Again Joe you showed your professional video creation skills. This was another great GigaTexas construction update. It was highlighting all the relevant changes in a comfortable pace with no hurry and jerkiness. Your tribute to your mother on Mother's Day was very nice! Thanks for your efforts!
I am quite sure that the plant is divided into departments with each department having a manager, and now that the building is complete, those managers have decided that they want windows and doors in their department, which were not included in the contract to build the plant.
Thanks for another interesting video. BTW every time you talk about the work in the big parking lot you mix up east and west. The WEST side of the lot is closer to the building, the EAST side is further. You had me confused for a while lol.
Joe TH-cam 13 May. 4:00. BIW, loading platform. Inside to the left, guardrails around the deep set-down floor area that is 3 column bays wide. th-cam.com/video/0RRUvF_M4fk/w-d-xo.html BIW, apron. Trailer loaded with what looks like floor decking.Structural steel delivered here 2 days ago. 6:18. South west corner. Mystery drilling/coring rig. White PVC pipe potentially lining for a cored shaft. Patrick Kenny suggests a testing well. 7:19. South end steel stockpile. Columns laying on the blocks have been shortened. Offcuts on the ground. Altering a guardrail leaning against the column. All of this steel seems to have been fabricated, flanges notched, webs drilled for connection plates, end/base plates fitted. Good photos on Joe’s Patreon site. 7:51. Stamping Extension. Delivery from Canada. GA south, apron. 3 dock levellers on the trailer. 10:51. GA, apron. Removed pavement. Couple of flouro pink survey pegs/marks visible. 12:48. Battery west. Enlarging the openings. 13:56. Battery north. Waste tanker emerges. 14:25. Battery north, apron. Altering/welding a small tubular steel section. 15:18. Casting north east, apron. Trailers with crane counterweights and a hook block/sheave block. A big yellow crane disappeared into Casting a 3 weeks ago. th-cam.com/video/ETIThKeBhFQ/w-d-xo.html 17:02. North-south road. Break in the median directly opposite the East Main Entrance. Pedestrian access likely. 18:13. East side parking. Jeff’s Day 569 video showed large circular holes being cored through the asphalt. Seems something large and circular has been dropped into a hole to the right. 19:39. Evaporation Pond. Truck marked ‘Vacall’, and it is. 21:15. Cathode, north. Dumping some spoil here. 22:20. Cathode. Stack of rebar cages. That little excavator will be busy. 😑 24:42. East side trailer park. 5 new yard dogs. 2 were seen being delivered in Joe’s 11 May video.
@@sammyk874 120" screen. Now you tell me! Sheesh..... The truck. I was trying to make out the logo in the hope it might give some clue to what's going on in Stamping Extension.
12:48. These are the openings where I earlier guessed they’d put diesel gen sets. The large square openings are the right size for radiators and there is a large opening about the right size for an exhaust right above each one. Looks like the required openings for gennies to me. Yes, they are going to have solar power and batteries, but if you have a bunch of processes that require uninterrupted power, you need gen sets with a prime mover.
So much work to build a temporary pond to then fill it back in again. Does explain the line though to avoid having the water degrade the underlying soil. Didn't seem like it was used for much other than dumping water from the vacuum trucks.
@@imconsequetau5275 i dont know much about tornadoes but i believe they get them every now and then in Texas. Along with them usually comes giant hail stones so i kinda wish they do have a roof over the staging area cause i dont think any of us would enjoy seeing a couple of hundred tottaled cars before they are even delivered. Just a thought.
Thanks Joe! It looks like the cathode plant is going to be a very narrow building, judging by where they did geopier work and where they stored the steel. I guess the main factory makes everything else look small.
@@haroldz9915 , That’s my thinking too. One for incoming reclaimed water for use as cooling and process water and another one to send “used” water back to the wastewater treatment plant.
I'd like to see some more explanation of what those water detention ponds are all about. I can make some guesses about what those are for, and how they might be used, but it would be good to have a more proper understanding.
the one on the south is apparently only used to slow down the flow of runoff to prevent erosion into the Colorado River. the one on the east side is called the "sedimentation pond" iirc... so it presumably reduces sediment from making it into the river. but yeah, I've been watching for over a year and I don't think there has been an explanation about the watersheds of each pond. I'm guessing that all the water from the roof goes to the south and maybe surface water from the east side roads/parking lots go to the sedimentation pond.
it is still a puzzle to me why the Berlin plant has 3 or 4 times as many truck docks and this one, and Shanghai has even more than Germany and Austin is huge by camparison.
