There are now 8 IDRA Giga Presses at Giga Texas & More going on inside Casting! Let's Discuss!

This is a continuation of some smaller video clips that discuss some aspects of my recent tour inside Giga Texas. My intent is to try to answer several common & frequent questions I get by viewers & also to pass along some new information!
This video concentrates on the casting machine section of Giga Texas, & I do this via illustrations, maps, historical images I've taken with the drone over the past 3+ years of construction in this area of the factory, & new info I was able to verify during my visit.
Perhaps the biggest news from this video is the existence of now 8 Giga Presses in the casting machine section (six 6K-ton Giga Presses & two 9K-ton giga presses) & the operation of the new furnaces (or kilns) to recycle scrap aluminum & discarded castings.
Many other nuggets of information in this video, so I hope you find this helpful & informative!
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Video, photos, illustrations, and commentary on this video is by me, Joe Tegtmeyer unless otherwise annotated.
Music in this video is obtained from the KZbin free and unrestricted and royalty-free use library. Ending song is Mr. Sunny Face - Wayne Jones
Drones used are DJI Mini 2, Mavic Air 2 & Air 3.
Drone flight over Giga Texas is with permission of Tesla and CEO Elon Musk

[@TreeHugger826]

As an investor I find videos like this very helpful. Thanks and please keep thewm coming.

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

You're welcome!

[@jamesbuchanan27]

Excellent, thanks. We have an official GigaHistorian :)

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

Thanks! 😀😎

[@4literv6]

The titillating and teraforming transformation of teratx from gravel&muddy swamps into a towering titan of teslas terrific design. 😀👍🏻

[@MikeCasey311]

Thank you Joe for all the hard work and excellent information. 👍🇺🇸

[@budmerrill2593]

Thanks Joe, for your detailed and highly informative descriptions. It's so nice to hear your commentary in clear and understandable language.

[@richardcorwin1828]

Vertical integration is beautiful when it works. Thank you Joe!

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

You are welcome Richard!

[@DessieDoolan]

Thanks Joe 2:03. Casting roof. Minor detail, Area 1 extends westward to the ridge line, includes the ramped roof section, roughly double the width shown. The mezzanine at 2:29 would be below the ramped section of roof. 3:53. Casting. Look closely below the arrow where a dozen or so white boxes are placed. Immediately behind that can be seen the outline of proposed locations of additional giga-presses 5 and 6, or 7 and 8. Great view of these cast-in machine bases in Joe's 17 September 2021 video at 5.38. 4:13. Casting. 9000k press footings. Interesting design change here. The 9000k presses sit directly on a heavily reinforced concrete floor. The 6000k presses rest on a steel machine base cast into the concrete floor, as seen in the 17 September 2021 video. The timber formwork seen in this view is for the surrounding floor grates. 7:59. Casting. Outlines on the floor are the surrounding floor grate. Not clear if giga-press machine bases were cast into the floor here. Good views of these floor grates at the 2022 Cyber Rodeo in this video at 14:31. Interestingly, the floor in this area was part demolished in August 2022 and reinstated as a simple concrete slab. Would be interested to know if these new presses being assembled are direct floor mounted (like the 9000t presses), or installed on a machine base (like the 4 original 6000k presses). 12:19. Casting. Left arrow. Rebar area below shows the works behind the now demolished 3 original east loading docks, and the area behind where the wall has recently been saw-cut but not yet removed for another opening. Both these areas correspond exactly with rows of screw piles that I would speculate are footings for a travelling gantry crane. Similar track for a travelling gantry crane cast into the floor and apron at the north end of the Die Shop seen in Joe’s 7 August 2023 video at 25.52.

[@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461]

🤗WE DO ENJOY ALL OF THIS 💚💚💚

[@billlorimer4065]

Wow, what a terrific job of detailing a very complex area. Thanks

[@budgetaudiophilelife-long5461]

🙋‍♂️ THX JOE ,FOR SHARING,VERY INFORMATIVE DETAILS 🧐💚💚💚

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

You're welcome!

[@DouglasJMark]

Thanks, Joe. You really provided a lot of information going back in time. It’s going to be really interesting to see what giga Texas is going to make in the months and years ahead. ❤❤❤

[@RTF111]

Joe, your videos are always top notch. I appreciate the detailed dialog along with the video editing which makes your production a video masterpiece.

