Without a doubt, Tesla’s upcoming Semi truck will be one of the most impressive vehicles ever built, if not the most impressive vehicle ever built. Now we can see where it was born! Inside Tesla’s $7 Billion Semi Truck Factory!
See All The Parts
While I was at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Nevada, I saw something that blew my mind. It was an interior cabin mockup of their new electric semi-truck. You can check out all of its crazy parts below. Let me know what you think! When I visited Tesla’s Gigafactory earlier today, I had no idea what to expect. After walking through several halls filled with batteries and solar panels, we were ushered into a room with large windows overlooking Tesla’s electric semi-truck factory floor and first off, wow!
It was incredible to see everything in action and it really made me appreciate how much work goes into building one of these trucks. Before we got too far though, our tour guide showed us around some parts of their ultra-sleek (and still unfinished) design studio where they build prototypes for future models like their next-generation Roadster sports car.
In addition to seeing all of these different parts, we also got to walk through one of their semi-trucks. Let me tell you, it was great! I couldn’t believe how spacious it was inside and that there were really no blind spots. In fact, our tour guide said he never has to worry about crashing into anything when driving on his daily commute. Tesla definitely took human interaction into account in their design. If you’re as impressed by Tesla’s sleek electric semi-truck interior cabin mockup as I am, then be sure to share it with your friends and family!
See The Model 3 Being Made
When you enter Tesla’s Fremont factory, which is still years away from its planned expansion, it’s hard to get an idea of just how big it is. From one end to another, it measures about 1.9 million square feet (180,000 square meters), about two and a half times larger than Apple’s new spaceship campus in Silicon Valley. The plant spans 525 acres (212 hectares). That’s larger than 37 football fields or, put another way: If you wanted to count every blade of grass on every football field in America combined into one giant field—that would only be as large as Tesla’s factory floor.
It’s here where Tesla makes its vehicles—the Model S sedan, Model X SUV and forthcoming Model 3 compact car. It’s also where it makes its energy products, such as solar roof tiles, Powerwall home batteries and electric vehicle powertrain components. And it will soon make its $200,000 Tesla Semi trucks. The first one is due to roll off Tesla’s assembly line in 2019.
The factory is also where Tesla’s employees—some 10,000 people—come to work each day. The company has grown exponentially in recent years. It reported about 25,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2016, but by May 2017 that had more than doubled to 54,000 as it ramped up production of its Model 3 cars. At times during 2017 and 2018, Tesla was on track to make more cars in one week than it did in all of 2016. In June 2018 alone, it made 28,578 vehicles.
See Where The Roadster Is Made
Tesla’s $200,000 Roadster has been on sale for some time now. But it wasn’t until recently that Tesla updated its official website to show where the car is actually made—at Tesla’s assembly plant in Fremont, California. That said, if you’ve ever wanted to see behind-the-scenes of how Tesla assembles its cars, look no further than Instagram user leesed_z’s photographs of Tesla’s Model S assembly line at Fremont factory. The photos below are just a small selection from an entire album (since removed) on leesed_z’s Instagram page dedicated to interior shots of Tesla’s Model S production line.
To be fair, seeing such images isn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence. Manufacturers of vehicles of all types often share images like these online. Still, it’s not every day that you get to see behind-the-scenes images of how one of Tesla’s cars is assembled—which is why we thought it worth sharing with our readership. Thanks to leesed_z for allowing us to use their images here and for being kind enough to let us link back to their own website as well!
From our own point of view, one of the things that’s most striking about leesed_z’s photos is how advanced Tesla’s assembly line looks compared to that of other manufacturers. The use of overhead robots for painting and advanced assembly lines for installing seatbelts are just two examples of technologies used by Tesla that we don’t see often enough in other manufacturers’ facilities. It also reminds us why so many people are excited about electric vehicles: being able to build them on an assembly line like any other vehicle makes manufacturing exponentially easier. After all, what do you think will be the first model made at Tesla’s new $7 billion truck factory? The Semi or its pickup truck sibling, codenamed Bluestar?
