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Tesla officially opened the company’s newest vehicle production facility in Austin, Texas this April. The new factory, called Giga Texas, initially started production with the refreshed Model Y with 4680 cells and a structural battery pack.
Currently, Tesla has been selling this new version of the Model Y for a little more than four months. And to the disappointment of a lot of people, the refreshed Model Y did not live up to the hype of the 4680 cells and the structural pack architecture.
According to Tesla’s Battery Day presentation, the new cells together with a structural battery pack were expected to increase vehicle range by as much as 54% and improve performance by decreasing the weight of the vehicle.
However, from early owners of the refreshed Model Y, we know the vehicle has a 279-mile EPA range, 5 seconds 0 to 60 time, and a starting price of $59,990.
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In comparison, the Model Y Long Range, which is a version of the all-electric crossover produced at Tesla’s Fremont California plant, and that ships with the EV maker’s last generation 2170 cells, has a 330-mile EPA range, 4.8 seconds 0 to 60 time, and after a series of price increases has a starting price of $68,000.
This, at least on paper, has made the Model Y Long Range a more compelling vehicle to get over the refreshed Model Y with the 4680 cells.
And lucky for those interested in the Model Y Long Range, last month we reported Tesla has made its first delivery of a Model Y Long Range produced at Giga Texas.
The new vehicle produced at Tesla’s Austin facility is practically identical to the Model Y Long Range produced at the Fremont plant. The new Giga Texas Model Y uses the same 2170 cells, has similar specs and the only differences are in small interior features.
The reason Tesla is operating two Model Y production lines, with fundamentally different architecture is that the EV maker has had difficulties ramping up 4680 cell production. As a result, until Tesla figures out high volume production of the 4680 cells, the EV maker has to produce vehicles with the last generation 2170 cells as a stop-gap.
And Tesla’s decision to build the 2170 Model Y at Giga Texas has already started to pay off. A little more than a month after Tesla started producing the 2170 Model Y at Giga Texas, today, the new plant has reached its first major milestone of making 1000 vehicles a week.
This information was shared by Whole Mars Catalog, who is a Tesla enthusiast, investor, and FSD Beta tester. Whole Mars Catalog wrote on Twitter “Tesla Gigafactory Texas has produced 1,000 cars in a week.”
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Whole Mars Catalog also shared a photo of a canvas that has “T 1,000” printed on it that the factory employees involved in reaching the milestone put their signatures on.
Tesla Gigafactory Texas has produced 1,000 cars in a week. $TSLA pic.twitter.com/Ub2eWCpLqj— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) August 20, 2022
This is an incredible achievement on Tesla’s part and shows how the EV maker has gotten better at quickly ramping new production lines with every new iteration of the Gigafactory.
What is even more impressive is that according to Elon Musk, a lot of machinery necessary to begin 2170 Model Y production at Giga Texas was held up in China due to the latest COVID-19-related shutdown. Meaning, that if it weren’t for the force majeure event Giga Texas would have reached a production rate of 1000 vehicles a week even sooner.
Having said that, even though 1000 vehicles a week is an important milestone, that only amounts to 50,000 vehicles a year. Tesla’s Texas factory on the other hand is expected to produce over a million vehicles a year once fully ramped.
Meaning, that 1000 vehicles a week is only the beginning for Giga Texas. And we will be sure to keep you posted as Tesla increases the production rate at the Austin Texas plant and achieves even bigger milestones.
Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest news.
So what do you think? Excited that Giga Texas has reached a production run rate of 1000 vehicles a week? Also, if you had to guess, what percentage of the 1000 vehicles were built using the newest 4680 cells? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Image: A Screenshot from Joe Tegtmeyer’s YouTube channel
For more information check out: Tesla Developing One Of Most Powerful AI Supercomputers Worldwide - For Good Reasons
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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