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

@@RTF111 thank you very much! 🤗

[@woodbeefarmtn]

Joe a big Thank You, I feel like you covered it all

[@biovmr]

Tesla and Tegtmeyer for the Win! Thanks for another great update. Ford/GM/Stellantis must be envious of Tesla's independent coverage, which costs Tesla nothing, but builds significant knowledge and good will among the customer base. Well done.

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

😎🤠

[@1carrilyn]

Excellent job explaining this progression of capabilities!

[@jubalainerussell9182]

Thanks for the info Joe.

[@michaelfink64]

Love this deep dive.

[@Renewables90]

Great video Joe. Hello from Melbourne Australia

[@sergiomessina2037]

Good info!

[@TheJeffcurran]

Excellent vid Joe. I like the way you stitched together photos from your archive and matched them up with what you saw on your tour but couldn't photograph. That was very informative.

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

@@TheJeffcurran thank you! 😎👍

[@jimbobbob9063]

Thanks Joe. Amazing analysis as always

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

I appreciate that Jim! Thanks!

[@perlaursen1885]

Dear Joe….I know you cant tell all, but that you wish you could. We will all be wiser at aug.8. I bet Elon has something nice for us in his sleeve. My guess is that shorts are going to be a bit disappointed, when the new compelling cars are being displayed. Nice to see that Elon has such a confidence in you. Youre the best to fly, comment and explaining details about our common company. Per in Denmark. 😎🇩🇰

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

Thank you and I can't wait until both 23 July (financial results) and the 8 August event!

[@benguthrie49]

Thanks Joe. Loved it.

[@tomkeyser552]

Great job Joe! Thank you

[@rays2506]

Excellent. Thanks Joe.

[@sagecoach]

Appreciate the details very much, thank you. That is a lot of artwork and editing. All the time Tesla learns and improves.

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

Thanks and you are welcome!

[@TashiRogo]

Great video, thanks!

[@stanleybridge]

Thanks Joe!

[@sc000ter000]

loved this explanation, Joe!

[@eugeniustheodidactus8890]

Excellent !!!

[@YouT-DJ]

Great stuff Joe. Thanks!!

[@MikesTropicalTech]

Super report Joe, thanks!

[@GrantHodgsonWnNZ]

Great work Joe! Very helpful and clarifying

[@balaji-kartha]

Amazing to see the effort that the architects and designers went to planning and building this enormous facility, and the speed at which all this was done. And we know they are quick on their feet and learn on the job, so they must have learnt from Giga Shanghai and incorporated that into the factories here in Texas and Berlin (it would be great if you could make a visit to Giga Berlin and find the similarities and differences between the two factories)

[@DessieDoolan]

There are some similarities in the basic design. Column spacing throughout Battery, GA, BIW is 45'10' (550") or 13.97m. Just shy (30mm 1.25") of the 14.00m spacing of the columns at Berlin. Might be a wild coincidence, might be some magic ideal economical spacing, or it was a plan. I didn't closely follow the construction at Shanghai. I wouldn't be surprised if the column spacing there is 14.00m also. It's a square spacing at Shanghai, Berlin, and GT. Nevada is unique of the new build factories in that the column spacing is unequal, 50' north-south, 40' east-west. There's also some weird anomalies at GT that suggests to me come 'cut and paste' design from elsewhere. Stamping and Casting buildings both 4' to 5' 1.2m to 1.5m shorter than the abutting structures. BIW building is also oddly about 3' 0.9m wider than Stamping.

[@balaji-kartha]

@@DessieDoolan I am sure there is a thought behind the similarities that you mentioned. Elon follows the “first principle”, simplicity & minimalism and after all, like he says, these factories are the “machines that build the machine” and therefore he puts a lot of thought and energy into these. Therefore, if nothing else, his legacy will be the factories and the manufacturing processes. Now I am waiting to see the factory that will manufacture the Optimus! That will be ultimate!

[@larryschweitzer4904]

Thank you, most interesting.

[@lukeknowles5700]

Thanks, Joe.

[@josepecanocano1587]

Fantastic, video thanks you, Joe, from Spain

[@bobholland9924]

Now that was informative. That's a lot of casting machines. Hmmm . 8/8 going to be interesting. 😎

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

Thanks and I am looking forward to what we will hear then too!

