have posted. Austin will make whatever engineering changes to the pack or frame to utilize (according to Elon) a 2170 Non-Structural Battery Pack in the Model Y for the near future (until 4680 supplies are sufficient).

FALSE
the description that article makes about F+R castings and battery pack, all being done in one step, is erroneous. The reporter either wrote poorly or understood little.
They're two separate castings, each is made separately.
The structural battery pack is also a separate item, comprised of course by battery cells and framing (a loose description, but whatever).
The 2 castings are integrated on the production line with side chassis framing components, then the structural pack is added via fasteners.