I’ve made a similar observation previously - when you look at the number of large entry doors, it appears the new approach is to drive the trucks directly inside the building. Maybe more efficient cf. loading docks.
In Germany, the extra docks are for "just-in-time" inventory. That way, I think Tesla does not purchase the inventory until they use it. I have seen the same thing at the "Dell" factories here in Austin. At Tesla/Austin, the plan is to unload the trucks inside the plant, and it looks like trailers waiting to be unloaded are now being stored on the space where the cathode plant was originally going to be built.
Agreed... it happens all over the world though. They go to the expense of having a beautiful paved street or parking lot and then start digging holes in it. My local council does it all the time. Just poor planning and very frustrating
Where I grew up in Richmond, BC, they were busy putting in storm sewers and other underground infrastructure. Some time in the mid-70's they dug up one of the local roads and left it covered in gravel for close to 2 years. One day it was paved, it was fantastic. About a month later they dug a trench right up the middle of it for a gas line. After it got re-paved, the trench became a dip that would catch your wheel and throw you about your lane. It was like that for about 30 years.
Tesla are probably prioritizing efforts to be efficient. Do not need 10 big cranes for every building especially if the manufacturing equipment is still in development. But it's all speculation as Tesla are tight lipped on their internal planning. Thanks Joe.
It seems like they built the entire building faster than the teams working on the underground piping and parking lot areas. Seems like they continually find new reasons to pour concrete and then dig it all back up in a month or two cause of a pipe malfunction or issue... certainly looks like they're getting their hourly fees in.
One think to remember is that where they are currently building these large parking lots was supposed to be the permanent electrical switchyard and mega pack. They’ve sense decided to keep them as parking areas and move the permanent switchyard over to the old bag plant area. So like most of the plant, it’s been a design and build as they go, not with the entire site planned to 100% and then start building. It’s all about speed and Elon is always in a hurry. Time is worth more than money. You can make more money….you can’t make more time.
It seems to me that the outside progress has really slowed since the Cyber Rodeo. Yes, they are making cars, but that ramp seems to be going slowly. It seems like about 20 cars per day, maybe less. The cathode plant, parking lots, etc seem to be going very slow also. My benchmark is the main factory itself where they were doing grading, geopiers, footings, steel, etc all at the same time. When they were erecting the main building, they had at least 10 cranes, probably 20. For the cathode plant they have 1. They could have started the footings at least two weeks ago. Please don't take this as criticism. It is merely my observations. Joe, as usual, is doing a great job documenting the construction.
there may have been significant financial reasons to hurry to production that do not also push them to hurry up and finish. also, supply shortages suggest that there's kess reason to hurry now because they would just have to wait for things outside of Tesla's control it's possible that the building contractors aren't as available now and or they got more expensive. I'm led to believe it's still extremely fast co.pared to other companies even after (maybe) slowing down
I've seen this mentioned before. I don't see it. What major work is left on the exterior that is not in progress right now? Paint? HVAC seems to have been slow from the start. Solar panels is a slow and tedious process, probably has a limited crew. They sped through a lot of stuff preparing for the party. I'd say the Cathode is going pretty quick. Likely to go vertical in a couple of weeks provided the footings are poured soon.
There is no guarantee if another factory will be built, but for some time there remains a lot more to do to get Giga Texas fully operational, so that is what Tesla is focused on for the foreseeable future.
@@sammyk874 Yes, I kind of thought so. That will change, and I expect pretty soon. School buses are an especially good candidate for electrification because they are idle so much of the time, don't generally get driven long distances, and can be storing excess solar electricity in the middle of the day.
@@ronaldgarrison8478 I agree. I believe at least Blue Bird offers an electric school bus. I feel electric is ideal for any short range transport, be it people or goods. Hopefully we see investments in this direction.
I went to an EV demonstration last sunday and was able to get a ride in electric school bus. The driver said that a diesel school bus costs about $120,000 and the electric bus we were in cost about $400,000. Great smooth acceleration, quiet ride, 120 mile range, less in winter (I am in Minnesota). Very nice ride but big difference in cost! Hopefully the cost will come down.
I know I'm being very impatient but I can't wait for the Northern ponds to start being filled in and the next Giga factory to start being built. Have any of your secret sources let on any info about what's next??? Great video again Joe. I love the way you indiscriminately fly around the site and give full coverage of all the new stuff that's going on. Your drone flying is superb and should be taught to any wanna bes that wish to get tied up with Putins war.