[@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck]

8/8 & 8 machines = lotsa luck☘️

[@PCMenten]

Nice work. Lots of editing in this video. Informative.

[@RTF111]

Thanks!

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

Wow! I really appreciate the support! Thanks!

[@VintageFilmChannel]

And it looks like there is room for more! And I do remember IDRA deliveries to the Die Shop as well...

[@loucatozzi7656]

Great job explaining the layout and function of the casting area of the plant. Thnx! quick question if you can answer it. Do the new recycling kilns produce ingots of aluminum or is the molten metal directed straight into the casting machines?

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

I believe they make ingots that are then used in the Stotek furnaces that feed the IDRA Giga Presses

[@peteregan3862]

Joe, you showed us a giga cast machine being installed in the die shop. Die shop needs its own machine to make castings and thereby check moulds

[@boostav]

I had missed your 19 Jun video, didn't know you were still allowed to film the inside of the casting section. Great, as it's my favorite area of the factory.

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

@@boostav 🤗

[@WarrenLacefield]

This is an outstanding "historical" visual perspective which we very seldom get to hear about, see, and conceptualize. All the media noise about what happened yesterday, today, what tomorrow's numbers are going to be, etc. ... Actually that totally pales, when you see can literally see the enormous amount of advance planning, design, procurement, and sheer work it takes to create the infrastructure needed for the future. People keep demanding to know "when, when, when" ... in an oscillating financial, technological, global shipping, climate-changing, quasi-political and warring world ... this or that will get done. It is no wonder that there are unforeseen delays here and there. No wonder things often take longer and/or are harder to accomplish than expected.

[@andreandre1051]

Merci👍👍👍

[@lourdessilva6442]

Conhecimento e vida isso sim es trabalhar em prol da preservação da humanidade sem palavras

[@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck]

Fascinating. Constant reconfiguration. LEGAs like VW contract out production design- which means years of delay…

[@rlshultz5841]

Say it. Unboxed process .. next gen.

[@richardstorey7927]

I really do find these discussion videos of yours. You clearly know your ’stuff’ and the rest of us can learn from you, it’s fascination. I guess Elon likes You, he must be a good judge of character! If I had someone peeping through my factory windows and publishing them on the internet it would irritate me. May he always look favourably on your activities. You help to build the number of Tesla (and SpaceX etc) evangelists.

[@stevem1679]

Hi Joe. Nice work! For the new furnaces, couldn’t you get more details through the air permit? I would think this would be a modification and should be public. Thanks, Steve

[@io9883]

The construction speed needs to be accelerated! In particular, more super-automated parts factories need to be built to meet market demand.

[@replica1052]

(the more modern a factory the less are chances of injury )

[@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck]

And the factory is CLEAN!

[@replica1052]

@@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck when your workers breath better with ventilation install more ventilation

[@jbil76]

Is there capacity for more machines in the casting area or is it full now?

[@moonshot4348]

Joe, didnt we also see a couple of months ago parts going into the new die shop for a idra press? so technically another one at Texas, but only for prototype / testing not production

[@4literv6]

So 8 means over a million units of total production capacity assuming they use 1 front and 1 rear casting right? And that tesla is still only getting 250,000 or so castings per year, or is it more now? 250k model Y from teratx and perhaps 200k ct by next year? means well over 550,000 unit's of unclaimed capacity once these are up&running. 🤔 I remember Wes showed Sandy in that first ct release video they actually used the smaller model Y 6500 ton casting machine's to shoot the front ct casting thanks to advances they'd learned since doing the first model Y castings.

[@Aries-l5f]

❤

[@peteregan3862]

Tesla Austin will shortly have at least 9 presses as one (6,000 tonne) is being installed in the die shop for testing new moulds. I wonder if Tesla will use design to limit presses to 6000 tonne as they work twice as fast as 9000 tonne presses.

[@mikefendel]

Joe why do I get the idea that the addtional casting presses may be associated with August 8th event?

[@TheDiverJim]

Did you see any van castings?

