Tesla Gigafactory Investor Thread

[ecarfan]

Yes it is difficult to appreciate the scale of the building from the wide angle camera drone footage. The first section being built is just a small fraction of the total planned building. The scale is so huge I have trouble grasping just how big the complete structure will be.

 

[Twoshedds]

Trouble at the Gigafactory site: Panicking journalists allegedly trespassing at the Gigafactory ran over two Tesla employees in a Jeep - Quartz

 

[Gwgan]

Journalists Trespass, Assault Tesla employees at the Gigafactory | Tesla Motors

 

[palmer_md]

Journalists Trespass, Assault Tesla employees at the Gigafactory | Tesla Motors

Wow. Unbelieveable that such a thing could happen. So sad. I hope the employees recover and I hope the newspaper employees are charged to the full extent of the law. Completely unacceptable!

 

[Twoshedds]

Very good presentation by J.B. Straubel - Tesla Motors - JB Straubel - University of Nevada, Reno - 10/11/15 - YouTube

Gigafactory ahead of schedule, employees to start working there in the coming weeks.

 

[brandude87]

Very good presentation by J.B. Straubel - Tesla Motors - JB Straubel - University of Nevada, Reno - 10/11/15 - YouTube

Gigafactory ahead of schedule, employees to start working there in the coming weeks.

Interesting video. Thanks for posting! A few interesting tidbits:

1:01:00 - JB mentioned that there will be solar panels on the hillside (as well as the roof of the Gigafactory), but mentioned nothing of wind (shown in the original Gigafactory renderings). Have they abandoned wind power?

1:01:40 - There will be no "just in case" natural gas line to the Gigafactory. Instead, a heat pump will be used which will be more efficient than natural gas. The factory will have zero emmissions.

35:27 - A new construction photo:

 

[Quant]

Very good presentation by J.B. Straubel - Tesla Motors - JB Straubel - University of Nevada, Reno - 10/11/15 - YouTube

Gigafactory ahead of schedule, employees to start working there in the coming weeks.

I agree ! Great job by JB and some good info both re Model 3 work in progress and Gigafactory progress/ hiring plans !

 

[Oil4AsphaultOnly]

1:01:00 - JB mentioned that there will be solar panels on the hillside (as well as the roof of the Gigafactory), but mentioned nothing of wind (shown in the original Gigafactory renderings). Have they abandoned wind power?

With sunlight and dry weather being more consistent, maybe wind resources aren't as cost effective in Reno? In which case, only solar + batteries + 1 geothermal plant? I think they have a contract with a nearby plant?

 

[VolkerP]

What plant could be easier to power with intermittent solar power than a battery factory?

 

[MitchJi]

What plant could be easier to power with intermittent solar power than a battery factory?

It's inefficient to produce heat for cell production with solar PV (or wind).

 

[hobbes]

Looks like Tesla deal with LG is only for Roadster upgrade batteries:

Panasonic Q2 profit beats estimates, reassures on Tesla - Yahoo Finance

* Q2 profit jumps by nearly a third; 16 pct ahead of consensus
* Says LG Chem deal with Tesla only for out-of-production model
* Sells lead acid battery unit to GS Yuasa for $250 mln (Writes through with comments on Tesla)

Good from a Tesla point of view, everything going as planned, and Panasonic focusing more on Li-ion batteries is a good sign for the long-term, too.

Panasonic also said on Thursday it would sell its lead acid battery business to battery maker GS Yuasa Corp for $250 million to focus on lithium-ion batteries.

 

[electracity]

Looks like Tesla deal with LG is only for Roadster upgrade batteries:

Interesting. It seems that LG is willing to work with desirable companies on small projects.

Anything different about roadster batteries that might fit LG?

 

[austinEV]

It's inefficient to produce heat for cell production with solar PV (or wind).

What? It has been the plan from day 1 to use solar power for production. You seem to be flatly suggesting that they plan to use grid power?

 

[Cosmacelf]

What? It has been the plan from day 1 to use solar power for production. You seem to be flatly suggesting that they plan to use grid power?

I suspect the poster was commenting that it is cheaper to use natural gas for high heat processes rather than electricity, however the electricity is produced.

But I wonder if they instead used industrial heat pumps to generate heat, and then used the cooling side to air condition the buildings. This might even be more efficient.

 

[trils0n]

I suspect the poster was commenting that it is cheaper to use natural gas for high heat processes rather than electricity, however the electricity is produced.

But I wonder if they instead used industrial heat pumps to generate heat, and then used the cooling side to air condition the buildings. This might even be more efficient.

According to JB, they are not going to use nat gas. No nat gas pipelines were installed to the gigafactory. Heat pumps turned out to be the most efficient way.

 

[hobbes]

I suspect the poster was commenting that it is cheaper to use natural gas for high heat processes rather than electricity, however the electricity is produced.

But I wonder if they instead used industrial heat pumps to generate heat, and then used the cooling side to air condition the buildings. This might even be more efficient.

That´s how I interpreted that comment too - using absorbers is a more direct way to heat a building: (em solar radiation -> heat) instead of (em solar radiation->electricity->battery->electricity->heat).

 

[MitchJi]

What? It has been the plan from day 1 to use solar power for production. You seem to be flatly suggesting that they plan to use grid power?

1. I was not suggesting that they are planning to do anything, I have no idea what they are planning to do.

2. I was stating obvious facts. Generating heat with electricity is not efficient and using batteries for storage for that makes even less sense.

3. I think they should compare concentrating solar, using tubes with parabolic mirrors or mirrors focused on towers to heat fluid. Same technologies used to generate electricity from solar 24/7. Then compare that with using heat pumps.

 

[Perfectlogic]

1. I was not suggesting that they are planning to do anything, I have no idea what they are planning to do.

2. I was stating obvious facts. Generating heat with electricity is not efficient and using batteries for storage for that makes even less sense.

3. I think they should compare concentrating solar, using tubes with parabolic mirrors or mirrors focused on towers to heat fluid. Same technologies used to generate electricity from solar 24/7. Then compare that with using heat pumps.

PV solar is half the price of concentrated solar, I'm sure they looked at all options and found PV solar to be the cheapest which also makes sense if you follow LCOE developements and consider the location of the factory. Tesla will be able to produce electricity from PV solar at around 3-4 cents/kwh, perhaps add in 1-2 cents for load balancing. Doesn't surprise me at all that solar is the cheapest solution for all their energy needs.

 

[MitchJi]

PV solar is half the price of concentrated solar, I'm sure they looked at all options and found PV solar to be the cheapest which also makes sense if you follow LCOE developements and consider the location of the factory. Tesla will be able to produce electricity from PV solar at around 3-4 cents/kwh, perhaps add in 1-2 cents for load balancing. Doesn't surprise me at all that solar is the cheapest solution for all their energy needs.

Electricity is not an efficient way to produce heat.

 

[jhm]

Speaking of the price of solar, I wonder if Tesla is going to rush to install all GF in 2017. The 30% ITC tax credit for solar will step down to 10% in 2017, unless Congress acts to extend it.