9K Giga Press Assembly & Inside Views! 13 January 2023 Giga Texas Construction Update (07:30AM)

Gigafactory Texas on 13 January 2023! This is where Model Y’s are built and soon Cyber Truck production will start!

What a gorgeous and eventful Friday the 13th here at Giga Texas, with many interesting discoveries and things to see all over the site! We start off with a view into several sections of the building, particularly the casting machine section where we see crews actively assembling the larger 9,000-ton Giga Press in the west bay of the structure! Although the parts only arrived recently, crews are not wasting any time getting this huge machine set up. I expect test castings and calibration work may begin in mid- to late-February at the pace they are currently going, and with some additional construction nearby to install supporting equipment.

Timestamps:
Drone flight Introduction with discussion & illustration: 0:06 to 2:54
Inside views of Casting & Giga Press Assembly: 3:59 to 7:34
Drone flight footage & infographics: 7:35 to 31:22

In the video introduction, we discuss not only the assembly of the 9,000-ton Giga Press, but also some significant progress west of the highway on the new large clearing location, where crews were busy laying out markers for either parking or for Warehouse on Wheels trailers. In addition, two main intersections on the west and east sides connecting to Rover Road were being paved. We can also see roads on the west and north sides of this clearing location being prepared for eventual asphalt paving.

Here are a few other highlights from today's video:

We see progress on the west side of General Assembly with more new receiving docks being made by removal of temporary wall panels, and the new concrete apron has had the final concrete pour completed. Also on the west side, we see progress in front of the main doors, with grade work underway as all plumbing installation work appears completed. The grade still is higher in the center where the doors are and then tapers to both sides, so this may be what the final grade appears like. Soon, construction should begin.

Another exciting development today is the resumption of grade work where the Megapack battery storage system will be installed next to the new electrical switchyard! We also see more deliveries in this area of several kinds of pipes, some for water and others for treated or waste water and electrical conduits.

On the west side of the battery cathode plant, we see a lot more progress with the new building foundation footings, with continued construction to the south end of the building, particularly on the west side, footings around the densely packed pier section, and concrete “ties” between footings thought the foundation area. The current steel assembly structure continues to see detail work as crews wait for footings to cure and then will resume large steel assembly.

On the east side of the cathode plant, we see a growing area of dirt infilled and graded reclamation work where water detention ponds used to be located. This is near the small steel structure which we now know is the cell testing laboratory.

Finally, production of the Model Y’s continues at a heightened level, with growing numbers of completed cars at the smaller east side testing and staging lot, as well as the new car staging and transportation lot. Transport trucks were constantly arriving, loading up and departing throughout my time at the site today, a now common sight and a very good sign!

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Be sure to check out additional Texas Gigafactory footage on these channels:
@Jeff Roberts
@Brad Sloan
Video, photos, illustrations, and commentary on this video is by me, Joe Tegtmeyer unless otherwise annotated.

Music in this video is obtained from the YouTube free and unrestricted and royalty-free use library. Ending song is Mr. Sunny Face - Wayne Jones

Drones used are DJI Mavic Mini, Mini 2 and Mavic Air 2.

Drone flight over Giga Texas is with permission of Tesla and CEO Elon Musk