[@stevenchanhk]

seems like the huge amount of casting we saw them staged outside of the factory is due to the reconfiguration of the casting machine

[@jimholmes2054]

What a wealth of information you have documented and presented for Tesla investors, Joe! Thank you so much! Bottom line for this update is significant PROGRESS TOWARD A MASSIVE PRODUCTION RAMP COMING SOON, if I'm not mistaken. Elon has stated that Tesla was preparing for it's next growth phase and this is evidence it is near.

[@jackcoats4146]

Are the Kilns electric or gas for the main power?

[@DessieDoolan]

Yellow pipes (indicates natural gas) seen at the new furnaces in Joe's 25 September video.

[@boballen9095]

Does anyone have any insight into the rate of the 6K Giga Presses (time from start to finish of a casting): ie how quickly can they crank out a giga cast? Having this many 6K presses would seem to significantly reduce downtime for any need of retooling.

[@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck]

Changeable, by task. Lars said some Cybertruck casts can be made on a 6,000 tonne press if needed.

[@boostav]

@@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck Not "if needed", fronts use the 6k tonne and rears the 9k tonne presses.

[@kdungan100]

I read a few years ago that the theoretical max for one press was 500k casts per year with a realistic output of around 250k per year. That would mean eight presses could hit 2M casts, enough for 1M vehicles.

[@hmexia1]

Gen 3 car?

[@user-lc1vn9tj5q]

Does anyone know where is Tesla getting their in-house designed Aluminum Ingots from?

[@johncxr]

I wonder if it is wise to put so much under one roof?

[@malcolmrickarby2313]

Yesterday’s hurricane was just the first one of the season . I hope that they were unaffected and well prepared. Any problems at SpaceX?

[@FrunkensteinVonZipperneck]

My revivifier is a research psychologist. Doc says, “the human directing all Petacomplex engineering demonstrates galactic class spatial intelligence.” I say, “can I have his brain when he recycles it?”🧠

[@malcolmrickarby2313]

Isn’t that just him getting your body?🤔

[@guytech7310]

The issue with making cars this way, they are nearly impossible to repair if they get in an accident. Its very likely the EV market is going to die as EV owners become fustrated with them; Charging problems, repairing them. EVs were basically a novelty, which is wearing off.

[@JoeTegtmeyer]

🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@BALANCEDPORTFOLIO]

It's your right to make such comments, it's our right to laugh at your ignorance

[@DavidJohnson-tv2nn]

Agree completely. Battery packs (4680) that are totally unrepairable... Castings that are are likely difficult to repair or in some cases... Impossible to repair. And the general attitude that is not friendly to independent repair. Which applies to many companies in the tech industry. I have a Samsung Tv. there are no screws holding the back cover on. I have to pay $20 for a fricken special tool just to remove the back cover! With no guaranty I can get it working. Oh, then there is charging of EVs that is a pain in the backside. Can you just drive in, swipe a credit card and charge? No! From what I've heard.... You have to have an account at each different charging network! No thanks tech industry, I will keep my gas powered car that I bought for $500 5 years ago. Repairs? A wheel alignment and two tires.

[@inciwillard991]

I don't know who to believe! Lying media about all the problems you've listed or what I'm driving without a hitch. I've got 2 Teslas ( Model S Long Range and a Model X) Model S is coming on to 2 1/2 years old, the only time mobile service came around was to bring a missing shelf for the trunk, most time spent at superchargers were 8 minutes just giving me enough time to visit the ladies room. Model X is brand new, managed to put 8k miles on it with many long distance travels without a single problem. Also I like the fact that I don't have to swipe a CC at the filthy gas stations especially traveling and in need of fueling the car, most don't give receipt so have to walk into the store to get it and wait in line to face a grumpy cashier who thinks I'm just a nuisance for asking for my receipt. Got my VIN for my CyberTruck Foundation Series, waiting anxiously. Why so many Teslas? I drive Model S since it is the queen of comfort on the roads, I got Model X since my dear old husband is having a hard time getting in and out of the Model S plus and now CyberTruck since I fell in love with it's design when it was first shown in 2019 and placed my reservation. I'm also a #TSLA long term investor. If you believe it is a novelty, I'm not the only one with multiple Teslas who believes it's the best thing since bread and butter.

[@DessieDoolan]

@@DavidJohnson-tv2nn Not to mention the inconvenience of being able to charge your EV from home for a pittance.....hang on!