Thanks! Right now it’s the permanent electrical sub-station, Megapack, Battery Cathode plant and in the south, a Boring Company warehouse for the upcoming/in progress construction projects.
Again Joe you showed your professional video creation skills. This was another great GigaTexas construction update. It was highlighting all the relevant changes in a comfortable pace with no hurry and jerkiness. Your tribute to your mother on Mother's Day was very nice! Thanks for your efforts!
Thank you Arne!
They are working on the HVAC since December 2021...
They need to install that HVAC in a hurry because soon, we will have extremely hot weather here in Texas.
Like the way that pickup just vanishes at 5:39.
Lmao
I am quite sure that the plant is divided into departments with each department having a manager, and now that the building is complete, those managers have decided that they want windows and doors in their department, which were not included in the contract to build the plant.
Merci👍👍👍
You're Welcome!
Great work as usual Joe!!! Thanks again.
Thank you M C!
You would think they would get the Boring Company to just bore a tunnel large enough to drive a vehicle through!
Thanks for another interesting video. BTW every time you talk about the work in the big parking lot you mix up east and west. The WEST side of the lot is closer to the building, the EAST side is further. You had me confused for a while lol.
Joe TH-cam 13 May.
4:00. BIW, loading platform. Inside to the left, guardrails around the deep set-down floor area that is 3 column bays wide. th-cam.com/video/0RRUvF_M4fk/w-d-xo.html
BIW, apron. Trailer loaded with what looks like floor decking.Structural steel delivered here 2 days ago.
6:18. South west corner. Mystery drilling/coring rig. White PVC pipe potentially lining for a cored shaft.
Patrick Kenny suggests a testing well.
7:19. South end steel stockpile. Columns laying on the blocks have been shortened. Offcuts on the ground.
Altering a guardrail leaning against the column.
All of this steel seems to have been fabricated, flanges notched, webs drilled for connection plates, end/base plates fitted. Good photos on Joe’s Patreon site.
7:51. Stamping Extension. Delivery from Canada.
GA south, apron. 3 dock levellers on the trailer.
10:51. GA, apron. Removed pavement. Couple of flouro pink survey pegs/marks visible.
12:48. Battery west. Enlarging the openings.
13:56. Battery north. Waste tanker emerges.
14:25. Battery north, apron. Altering/welding a small tubular steel section.
15:18. Casting north east, apron. Trailers with crane counterweights and a hook block/sheave block. A big yellow crane disappeared into Casting a 3 weeks ago. th-cam.com/video/ETIThKeBhFQ/w-d-xo.html
17:02. North-south road. Break in the median directly opposite the East Main Entrance. Pedestrian access likely.
18:13. East side parking. Jeff’s Day 569 video showed large circular holes being cored through the asphalt. Seems something large and circular has been dropped into a hole to the right.
19:39. Evaporation Pond. Truck marked ‘Vacall’, and it is.
21:15. Cathode, north. Dumping some spoil here.
22:20. Cathode. Stack of rebar cages. That little excavator will be busy. 😑
24:42. East side trailer park. 5 new yard dogs. 2 were seen being delivered in Joe’s 11 May video.
Not necessarily from Canada, also has a Mexican flag on it. Unless there was some other reason you think it's from Canada.
@@sammyk874 I'll plead low resolution video!
I thought the top left flag was French, couldn't actually make out the US flag.
@@DessieDoolan What good is a 120" screen when you're running 480p? ;) US flag is between and below the other two. NAFTA truck perhaps.
@@sammyk874 120" screen. Now you tell me! Sheesh.....
The truck. I was trying to make out the logo in the hope it might give some clue to what's going on in Stamping Extension.
12:48. These are the openings where I earlier guessed they’d put diesel gen sets. The large square openings are the right size for radiators and there is a large opening about the right size for an exhaust right above each one. Looks like the required openings for gennies to me. Yes, they are going to have solar power and batteries, but if you have a bunch of processes that require uninterrupted power, you need gen sets with a prime mover.
Joe, our Great granddaughter #9 One year old loves your Music and is dancing around the coffee table while we watch your Drone video!
That’s awesome! 🤠
So much work to build a temporary pond to then fill it back in again.
Does explain the line though to avoid having the water degrade the underlying soil.
Didn't seem like it was used for much other than dumping water from the vacuum trucks.
I wonder what they will do with that pond liner? I would like to have some of that for tarps.
