Yes, the video is of the foundations for a stamping press in Shanghai. This stamping press appears to be much bigger than the two stamping presses already installed.
This is not to be confused with the Giga presses which are High Pressure Die Cast presses. Those are located elsewhere in the Shanghai plant. The foundations for those aren't nearly as beefy, as is clear from the Berlin and Austin construction processes.
Yes, if we consider Austin, stamping press foundations were more extensive that casting.
I would expect a 8000 casting foundation to be only about 33% bigger than a 6000.
The possibilities that occur to me are:-
- Casting but bigger than a 8000 (unlikely)
- Very large stamping machine (most likely)
- Multiple Stamping machines,
As to what the very big stamping machine could be used for, one possibility that occurs to me is, stamping a car roof as a single piece, specifically a Model 3 Roof.
If we call the current Shanghai in fill Phase 3, it isn't apparent to me what Phase 3 is all about.
The new construction site to the South seems to be Model 2, the extension to the East with the new road is probably shipping logistics.
There is an outside chance that the new extension is building a cheaper Model 3 variant with castings, a structural LFP battery pack, cheaper seats, at metal roof and other cost savings. Whether they can make enough cost savings to make that a worthwhile project is the question, hitting the 25K price target would be hard.
However, I did finally see a good explanation on Twitter for why the 6000 casting machine was installed early at Austin. it could be making the front casting for a Model Y, They can take that casting to Fremont and test construction of a Model Y with a structural pack. I made a few guesses about to why the machine was being installed early, this wasn't one of them,
Bottom line, it is very hard to guess what is happening and why from looking at construction footage.
www.cnbc.com
It is quite refreshing.
www.reuters.com
