Tesla is the kind of car manufacturer that always seems to be in the headlines – and always one step ahead of the game. However, their factory in Fremont has not always been in the headlines for the right reasons. Elon Musk himself had some choice words to say about the factory, but it’s finally coming into its own. If you’ve ever wanted to know what happens at one of the most famous car factories in the world, here’s an insight into how Tesla cars are built.
Tesla’s Fremont Factory
The Tesla factory in Fremont is where all of the Model X, Model S, and Model 3s are built before they hit the road, but it’s had some serious problems up until recently. Filled with delays, build quality problems, and a whole ton of production bottlenecks, Tesla found themselves in some hot water. However, things have started to look up as soon as more streamlining and automation processes, which came from some long hours that included Elon Musk sleeping on the factory floor. Now things are looking up, we’ve been given an insight into the famed Fremont factory.
Go Big Or Go Home
The huge Tesla factory used to be home to General Motors between 1962 and 1982, before being owned by Toyota’s NUMMI partnership until 2009. Musk managed to get his hands on this 5.7 million square feet of manufacturing space for a cool price of $42 million. The Model 3 has a fully automated stamping process using the largest stamp press in America. The first stamp makes the shape, the second trims down the edges, and then the third punches in all the holes.
Robots Everywhere
Everywhere you look there are different kinds of robots all putting the work into building these impressive Tesla cars. The ones mounted on the floor, building the body of the Model 3 are known as robots, whereas the upside-down ones are nicknamed ‘robats.’ Get it? While there are plenty of robots and automated processes, there are also around 15,000 people who work at the Fremont factory at any one time.
Tesla still have a few things to prove before they totally dominate the EV industry, but this insight into their factory shows they’re keen to stay one step ahead of the game at all times.