Another great one Joe and great tunes as always!! Thankx....
16:48 I wonder if this area will be solar panels over parking spaces.
It would be great to have shade over the parked cars.
@@imconsequetau5275 i dont know much about tornadoes but i believe they get them every now and then in Texas. Along with them usually comes giant hail stones so i kinda wish they do have a roof over the staging area cause i dont think any of us would enjoy seeing a couple of hundred tottaled cars before they are even delivered. Just a thought.
@@aussie_al Yep, we get hail here and the sun is intense in the summer time. Covered parking probably not a bad idea.
Thanks Joe! It looks like the cathode plant is going to be a very narrow building, judging by where they did geopier work and where they stored the steel. I guess the main factory makes everything else look small.
It will be narrow and tall-ish. On my 11 April video I show the best rendering of it that I’ve got from Tesla if you want to check it out.
@@JoeTegtmeyer I watched the earlier video and you did mention that.
Thanks again.
@@59seank 👍
No effort to move the red pile of dirt. I think it will end up in the pond.
That would make sense, wouldn’t it?
04:53 I wonder if they had to abandon the first drilling or are just making an extra one for some reason
they are running 2 separate pipes, I think, water and sewage
@@haroldz9915 , That’s my thinking too. One for incoming reclaimed water for use as cooling and process water and another one to send “used” water back to the wastewater treatment plant.
I'd like to see some more explanation of what those water detention ponds are all about. I can make some guesses about what those are for, and how they might be used, but it would be good to have a more proper understanding.
The Northern one that is now being cleaned out was where they were making the tryer black but it doesn't seem thats the case anymore. LOL 😀😀😀
there are explanations in the videos made as they were built.
@@kkarllwt Great. Now, if you can tell me which ones those were, I actually will check them out.
the one on the south is apparently only used to slow down the flow of runoff to prevent erosion into the Colorado River.
the one on the east side is called the "sedimentation pond" iirc... so it presumably reduces sediment from making it into the river.
but yeah, I've been watching for over a year and I don't think there has been an explanation about the watersheds of each pond. I'm guessing that all the water from the roof goes to the south and maybe surface water from the east side roads/parking lots go to the sedimentation pond.
@@shadowmancer7040 Thanks for that information.
Where are they going to build charging stations for the cars? Seems they will need a lot of those!
Hey Joe, Great Video, was wondering what the opening music is to the drone footage playing in the background?
Great music too!
Thx 🤗
it is still a puzzle to me why the Berlin plant has 3 or 4 times as many truck docks and this one, and Shanghai has even more than Germany and Austin is huge by camparison.
I’ve made a similar observation previously - when you look at the number of large entry doors, it appears the new approach is to drive the trucks directly inside the building. Maybe more efficient cf. loading docks.
In Germany, the extra docks are for "just-in-time" inventory. That way, I think Tesla does not purchase the inventory until they use it. I have seen the same thing at the "Dell" factories here in Austin. At Tesla/Austin, the plan is to unload the trucks inside the plant, and it looks like trailers waiting to be unloaded are now being stored on the space where the cathode plant was originally going to be built.
is it really cheaper/standard practice to completely pave a parking lot and then go back and dig up runs for electrical and drainage?
Agreed... it happens all over the world though. They go to the expense of having a beautiful paved street or parking lot and then start digging holes in it. My local council does it all the time. Just poor planning and very frustrating
Where I grew up in Richmond, BC, they were busy putting in storm sewers and other underground infrastructure. Some time in the mid-70's they dug up one of the local roads and left it covered in gravel for close to 2 years. One day it was paved, it was fantastic. About a month later they dug a trench right up the middle of it for a gas line. After it got re-paved, the trench became a dip that would catch your wheel and throw you about your lane. It was like that for about 30 years.
Tesla are probably prioritizing efforts to be efficient. Do not need 10 big cranes for every building especially if the manufacturing equipment is still in development. But it's all speculation as Tesla are tight lipped on their internal planning. Thanks Joe.
*"time to start moving the metal"* absolutely. And I think Tesla is doing just that now.
I certainly hope so!
Steady up, need some foundations first
still no clue where all these MY are heading.
At least 10 days from the first footing hole till any steel goes up.
Hope they get the footings started soon! 🤞
@@JoeTegtmeyer i want to see where the next Gazebo will be. I still remember all the talk about the first one in the main building
Hey Joe, what’s all the steel at the southern going to be used for?