Get An Idea of The Scale
Tesla has already begun production of its solar roof—and it’s pretty amazing. In fact, Elon Musk went so far as to say that it will cost less than a normal roof. During an earnings call in May 2017, Musk said that Tesla’s glass solar roof will cost less than a normal roof before you even take the value of electricity into account. It’s like…there is no way to describe it except it’s like no other roof. It’s not a roof. It’s an interior roof—one solid piece.
In May 2017, Elon Musk stated that Tesla’s solar roof will cost less than a normal roof. The cost of Tesla’s solar roof would be offset by savings in other areas. For example, if you think about it, conventional roofs have to be replaced every few decades—or sooner if they’re not made well. This can lead to expensive and disruptive construction projects.
Also, if you have to replace your roof because of storm damage or another reason, it’s not uncommon for homeowners to have to replace their entire roof. If you own Tesla’s solar roof, however, you would only need to replace individual shingles instead of reroofing your entire house. According to Musk’s statements during an earnings call in May 2017, Tesla is aiming for 10 cents per kilowatt-hour with its solar roofs and battery storage systems. In July 2017 Elon Musk announced that all future solar roof installations will be free. This means that anyone who orders a Tesla solar roof in 2017 can get it installed without having to pay anything upfront!
Tours Are Available To the Public (Via Reservation)
Tesla Semi truck is set to launch in 2019 and the first production models will be delivered in 2020, according to Elon Musk during his speech at Tesla’s Semi event at their headquarters in California. The Tesla truck was first announced by Musk back in November 2017, when he revealed that they would be unveiling the semi-truck on October 26, 2017. And now we have it: Musk showed off their first electric semi-truck on Thursday night, saying that he had an interest in innovating transportation to reduce fossil fuel consumption and tackle climate change. During his presentation of the Tesla semi-truck.
One of those solutions is Tesla’s electric semi-truck. It looks like any other 18-wheeler on paper, but inside it has Tesla’s advanced technology that makes its performance better than diesel trucks. It’s not just an accomplishment for Tesla, but also one for Mr Musk who said during his presentation that It’s very important to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport. This is really important for our future—the future of our children. If we don’t do something with transportation, we are going to be screwed in terms of climate change—really huge problem.
Each truck can travel up to 500 miles on a single charge and you can charge it in 40 minutes, which is super fast when compared to some electric cars. The Tesla semi-truck will also be able to self-drive across North America with Tesla’s new Autopilot technology. The company predicts that once one or two per cent of trucks on roads are Tesla, then there’s enough volume to create a sustainable business at $1.26 per mile. And unlike competitors who only focus on Class 8 semi-trucks, Tesla made sure that their electric semi-truck is for all applications including deliveries, regional routes and short distances.
Elon Musk Gives A Speech About the Future of Tesla Trucks
During Tesla’s 2017 annual shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk talked about where he sees Tesla in 10 years. He ended his speech with a nod to upcoming projects, including Tesla’s self-driving semi-truck that he believes could replace truck drivers entirely. It will also do hitch rides. So it will go meet you at your house, pick up your car and take it to your destination and then put your car in your garage. Watch an extended video of Musk talking about driverless technology below
One of Tesla’s ambitions for its driverless technology is to put truck drivers out of work. At least that’s what Musk told his audience at Tesla’s 2017 annual shareholder meeting. During his speech, he revealed an image of Tesla’s Class 8 electric semi-truck, which he thinks will be able to drive autonomously and carry cargo by 2019. It can also carry trailers in its pods, allowing it to do big-rig style moves even if it doesn’t have any cargo yet. In fact, Musk says it will pick up your car from your house and take it to your destination before dropping you off and taking itself home to charge.
Musk also said Tesla plans to announce its own autonomous driving chip in around six months. Once it’s in production, he thinks Tesla will be able to achieve full autonomy within two years — or maybe 18 to 24 months at most. If you’re curious about how Tesla came up with that timeline, Musk says it was extrapolated from car data and conversations with other automakers. But trucking companies have shown little interest in autonomous technology — some say it would take decades for self-driving trucks to fully replace human drivers. Even if they could, there are still plenty of legal hurdles that need to be cleared before any company could start producing them en masse.