That’s a great question and I wish I knew.
@@JoeTegtmeyer You need to start hanging out in the bars with the construction workers! 😏
@@Sushihunter250 😂😂
I think it's going to be for the construction of the 500 ft building extension on the south end.
@@billmisiura9044 we shall see soon enough! 🤗
So you think they have made non employee deliveries yet ?
Great video! How many of these cars are actively being delivered to non-employee customers?
Thanks! I don’t have any specifics on car deliveries, locations or timing, unfortunately.
I doubt if these cars are been delivered to Hertz. I would think hertz wouldn’t pay extra for paint and wheel upgrades.
5:39
It seems like they built the entire building faster than the teams working on the underground piping and parking lot areas. Seems like they continually find new reasons to pour concrete and then dig it all back up in a month or two cause of a pipe malfunction or issue... certainly looks like they're getting their hourly fees in.
One think to remember is that where they are currently building these large parking lots was supposed to be the permanent electrical switchyard and mega pack. They’ve sense decided to keep them as parking areas and move the permanent switchyard over to the old bag plant area. So like most of the plant, it’s been a design and build as they go, not with the entire site planned to 100% and then start building. It’s all about speed and Elon is always in a hurry. Time is worth more than money. You can make more money….you can’t make more time.
@@Bill_N_ATX Very true... but I don't think pouring concrete and asphalt over the area should have taken what... like six months at this point? lol
It seems to me that the outside progress has really slowed since the Cyber Rodeo. Yes, they are making cars, but that ramp seems to be going slowly. It seems like about 20 cars per day, maybe less. The cathode plant, parking lots, etc seem to be going very slow also. My benchmark is the main factory itself where they were doing grading, geopiers, footings, steel, etc all at the same time. When they were erecting the main building, they had at least 10 cranes, probably 20. For the cathode plant they have 1. They could have started the footings at least two weeks ago.
Please don't take this as criticism. It is merely my observations. Joe, as usual, is doing a great job documenting the construction.
there may have been significant financial reasons to hurry to production that do not also push them to hurry up and finish.
also, supply shortages suggest that there's kess reason to hurry now because they would just have to wait for things outside of Tesla's control
it's possible that the building contractors aren't as available now and or they got more expensive.
I'm led to believe it's still extremely fast co.pared to other companies even after (maybe) slowing down
Compared to Berlin its going at lightning speed. Must be costing VW a fortune to make that build go as slow as it is.
I've seen this mentioned before. I don't see it. What major work is left on the exterior that is not in progress right now? Paint? HVAC seems to have been slow from the start. Solar panels is a slow and tedious process, probably has a limited crew. They sped through a lot of stuff preparing for the party. I'd say the Cathode is going pretty quick. Likely to go vertical in a couple of weeks provided the footings are poured soon.
@@aussie_al probably not VW, but Mercedes-Benz & BMW
when do you think they will build a whole new giga factory right there. they need more factories and would need two years to build it?
There is no guarantee if another factory will be built, but for some time there remains a lot more to do to get Giga Texas fully operational, so that is what Tesla is focused on for the foreseeable future.
School buses. ICE or BEV?
HUH?
ICE. Most of the equipment used is ICE.
@@sammyk874 Yes, I kind of thought so. That will change, and I expect pretty soon. School buses are an especially good candidate for electrification because they are idle so much of the time, don't generally get driven long distances, and can be storing excess solar electricity in the middle of the day.
@@ronaldgarrison8478 I agree. I believe at least Blue Bird offers an electric school bus. I feel electric is ideal for any short range transport, be it people or goods. Hopefully we see investments in this direction.
I went to an EV demonstration last sunday and was able to get a ride in electric school bus. The driver said that a diesel school bus costs about $120,000 and the electric bus we were in cost about $400,000. Great smooth acceleration, quiet ride, 120 mile range, less in winter (I am in Minnesota). Very nice ride but big difference in cost! Hopefully the cost will come down.
I know I'm being very impatient but I can't wait for the Northern ponds to start being filled in and the next Giga factory to start being built. Have any of your secret sources let on any info about what's next???
Great video again Joe. I love the way you indiscriminately fly around the site and give full coverage of all the new stuff that's going on.
Your drone flying is superb and should be taught to any wanna bes that wish to get tied up with Putins war.
Thanks! Right now it’s the permanent electrical sub-station, Megapack, Battery Cathode plant and in the south, a Boring Company warehouse for the upcoming/in progress construction projects.